Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
I wanted to share a recent garden visit with you all - to the Naples Botanical Garden in Naples, FL, which coincided with the annual Naples Orchid Society Orchid Show.
Beautiful entrance packed with bromeliads.
A wall of orchids and bromeliads as you walk through the entrance areas.
For you people who keep trying to grow rainbow eucalyptus bonsai, here's a beauty shot.
The vendor area was packed with orchids - including rare and unusual cultivars that you wouldn't see at a normal retailer.
More orchid eye candy.
Orchids just hanging on a rack. In Naples, orchids will grow naturally in your yard/lanai with minimal care as long as you position them appropriately so they don't receive too much sun or stay too wet.
By this point, my wife and daughter were so loaded with orchids we had to make a trip out to the car to drop them off so we could continue our visit.
What does an orchid show look like? Here are a few photos from within the exhibition hall.
My favorite category was probably the "orchids in a basket" category - perhaps because the baskets reminded me of bonsai pots. People were every bit as creative and selective about choosing their baskets as we are about choosing our pots.
Some of the larger displays I would call "mountains of orchids"!
Some of my favorites included the use of moss, ferns, deadwood, and other companion plants to give the illusion of a beautiful garden of orchids. Height was used to display and emphasize weeping and hanging orchids.
Special shout out to Thanh Nguyen of Springwater Orchids, who spared a significant amount of time away from his very busy booth to chat with us about orchids and bonsai! I plan on reaching out to him with some ideas about using orchids as companion plants in formal bonsai display. If you are ever in SW Florida, I would recommend a visit to the botanical gardens... and in mid-Fed the Orchid Show is not to be missed. Enjoy the photos!!
Beautiful entrance packed with bromeliads.
A wall of orchids and bromeliads as you walk through the entrance areas.
For you people who keep trying to grow rainbow eucalyptus bonsai, here's a beauty shot.
The vendor area was packed with orchids - including rare and unusual cultivars that you wouldn't see at a normal retailer.
More orchid eye candy.
Orchids just hanging on a rack. In Naples, orchids will grow naturally in your yard/lanai with minimal care as long as you position them appropriately so they don't receive too much sun or stay too wet.
By this point, my wife and daughter were so loaded with orchids we had to make a trip out to the car to drop them off so we could continue our visit.
What does an orchid show look like? Here are a few photos from within the exhibition hall.
My favorite category was probably the "orchids in a basket" category - perhaps because the baskets reminded me of bonsai pots. People were every bit as creative and selective about choosing their baskets as we are about choosing our pots.
Some of the larger displays I would call "mountains of orchids"!
Some of my favorites included the use of moss, ferns, deadwood, and other companion plants to give the illusion of a beautiful garden of orchids. Height was used to display and emphasize weeping and hanging orchids.
Special shout out to Thanh Nguyen of Springwater Orchids, who spared a significant amount of time away from his very busy booth to chat with us about orchids and bonsai! I plan on reaching out to him with some ideas about using orchids as companion plants in formal bonsai display. If you are ever in SW Florida, I would recommend a visit to the botanical gardens... and in mid-Fed the Orchid Show is not to be missed. Enjoy the photos!!
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