To celebrate my dad’s birthday, I recently headed to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with the family, to see this year’s Orchid Daze: Surreal Beauty.
I love visiting the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. It’s one of the best places to hang out in Atlanta (if you like flowers and foliage, that is), and I just don’t get there often enough.
The theme of Orchid Daze this year is Surreal Beauty. I must say, I wasn’t very impressed with the set up. I have seen much better plant-art displays at ABG in the past. This one just didn’t do it for me, but that’s just me.
The main display in the Fuqua Orchid atrium. Cute, but somehow not particularly awe-inspiring – perhaps in part because it is cute.
This main display was whimsical and charming, but not technically impressive like some of the past shows I have seen here before. I was kind of disappointed that some sort of AstroTurf was in use under the raining umbrellas. Though, the purple flowers were quite cute.
There were upside-down orchids, floating bowler hats, umbrellas, and some umbrellas that were raining. Other orchids formed a little field in front of a blue sky backdrop with clouds, good for a photo-op.
The Shoe Tree – the focal piece of the display house.
The main piece in the display house was this shoe tree. Brightly colored pumps filled with colored moss and orchids, resting on branches covered in lace. I don’t want to be a negative nancy, but this piece just wasn’t my favorite thing… I don’t know how to explain it. The piece just doesn’t seem to have any personality to me. Oh well, it’s probably just me. But there is this neat blog post about putting it together. And another about the atrium display.
It is an orchid house after all, so I busied myself with taking shots of all my favorite orchids.
This is definitely my favorite orchid, Dendrochilum magnum, the Chain Orchid.
I’m not sure this is even an orchid, maybe some kind of ginger plant.
It’s misting in the orchid house.
Some kind of gongora orchid. They look like little hummingbirds, or maybe wasps.
Some pretty orchid of some kind.
Another of my favorites, some kind of Paphinia, I think.
Next, I went back through the atrium and into the high elevation house, which I always enjoy quite a lot.
Ceratostema Rauhii, a very cool plant.
I also passed by the members’ library in the Fuqua center, and spotted a very interesting title on display:
Hmm.
Afterwards, I wandered around the gardens, checking out all my favorite parts, ogling the vegetables gardens, and lusting after the orchids in the gift shop… but who am I kidding? I would totally kill those beauties if I ever brought them home. Oh well.
Winterberry.
There were some huge kohlrabi in the Edible Garden.
Beets.
Anyway, Orchid Daze is a nice way to brighten your life during some of the gray, damp late winter days we’ve been having recently.
emily
Nerd. Foodie. Gamer. Homecook. Perpetual planner. Gardener. Aspiring homesteader. Direct response graphic designer. I use too many damn commas.