A Feast of Orchids

Hello and welcome to my blog. Orchids are incredibly diverse and exotic flowers. In the Botanical gardens in Singapore there is a lovely Orchid garden where I took these photos.

The national flower of Singapore is the Vanda Miss Joaquim.

For those who are technically oriented I used my Nikon D80 with an AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED.

This first photo shows the beautifully
patterned lip of the flower

Enjoy the photos!

Alan

Though we tend to think of
orchids as tropical, they grow
on all continents except
Antartica

I was attracted by the light shining through
this orchid
















There is nothing shy about orchids.
Petals akimbo and lip sticking out!



















Heaven, I see heaven...

















Each orchid is pollenated by a specific insect
or bird. To protect orchids the whole
ecosystem needs to be conserved
















They are masters at seducing their pollenator.
A particularly active orchid shoots sticky
pollen balls at bees

















Orchid flowers have their male and female
parts (anther and stigma) fused into a single
structure called the "column". The column is
unique in the plant kingdom

















Three cheeky chappies!
Orchids come in every colour of the rainbow,
but there is no black orchid

















And their shape is very diverse too. it is
estimated that there are 15,000 to
25,000 different species growing in the
wild. And if that wasn't enough there are
no less than 35,000 hybrids!

















Some orchids make me think of natural

Japanese Ikebana. Beautiful shapes and
simplicity

One stands out in the crowd

Kew gardens has an orchid plant that is 100
years old. An individual flower will last several
weeks unless it is pollenated, in which case it
wilts and dies






















Dripping beauty. Pure white and
seductive violet. Superb contrast
















The first plants of each new species brought
back to England fetched high prices.
The largest amount ever recorded was in
1890 when £1,500 was paid for one orchid,
that is equivalent to around £96,500 today!

















“You can get off alcohol, drugs,women, food
and cars, but once you're hooked on orchids
you're finished.”
Joe Kunisch




















My, what a big and inviting lip you have!

Pretty as a picture
















Simply gorgeous
















A final splash of colour

Thanks so much for coming. Hope to see you
soon. Next time some other flowers, plants
and birds. Hope to see you then

Alan