On Sunday after church we took our annual winter trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden while the Orchid Show was still on display. The Garden owns thousands of orchids in its collection, which began in the middle of the 19th century, not long after Henry Shaw established the Garden. And no, that's not a lady slipper; it's an orchid.
The Garden's airy Ridgeway Center is the perfect showcase for the annual show. This year the central feature was a fountain, surrounded by benches where you could just sit and soak in the beauty if you got tired of standing. We made three circuits of the displays and also sat a while.
We could say, these are not your mother's orchids.. or mine, for that matter. Most of us pre-boomers think of the huge purple or white cattaleya orchids that were the prom corsage of our youth. But there are so many species, so many colors, so many sizes. Some, like these at right, have a large lower petal or pouty lip.
These could be corsage orchids, from their frilly form. I love those contrasting yellow throats.
Back to the lady slipper type. These were most unusual for their top petal, which forms a funnel into the rest of the bloom, and then gradually unfurls to be flat. I can imagine these dining on insects in the jungle somewhere.
Spots defined this unusual form. I forgot to take down its particulars. But the top, side and lower petals are all flat, not frilly, and I wish my hands hadn't shook the camera and blurred it.
The warm colors of some species always intrigues me, since I grew up with cool colored orchids as the norm. Orange, yellow, bronze orchids seem even more exotic, and they glow like sunbeams in the display.
On the other hand, lavender and white have a purity that's hard to ignore. These blooms are of the "big cheek" type with larger side petals. Norm said these made him think of nuns peeking out of the foliage to see what all the fuss was about.
The staff does a tremendous job of displaying hundreds of orchids in a setting that includes other tropical greens and Spanish moss. We had a lovely lunch in the garden cafe, enjoyed the orchids, bought some things at the garden shop, and came home happily for a delayed Sunday afternoon nap as the sun was about to set. The Missouri Botanical Garden is a must-see for visitors as well as locals. We have been members for years, and enjoy the garden in all seasons.
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