Miltonia Orchids

Some of my favorite orchids to photograph are the Miltonia Orchids. Also known as pansy orchids, these natives of Brazil can be easily identified by their pansy shaped petals. Since the Miltonia orchids originated in the moist conditions of the rainforests, you need to keep them moist but not soggy.

Miltonia orchids were first classified as a separate genus of orchid in 1837 by John Lindley. They are named in honor of English orchid enthusiast Lord Fitzwilliam Milton.

Here are some of my favorite photographs of Miltonia orchids.

Alger Flamingo Queen Miltonia Orchid

Pluto cv. Katie Miltonia Orchid

Beethoven Miltonia Orchid

Sao Paulo Miltonia Orchid

Lycaena Stamperland Miltonia Orchid

Miltonia Orchids – unknown variety

Pluto cv Katie Miltonia Orchid

Fragrant Ladies’ Tresses – Spiranthes odorata

While exploring the Conservatory at Longwood Gardens on a recent visit, I was amazed to come across some Fragrant Ladies’ Tresses (Spiranthes odorata) growing beneath the ferns. Ladies’ Tresses are a native orchid, which I’ve never seen growing indoors. They are a fall blooming orchid – that can grow from Eastern Canada and south along the East Coast of the US.

This first photo – taken in the Longwood Conservatory – shows the plants with some blossoms flowering, and some not yet open. It gives a nice view of the structure of the plant.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Later the same day, as I was photographing some of the leaves in Pierce’s Woods at Longwood Gardens, I spotted a few Fragrant Ladies’ Tresses growing under some trees and along the stream. As I looked more closely – I discovered there were several groups and even a few large patches of the native orchids growing in the same area. Here are some of my favorite photos of the Fragrant Ladies’ Tresses.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

A few closeup photos showing details of the plants

Two stalks with a full set of blossoms

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

One of the blossoms

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

View from above showing the spiral stalk and flower pattern

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

As I was photographing one last set of Ladies’ Tresses, a large bee flew over and started exploring the plants. One of the Longwood’s educational themes this year has been pollinators – this bee certainly was paying attention and was busy polinating the flowers while searching for nectar.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Finding and photographing the Fragrant Ladies’ Tresses was definitely one of the highlights of my visit to Longwood Gardens. Now that I know what they look like, and where they’re likely to be growing, I’ll keep my eye out for more of these wonderful native orchids.

Even More Orchids

As promised, here are a few more photos of some of the unusual orchids I photographed earlier this year.

A Zygoneria Adelaide Meadows orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

A Bakerara Flying High Pacific Paradise orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

And a Maclellanara Pagan Lovesong Chocolate Thunder orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I’m still working my way through some of the sets of photos I took earlier this year – I’m sure there are more orchid photos among them. If I find more that I like, I’ll post them in the future.

Some Unusual Orchids

I was looking at some of the orchid photos I took earlier this year – and realized that I had a group of very unusual shaped flowers and hadn’t shared the photos on my blog. So here they are.

First a Beallara Tropical Splendor Golden Gate orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Two different  Degarmoara Hani Star of Unicorn orchids

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hanknis

And a Masdevallia Copper Angel Highland Orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I just realized I’ve got too many photos for one blog post – so I’ll post the rest later in the week.

A Few Cattelya Orichids

Recently, I’ve photographed orchids in several locations. Among the ones I’ve photographed have been several varieties of Cattelya Orchids. Here are a few of my favorites.

Socrates – a  Laeliocattelya orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Apricot Glow – a Hazel Boyd Sophrolaeliocattelya Orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

CTM91 – a Hazel Boyd Sophrolaeliocattelya Orchid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

And Trick or Treat – a cattelya orhid

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Epidendrum Orchids

One of the more unusual types of orchids I photographed on my recent visit to Longwood Gardens‘ Orchid Extravaganza was a series of Epidendrum orchids.  According to the sign in the Palm House, epidendrums are native to Central America.  They often grow alongside other flowers such as mildweed and lantana – mimicing the shape and color of those flowers.

What I found so unusual about the Epidendrums was the shape of their flowers. Each has what appears to be a fringed lip on one of its petals. The flowers on each Epidendrum were slightly different colors and shapes than all of the others. Most had shades of red or orange.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I really likd this set of flowers – it shows a bud, an unfolding flower and one fully open.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

This epidendrum’s flowers were all bright yellow. I was able to photograph lit by the sunlight streaming through the glass of the Palm House.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I found this last Epindendrum with it’s purple and white flowers in the Tropical Terrace.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

According to Wikipedia, there are over 1100 different species of Epidendrum. The ones at Longwood were not identified as being any particular species. Does anyone know which species any of the Epidendrums I photographed are? Looking at some images online, I think some of the red/orange ones may be Epidendrum radicans.

A Few More Slipper Orchids – Paphiopedilium Orchids

Here are a few more slipper orchids (paphiopedilium orchids) that I’ve photographed recently. The first four of them were on display as part of Longwood Garden’s Orchid Extravaganza.

