Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden - October 21, 2008

Our former neighbor Thu Oanh, her friend Girvaud, and Ruth photographed hours of flowers, like this lovely

flowering Hong Kong Orchid-Tree (Bauhinia x blakeana), at DSBG's Orchid Conservatory Grand Opening.

 

Jeff, from Waxhaw, graces the face of DSBG's Elisabeth. She looks pretty! I'm in line next! DSBG Elisabeth's beautiful face painting by Jeff: beauty on top of beauty. Jeff, from Waxhaw (NC) does great face painting. DSBG charter member Ruth & staff member Elisabeth show off their fresh floral face paintings by Jeff.
Dwarf Firebush, Hamelia macrantha (Rubiaceae), a native of Costa Rica. Delicate tiny beauty of intricate blossoms. Look at this bird of paradise bloom!!! Bright begonias bloom amid various variegated tropical foliage.
Art Colonnade: four arches and columns accent a walkway dividing tropical and arid environments. Art Colonnade: each arch or column is skillfully planted with succulents in a soil-free medium with a unique planting pattern. Cascade Wall water drops down over 16 feet of stone. Epiphytic orchids; the Cascade Wall weighs 28 tons.
Cascade Wall orchids flourish in the 8,000 square foot, diamond-shaped glass structure representing in this living legacy, a realization of Daniel J. Stowe's dream. Cascade Wall orchids in DSBG's Orchid Conservatory. The Cascade Wall's artistic rendering of tropical ecosystems. Each oasis offers alternates between arid desert dryness and heavy rainforest humidity. Orchid blooms beside cascading sheet of water.
Tropical Canvas (like staghorn ferns, philodendrons, and begonias), a wall of porous fiberglass pad called rockwool, retains water and air for optimum growth. Colorful Tropical Canvas corner of the Reflection Pool. Reflection Pool reflection. Lush foliage of the Conservatory's tropical paradise.
Thu Oanh, Girvaud, and Ruth at the Epiphyte Bay. Eugene and Marie Anne, our church family friends. Thu Oanh admires the abundant epiphytes. Girvaud enjoys DSBG's horticultural display.
Girvaud (on the left) photographs this special towering appearance by The Living Garden. Girvaud admires The Living Garden entertainment. The Living Garden uniquely brings nature to life. The Orchid (The Living Garden) & Girvaud (center).
Dwarf Carambola fruit (Averrhoa carambola), Oxalidaceae family, from Sri Lanka. Immature coffee seeds, "beans", of Coffea arabica, a native of tropical east Africa. Caffeine in the seeds is a defense against predators. For fifty to sixty years the trees bear red fruits, each containing two small seeds. Banana tree (Musa 'Pisang Ceylon'), Musaceae family. Colorful baskets of blooming epiphytes at the Arbor.

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Photos by Ruth, and of Ruth by Eugene and a DSBG volunteer, in Belmont, N.C.

 

Thu Oanh, Girvaud, and I enjoyed taking pictures to submit in the amateur categories:

we got our winsome Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden Shutterbug Photo Contest entries

  (architecture, people, plants, & water), AND we—so very much—loved the celebration.

 

Thank you, Thu Oanh, for inviting us to DSBG's Orchid Conservatory Grand Opening!

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