Saturday, February 17, 2007

2007 Pacific Orchid Exposition

So yesterday, Friday, I went to the Orchid Fantasia, the San Francisco Orchid Society's 55th annual Pacific Orchid Exposition at Fort Mason.
You can see from the picture that it was an absolutely awesome day. I wanted to go Friday since Saturday and Sunday are usually super crowded. Anyway, it was still crowded although not as insane, but definitely a different crowd. Yesterday's crowd was made up of retired individuals that seemed to have come into town for the show.

Definitely not of the city mentality as they had the annoying habit of stopping right in front of you to look at the pretty flowers. c'est la vie, I need to learn how to relax and take my time. The ribbon winners' orchids were amazing. They had such height and size and color. I don't know how they time the blooms for the show but obviously they have to use lamps and whatnot to get them to peak for the three day event.

The prize-winning Oncidium

The prize-winning Paphiopedilum

I ended up buying a Paphiopedilum like the one above but not nearly as cool. They're related to the Cypripediums which are the North American temperate-zone lady-slipper orchids.


It would've been cheaper to just go buy an orchid from a store since there was a $12 admission and the orchid prices were retail, but I got to see some award-winning specimens that I wouldn't see at the local nursery and it was nice to be out on such a nice day.

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