Paphiopedilium Hybrid Orchid (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Paphiopedilium Hybrid Orchid (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Paphiopedilium Hybrid Orchid (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Paphiopedilium Hybrid Orchid (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

This final paphiopedilium orchid was photographed in the Orchid room at the U.S. Botanic Garden.

Paphiopedilium Emperor of India Orchid (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I’m always amazed at all the different combinations of spots, stripes, color and shapes of the paphipedilium orchids.

Slipper Orchids – Paphiopedilium

One of the displays at Longwood Garden’s Orchid Extravaganza that I really enjoyed was the Slipper Orchids (paphiopedilium orchids). They were displayed in Fern Passage Greenhouse. Each of several different Slipper Orchids was displayed on a pedestal in a group of about dozen of the same type of orchid.

Here are some of the Slipper Orchids on display the day I visited Longwood.

Paphiopedilium Henrietta Fujiwara Orchid  (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Paphiopedilium Hybrid Orchid (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Paphiopedilium Delenatii Orchid (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Paphiopedilium Honey Orchid (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Paphiopedilium Hybrid Orchid (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I’ll post a few more of the Paphiopedilium Orchids later in the week – don’t want this post to take too long to load.

Orchid Extravaganza at Longwood Gardens

Last week, I finally got a chance to get up to the Orchid Extravaganza at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. All I can say – is that it is incredible! The conservatory is filled with all sorts of incredible orchids.

I expected to see orchids in the main conservatory and in the Orchid House. What I didn’t expect – was all the smaller orchid displays throughout the various conservatories.

One of the first surprises was the Orchid Mobile in the East Conservatory. Created by kinetic artist Henry Loustau, the rotating stainless steel mobile includes a wonderful display of orchids.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

As I walked towards the Music Room, the display in the fountain courtyard amazed me.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

A curtain of orchids drapes over the doors into the music room.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

In front of the music room, orchid topped fountains on pillars are set up in the pool.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

One other major orchid display really caught my eye. In the Cascade Garden, a waterfall of Oncidium orchids i son display.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I’ll be posting photos of some of the individual orchid displays over the next few weeks.

The Orchid Extravaganza at Longwood Gardens runs through March 31. If you get a chance, be sure to take a few hours and visit the orchid displays. I’m planning on making at least one more trip to Longwood Gardens before the exhibit ends.

Orchids Through Darwin’s Eyes

I recently visited the Orchids Through Darwin’s Eyes Exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Like any Smithsonian exhibit, the display is beautiful and the signage, exhibit materials and videos are very informative. The exhibit runs through April 26.

However to be perfectly honest, as a photographer, I was very disappointed with this year’s orchid show.

Each year, the Smithsonian and the U.S. Botanic Garden hold an orchid exhibit, usually somewhere on the National Mall. I visited last year’s exhibit at the Botanic Garden several times and had a wonderful time photographing the orchids. This year, I had a very different experience.

The Orchids Through Darwin’s Eyes exhibit is in a long narrow room on the first floor of the Museum of Natural History. There is no natural light in the room. Instead, it is lit by overhead and side spot lights.

Love Memory ‘Fit’ Dendrobium Orchid (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

The low level of light made photography very difficult. In 30 minutes of shooting with a Canon 5D mark II set at ISO 1600 using the Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens I only ended up with two photographs that were crisp enough for me to even edit up for the blog.  I’ve been shooting at several conservatories recently with this same setup  and have taken images that have can be printed up to 20″ X 30″.

World Cup No. 5 Dendrobium Orchid (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

A second problem caused by the exhibit lighting is strange color casts and reflections on the flowers. As you can see in both orchid photographs, there are white areas of the petals with green reflections that should not be there.

In addition, green leaves and stems end up over saturated in the exhibit lighting. In the photograph of the World Cup No. 5 orchid, I desatured and toned down the luminance of both the greens and yellows to get them to a point where I could tolerate the colors in the photo.

My final challenge with photographing the orchids was the height they were displayed at. I’m 5’5″ tall, and I was too short to photograph at least half of the orchids on display. Some of them were displayed at least 8 feet off the ground. It’s pretty hard to see the flowers in any detail, much less photograph them.

The morning wasn’t a total waste. After about 30 frustrating minutes at the Museum of Natural History, I headed across the Mall to the U.S. Botanic Garden, where I spent a wonderful 90 minutes photographing their flowers, included their orchids in both the Garden Court and the Orchid Room.

If you do decide to visit the Orchids Through Darwin’s Eyes Exhibit, remember that it is in one of the Smithsonian Museums. This means you (and your camera gear) will have to pass through security. The day I visited, the security guard used what looked like the end of a broom handle to poke into two of the five sections of my camera bag. I then walked through the metal detector without setting it off – which was surprising since I still had my keys, phone and ipod in my pockets.

If you want to see some spectacular and unusual orchids, or hear explanations of why orchids are different shapes and colors, then the Orchids Through Darwin’s Eyes exhibit is well worth visiting. However,  if you want to photograph flowers on the National Mall this month – just head over to the U.S. Botanic Garden and skip the Orchid Exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History.