CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade.  The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas.  For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com.  Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.

For Longwood Garden’s Orchid Extravaganza, the East Conservatory is filled with yellows, blues, creams, and whites—one of my favorite color combinations.

Before I get to my cold weather antidote, I want to mention another upcoming breath of spring:  The Philadelphia Flower Show, the largest indoor flower show in the world.  The theme this year is “Brilliant”, a tribute to the majestic culture and creative gardening tradition of Great Britain.  It runs from March 2 through March 10 at the Philadelphia Convention Center.  I will be giving a presentation on Sunday, March 3, at 5:00 pm in the Gardener’s Studio on “Hellebores for Your Garden: Selection, Maintenance, and Division”—don’t miss it!

‘Jelena’ witch hazel outside the Longwood Cafe.  I highly recommend eating there when you visit.  The food is very good, especially the local mushroom soup, and in the winter you can sit by a fire.

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‘Luna’ witch hazel also outside the cafe.

On a recent Friday, my husband and I were suffering from cabin fever and decided to visit Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, US.  For 2012 to 2013, I have been writing posts every couple of months about Longwood (last year I choose Chanticleer), and I will provide links to my posts at the end.  Usually we walk around outside, but it was cold, overcast, and raining so we opted to explore The Orchid Extravaganza in the conservatories instead.  I did photograph some token but gorgeous witch hazels on our mad dash for the cafe, and I have included their photos above to show what braver souls were viewing.

These lovely arrangements of moth orchids greet you as you come through the main entrance into the East Conservatory.

I am not an orchid lover and really know little about them.  But I knew that if Longwood did orchids, they would surpass my wildest expectations, and they did.  Orchids are an over-the-top plant perfect for an over-the-top display, and Longwood is the perfect place to view them.  Longwood has 9,000 orchids in its collection and used 5,000 plants, representing 2,300 species and cultivars, to decorate its four acres of conservatories for the current display.  Breathtaking doesn’t even begin to describe it so I will have to use photographs, beginning with more of the East Conservatory:

When we entered, a bride and groom were having their wedding pictures taken.

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The yellow-flowered plant on the left is velvet groundsel and the blue on the right is flowering-bush plectranthus.  

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Looking back down the East Conservatory towards the main entrance.

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This orchid orb, at the far end of the East Conservatory, contains 160 0rchids and weighs 200 pounds.  The custom metal frame was constructed by Longwood craftspeople.

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A close up of the orb.

From the East Conservatory we entered the Exhibition Hall with its sunken and flooded marble floor surrounded by tree ferns:

Above the Exhibition Hall hangs an “orchid chandelier” featuring over 100 yellow Cymbidium orchids, 200 white Phalaenopsis orchids, and Algerian ivy.

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This 13′ tall arch at the other end of the Exhibition Hall is composed of 800 yellow Phalaenopsis orchids and is much prettier in person.

The third huge room in the conservatories is called the Orangery and features colorful displays of a wide range of unusual plants:

Florist’s cyclamen, tulips, and oriental hybrid lilies underplant bronze-leaved clerodendrum.

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Vine-covered pillars line the walk around the edge of the Orangery.

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I was particularly taken with this combination of ‘Tete-a-Tete’ narcissus, orange mother-of-thousands, ferns, and orange roses.

No matter what time of year you visit the conservatories, between 200 and 500 orchids are on display in the Orchid House.  The orchids residing there during this special show are the cream of the crop.  I have diligently copied the names off the tags because I know a lot of readers are orchid fans.  But beware, my career as a recorder at the Philadelphia Flower Show receiving the orchid entries was short-lived after trying to deal with their confusing names.  

x Laeliocattleya g. (unnamed)

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One of my favorites but there was no label.

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Schomburgkia undulata

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x Sophrolaeliocattleya Rosemary Clooney ‘Wanre’

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Miltoniopsis Mary Sugiyama

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x Beallara Pluto’s Drummer ‘Pacific Pink’

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x Sophrolaeliocattleya g. Jewel Box ‘Dark Waters’

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Dendrobium Oriental Smile ‘Fantasy’

Orchids are beautifully incorporated into most of the many gardens in the West Conservatory Complex.  Here are a few of my favorite combinations, but it is well worth a walk through the whole area:

Dozens of this eye-catching orchid, x Bratonia Kauai’s Choice, surround the waterfall in the Cascade Garden designed by Roberto Burle Marx.

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In the Tropical Terrace, white orchids are planted among this striking prayer plant, Calathea lancifolia.

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Also in the Tropical Terrace, yellow orchids with ‘Moonlight Bay’ aglaonema and ‘Lutea’ elephant’s-ear plant.

Despite all the grandeur of the big orchid displays, my favorite orchid presentations are found in some of the smaller and narrower gardens.   Perfect specimens from the same orchid family but in varying colors are displayed in containers like majestic houseplants.  If I had orchids this is how I would want to present them:

A small garden, called the Garden Path, on the left side of the East Conservatory was lined with moss planters of lady’s slipper orchids.

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Along the Acacia Passage are ceramic containers of dancing ladies orchids.

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Pots of reed-stem orchids line the Fern Passage.

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reed-stem orchid

The Longwood Orchid Extravaganza runs through March 24.  If you are coming, check the website because there are lots of special events scheduled.  If you are not in the area, I hope you have enjoyed your virtual tour.

To read more about Longwood Gardens, follow these links:

Groundcovers, Thinking Outside the Box

Longwood Gardens Part 2: At Night

A Longwood New Year’s Eve

Carolyn

I am linking this post to Les’s blog A Tidewater Garden for his annual winter walk-off where bloggers show photos from a winter trip where they did a lot of walking.  Since my husband and I walked Longwood’s conservatories for two hours, Les tells me that this post qualifies.  Follow the link to see Les’s professional quality photos and where other bloggers took their walk.

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Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, US, zone 6b.  The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

If you are within visiting distance and would like to receive catalogues and information about customer events, please send your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net.  Subscribing to my blog does not sign you up to receive this information.

Nursery Happenings:  We are now accepting reservations for our very popular Hellebore Seminars to be held on Friday, March 15 (only 3 spaces left) at 1:30 pm and Monday, March 18, at 10:00 am.  For details, click here.  The 2013 Snowdrop Catalogue is on the sidebar of the website and orders are being accepted now.  To view the catalogue, click here.  The 2013 General Catalogue is available here.

Facebook:  Carolyn’s Shade Gardens has a Facebook Page where I post single photos, garden tips, and other information that doesn’t fit into a blog post.  You can look at my Facebook page here or click the Like button on my right sidebar here.

Notes: Every word that appears in orange on my blog is a link that you can click for more information.  If you want to return to my blog’s homepage to access the sidebar information (catalogues, previous articles, etc.) or to subscribe to my blog, just click here.