2008 Western North Carolina Orchid Show and Sale, Part 1

Posted on 2008-03-30 by admin

Display Room of the Western North Carolina Orchid Show in the Education Center of the North Carolina Arboretum

This morning I attended the second day of the 2008 Western North Carolina Orchid Show and Sale at the North Carolina Arboretum. Although I’ve gardened outdoors for many years, I cannot keep a houseplant alive. I certainly haven’t ventured into the Orchid world. My experience of an event like this is much like how I describe myself going to Sunday services: like a dog in church. I enjoy the sights and scents for their own sake, and have no interest in tapping into the deeper religion of the event.

So here is my report from today’s visit, emphasizing the visual experience, which was more than satisfying to this orchid-ignorant gardener. This first part gives the overview and most of the exhibits. When I get home I’ll be able to filter through the flower portraits for Part 2.

The event was sponsored by the Western North Carolina Orchid Society (WNCOS). The event was held in the Education Building of the North Carolina Arboretum. Specimens from WNCOS members occupied the central display. All of these photos are from the members exhibit, taken from different vantage points around the room.

Displays from vendors and other orchid societies covered the perimeter of the room. The vendors tables themselves occupied two other rooms.

Carolina Orchids

South Carolina Orchid Society Display

Ironwood Estates Orchids Display

Marble Branch Farms Displays

Elmore Orchids Display

Orchidview Orchids Display

Carter & Holmes Display

One thing that struck me – and I wonder if others have the same impression – is that orchid society seems to be disproportionately male. If one were to judge the demographics of gardeners by that of its bloggers, one might come up with a distribution like this:

70% women
30% men
- 15% straight
- 15%gay

It’s hard to say what the breakdown would be at today’s event. Men seemed to be in the majority, at least while I was there. As for the rest of it, I would not presume to infer. I’ll just say that the orchids weren’t the only eye-candy on hand today.

Links

Program and Exhibitors for the 2008 WNC Orchid Show and Sale [PDF]
North Carolina Arboretum
Western North Carolina Orchid Society (WNCOS) [Note: The site was completely unavailable when I wrote this post.]

The North Carolina Arboretum

Posted on 2007-08-17 by admin

Today was our day to visit the North Carolina Arboretum. CC accompanied me for about half of the photos I took. It was a pleasure to be able to explore the Arboretum with another plants-person. It’s been too long since I had the opportunity to do so.

Here are some photographic highlights of my visit. You can see even more photos of my visit on Flickr.

Annuals in Container

This is a detail view of one of the many combinations of annuals and other tender plants in containers around the plazas and promenade at the Arboretum. The plants here are:

Upper left: Golden Pineapple Sage, Salvia elegans “Golden Delicious”
Upper right: Coleus, Solenostemon scutellarioides “Coco Loco”
Lower center: Shamrock, Oxalis vulcanicola “Zinfandel”

It was interesting walking around with CC for this, since he’s familiar with many of our “annuals” as year-round landscape plants. He recognized the Pineapple Sage immediately; I thought it was another Coleus.

Here’s a full-on view of this container and its neighbors.

Detail, Rex Begonia Leaf.

And here’s that Begonia with its companions.

Passion Flower

Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata), on the Nature Garden Walk.

Flower of Franklinia alatamaha in the parking lot.

Papyrus flowers.

Bark of Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica), on the Nature Garden Walk

Tiger Swallowtail on Hydrangea off the promenade.

Lichens on Rock, Nature Garden Walk

Three-lobed Coneflower (Rudbeckia triloba), handicapped parking area

The beauty above is Scolia dubia, also known as a Flower, Digger or Blue-winged Wasp. Thanks to nafensler (Flickr) for the ID! I photographed this in the parking lot as CC and I were leaving the Arboretum. NCSU’s Center for Integrated Pest Management has an apt write-up from a couple years ago:

Scolia dubia is a black-colored insect with metallic blue highlights on the wings and thorax. The brownish abdomen has two yellow spots near the middle of the abdomen and the tip is a red-brown color. Scoliid wasps are considered beneficial insects because they help control the grubs of green June beetles and other beetles. They are present in North Carolina from June to October, but they are most abundant during August. The wasps are often seen hovering a few inches above lawns, flying in loops and Figure 8 patterns. The female wasp digs through the soil in search of grubs, burrowing her own tunnels or following those made by the grubs. These are not a stinging threat to humans and no control measures are suggested.

Quilt Garden
Baker Exhibit Center

Links

North Carolina Arboretum

The Quilt Garden at the North Carolina Arboretum

Posted on 2007-08-17 by admin

Update 2007.12.12: Added links to related posts and Arboretum Web site, including their page of past photos of the Quilt Garden.

The Quilt Garden is one of a series of gardens bordering the promenade at the North Carolina Arboretum. It’s redesigned every year with a different combination of annuals in a different design based on traditional quilt patterns of North Carolina.

As you approach, from ground-level, the garden is colorful, but the pattern is not obvious. You climb the stairs to the overlook to get the full effect.

The center of the overlook is aligned with other features of the landscape, and a view to the mountains beyond, to give you the view in the photo at the top of this post. This is as formal as the gardens get at the Arboretum.

Back at ground-level, the plants themselves are interesting. C.C. noted that they could have spaced the yellow more closely to fill in the pattern.

And from the right angle, the pattern reveals itself at ground-level as well.

The New Baker Exhibit Center
The North Carolina Arboretum

Links

Arboretum Quilt Garden, Past and Present, North Carolina Arboretum

The New Baker Exhibit Center at the North Carolina Arboretum

Posted on 2007-08-17 by admin

Today I got to spend most of the day with Christopher C. of Outside Clyde.We met at the new Baker Exhibit Center at the North Carolina Arboretum. When I was at the Arboretum last fall, it was still under construction. It’s only been open about a month.

It’s a beautiful building. It holds a great room, an exhibit hall, and a greenhouse which was not yet open. Not shown in these photos, this building also houses a gallery shop, with fine arts and crafts of mostly garden-related subjects and themes available for purchase. It opens on two levels. The lower level, with the main entrance, opens to the parking lot. The upper level opens onto the Arboretum’s promenade, which includes the Quilt Garden. I’ll have photos from that later.