Southern Cali Trip Day 2

Not only did we visit orchid nurseries, but we also stopped by the Huntington Conservatory and Library in Los Angeles.  The gardens there were spectacular, but their orchid collection was a bit neglected.  They had a lot of stanhopeas that were in spike, but most of their cool growing mounted orchids were just leaves that were being invaded by moss.  Since it was summer, not a lot of their species orchids were in bloom.  Fortunately, their oncidiums, paphiopedilums, maxillaria tenuifolia, and a brassavolas nodosas were blooming happily.

This is the scene that you are greeted with when you enter the Huntington greenhouse.  The building is a majestic  Victorian greenhouse full of hidden surprises.  I was a bit disappointed because many of the orchids didn't have tags...so when I thought I knew the name of an orchid, I was never quite sure if it was really the name.  Sigh...crazy orchid lady problems.

Amorphallus Titanum

         I was first introduced to the weird growing pattern of the cocao tree when I was touring the greenhouses at the Conservatory of Flowers with my supervisor, Eric.  Normally, flowers of fruit trees grow at the tip of new leaf growth.  But with the cocao tree (the source of delicious chocolate), the small, fragile, white flowers grow on the hard branches or on the trunk which will be fertilized and be matured into the yellow seed pods you see in the picture.

The other picture is of a flower that is quite popular at both the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens and at the Huntington Conservatory.  What you see in the picture is a almost blooming size leaf of the Amorphallus titanum...and when it blooms it will be a large, ugly flower that smells like corpses.  Wonderful, ain't it?

A Pretty View from the Chinese Garden

A grape bonsai that I dream to grow when I'm a old lady.