The Orchid Show at Acadia University

 Yesterday was a real red-letter day for me. I was out for the first time since arriving back home from my knee-replacement surgery, nearly two weeks ago. My friend and fellow plant geek Jill picked me up and we went to the annual NS Orchid Society show and sale at Acadia University's KC Irving Centre in Wolfville.

 We had a lot of fun at the show, because other friends joined us there, so there was a great collection of plant geeks, sighing happily over the glorious colours, flower forms, and in some cases, fragrances of the orchids on display. There were also plants for sale, and none of us from my group of plant addicts escaped without buying at least one new orchid.

My only complaint at this show is that some of the plants are not labeled, leaving us to puzzle over what the heck they are. This golden beauty, however, is BLC Abbeville 'Golden Promise'. Her flowers were a little past their peak, but they were exquisitely lovely.

 This is another from the cattleya 'alliance', called BLC 'Wanda's Fire.'

 I don't remember seeing these tiny dendrobiums before. They are D. kingianum hybrids, apparently originating in Australia. As you can see, the flowers are petite, but many of them are also very fragrant.

 I don't remember ever seeing these little darlings before. They are called 'necklace orchids', and you can see just how tiny the flowers are, as that is my thumb holding a normal-sized plant label with the spray of miniature flowers hanging beside it. I didn't bring my macro-lens, alas!

 This is a Cymbidium of some sort, but I don't know its name...

 ...and I have no idea what this beauty is, but the colours and flowers were otherworldly-beautiful.

 Pretty sure this is a cymbidium too...

 There was a fine display of lady's slippers (Paphiopedilum and Phragmipedium) at the show. I am quite fond of the paphs and phrags, though I have only a couple of paphs myself. They are other-worldly in their colourings.

I should note here that though I love orchids, I consider myself very much a neophyte with many species, and know next to nothing about other species and hybrids. But that is the joy of gardening, whether indoors or out--there is always something new to learn and enjoy!

 There were a good number of phalaenopsis orchids there, but I post about those regularly so I didn't even bother, apparently, to photograph them. I was more intrigued by some of the showy beauties that I couldn't name, and of course I wasn't able to stand all that long so I spent a fair bit of time sitting down and talking with my friends. It does puzzle me when plants aren't labeled in a show, however--how are non-enthusiasts supposed to learn and get obsessed when they don't know what something is called?

This is one of the few orchids that I could easily find a label for. It's Lycaste 'Chita Impulse', which I don't remember having ever seen before. It was quite stunning, with fairly large flowers. 

Did I resist temptation at the show? Absolutely not! I succumbed to one of the Dendrobium kingianum hybrids, this one called 'Betty', a fragrant little beauty with flowers the size of pennies. Obviously we can't post fragrance, but once I got a whiff of its scent, I knew I had to have it. Most of my orchids, except the oncidium, aren't fragrant so it's nice to have something with scent in the house at this time of year.

By the time we had finished at the show, gone for lunch, and headed back home, I was done like dinner, so today is a rest day. I just wanted to share some photos from the show, and encourage others to try their hand at growing these remarkable, rewarding plants. I was told, some years ago by an orchid breeder and judge, that they are like potato chips and that you can't have just one. I resisted for years, but no longer!

Have you succumbed to orchids yet? And if you can identify any of the unnamed orchids in this post, please feel free to do so, and I'll add their names!