Orchids, Orchids, Orchids!

The previous post included a portrait of the 19 month old son of a family member. While visiting that branch of the family in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, we spent a lovely couple of hours at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, in nearby Belmont, NC.

If, like me, you enjoy visiting botanical gardens, you may have realized that, because of the time it takes the plants to become established, it can take a very long time for a garden to mature. That is the case with these gardens. Coming from the wonderfully well-established Norfolk Botanical Garden, we were disappointed at first with how small the Daniel Stowe gardens were. However, on seeing the Master Plan (there is a copy on their website), you can see it is planned to grow into something wonderful (pun intended).

Orchid No. 6

Meanwhile, it is quite pleasant, with fountains, pools of water, and nice plantings in the area that is currently open, capped off by the absolutely wonderful orchid house! There are many, many varieties of orchid in the orchid house, so it is filled with cascading plants, and all kinds of varieties, from tiny to enormous! It is a shame that it is barely even mentioned on the website, as this is certainly the crown jewel of the gardens - at least for now.

I was very pleased with several of the images of orchids I was able to obtain, so will post them as they are ready. For now, this one is one of my favorites!