Every year Kew Gardens holds what they call their Tropical Extravaganza, which is basically an excuse to dress up the Princess of Wales Conservatory with hundreds of orchids, and other exotic flowers and foliage. There’s no pretence about the show being to exhibit botanically unusual or rare plants but to put on a wild show of colour in the middle of winter. However that said, the overall impact was impressive, and the colour and vibrancy of the individual plants were like sweets in an old fashioned sweet shop, and like the proverbial kid in a sweet shop we dashed from one to another. Perhaps that’s exaggerating a little bit here, but we certainly spent our time admiring many of the individual blooms as well as the overall effect. Its fair to say that some of these blooms are somewhat brash, but many have a real delicate nature to them.
An entrance of pure Orchids. It took a while to get a clear shot as everyone else was getting in the way!
Unfortunately many of the orchids were not named, but some of them were. Where we were able to identify a plant the names are added below, hopefully we have the correct name with the correct plant.
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| This reminded me of the tie dye t shirts from the early 90s. Miltonia 'Red Jewel' |
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| Phalaenopsis 'Las Palmas' |
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| Colmanara 'Wildcat' |
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| The roof supports were cloaked in Orchids |
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| These arches reminded us of Exotic weddings! |
The Tropical Extravaganza at
Gaz
More pictures from our day on Facebook
Kew: Tropical Extravaganza
This gardening blog follows our journey as we create our Tropical and Exotic themed garden. We hope you'll enjoy the journey as much as we do. We started our Exotic Garden in 2005 and this site will show its development, as well as our travels, both abroad and within the UK to gardens, nurseries and friends.
There are some beautiful Orchids here. But have to agree, the whole thing was over the top. Just a little too much together yet would have been nice to see.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
I see what you mean about the display being a bit OTT! The individual flowers are stunning, but the displays don't do it for me I'm afraid. It must have taken ages to put together!
ReplyDeleteBen
Wow - that wall of orchids is amazing! Must have been wonderful to see these pretties on a winter's day. I kind of like over the top - makes me think I've gotten my money's worth!
ReplyDeleteWhat an astonishing display and bright colours. I do like the odd orchid or two but that is something else. I wouldn't know where to look first.
ReplyDeleteHi Cher, same thoughts here, the display was OTT but it does make for a good show and attracts extra visitors to Kew. Good fun though! :)
ReplyDeleteBen, definitely OTT but I suppose that was what they were trying to achieve, an explosion of colour. It must have taken them ages to assemble the display, and lots of student manpower! :)
Holley, the display was intense and so colourful that you do feel you've gotten your money's worth if you visit for the main purpose of seeing their tropical flower display :) The atmosphere feels more Caribbean than South East Asia where most of the flowers came from.
Janet, the orchids were displayed to imbibe an overall effect rather than to easily appreciate each individual type. It was a dazzling display. Anyone into orchids can spend ages there admiring each type of bloom. I did like the first set or arches on the entrance to the humid house (after the arid bit), the colours reminded me of Dolly Mixture :)
It would make me speechless! I saw some orchids yesterday at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle, but to see the whole world of them... lucky you! I hope you forgot about winter for a while!
ReplyDeleteMark and Gaz, wow what a display, but I can understand what you mean by saying it is a little bit over the top. Still I certainly enjoyed your post, looking at the over all photos and the close-ups of the orchids. Orchids are such a versatile group of plants. I just grow two cymbidium orchids outside in pots and they are blooming right now. Reminds me that I should take a pic and post it on my blog ;-).
ReplyDeleteChristina
I really want to know how these greenhouses can be made so airtight that no cold air gets in and no warm air gets out. I can apply those techniques to our 102 year old house :-).
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful photography.
I agree with you, it's over the top and not my style. However, if I lived anywhere near Kew, I'd go too. They're very smart putting this on in the dead of winter when everybody craves a pop of color--or in this case, an explosion!
ReplyDeleteGerhard
:: Bamboo and More ::
11 February 2012 06:38
I really like the look of the entrance area - something about the light grey of the aerial roots contrasting with the intense colors of the flowers - but I agree with regard to the rest of the displays - too over-the-top and artificial-looking.
ReplyDeletethere's never too much of anything in art. Extravaganza was the name for it !
ReplyDeleteOrchids had a very large presence at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show this year...so many of them! It was like this but on a small scale.
ReplyDeleteTatyana, it was so warm and comfy in the glasshouse that for a moment I did forget it was winter, no jacket inside, just a t-shirt :)
ReplyDeleteChristina, Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, looking forward to seeing your pic of the orchids too.
KL, I think they just keep the heat up high, this glass house is fairly new so I assume it has good insulation built in.
Gerhard, its an explosion indeed, and whilst not our style we enjoyed the explosion!
CG, we loved that part too, the contrasts of the colours works well.
Celine, it sure was an Extravaganza, so much colour in one place!
Loree, Orchids are great at this time of year, especially if its cold and gloomy outside.
I have always been in orchid shows here, but they don't make displays like that, maybe they really would like to impress with the display and not with the individual plant. Besides, that way they can save space, which might be difficult to get inside a conservatory. But the flowers are stunning and looks very healthy. I know them in general e.g. vanda, phalaenopsis, Kagawara but not the 'varieties'. I am more biased with orchids, so if i am there i will stay very long in that area.
ReplyDelete