Orchids in Winter

Well today is the big day when the groundhog will tell us if we can expect more winter or if spring is around the corner.

I got the best of both worlds since temps plummeted this week and today we had steady snowfall all day....but today was also the opening of Fellows Riverside Gardens orchid exhibit!  Last year I accidentally found this exhibit and I was sans camera....so this year I decided to head back and give everyone a lovely taste of spring regardless of what the groundhog might say!

Indoor photography is easier in some ways....no wind, less sun flare....but indoor light is also artificial and can make colors less vibrant.  Luckily Mill Creek Park has a nice set up with plenty of windows and natural light, and with the white snow giving me plenty of reflected fill light....I think I came out of it with plenty to show for this year.  So I didn't post sparingly just so you can see all the variety and really get a good gander at these lovely flowers to take away the winter blues.

The orchid family is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species, found in 880 genera.[1][2] Selecting which of the two families is larger is still under debate, as concrete numbers on such enormous families are constantly in flux. Regardless, the number of orchid species equals more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species.

Most are grown for their beautiful flowers, but the seedpods of the Vanilla orchid provide the popular flavoring. And unlike most plants, they do not grow in soil, but in the air. Their roots attach to trees or rocks where they capture moisture and nutrients that wash over them in the rainforest.

By J.R. Miller:

Paul, in speaking of God, said, "In him we live, and move, and have our being." God is about us as the air is, and we live in him as we live in the atmosphere that surrounds us. It is said that one of the finest orchids in the world is found in England—but, owing to the inclement climate, it grows in dwarfed form, destitute of beauty, and is of no value. Climate is everything for fine plants. Spiritual climate is everything in the growth of heavenly graces. It is a great thing to live and work with the very atmosphere of Christ's love about us, with the very life of Christ for climate.

Can you smell me?

From far away some of these little plants and blooms don't look like much....but as you can see when you get up close,take a nice slow stroll and stop to smell the orchids you will see it is an exotic garden bursting with color and life....all the right things to make the long winter wait for spring that much more enjoyable!