Barbados Orchid Garden

[mickthecactus]

I shall be posting details here shortly.

[Deleted]

You tease you!!!!!

[mickthecactus]

No time today. Training!

[mossie]

Thought you were well past needing that, or capable of gaining any benefit

[mickthecactus]

Training somebody else to take over from me.....

I go to a 3 day week in March.

[Deleted]

Congrats!!!
More time for posting rather than taunting and teasing us.

[mickthecactus]

Indeed!

And more time for the garden.....

[mickthecactus]

Nice to see how desperate you all are for this report!

Unfortunately our visit was not the best time of the year but even so about 10% were in flower which amounted to a fair number and not everything in the garden was orchid -







I don't know what this tree was but the fruit on it was absolutely enormous -

[mickthecactus]

I don't know. You moan about me not posting and when I do nobody seems interested! Anyhow, on we go regardless...

[bjd]

And here I was all pleased because I managed to get my miserable little orchids to bloom a second time. Nothing to compare with those in your pictures. These are all orchids? Is the climate warm and humid?

[breeze]

These look at their peak. Come to think of it, how long is an orchid's peak? We pass by a window with an orchid in it and think maybe it's plastic because it always seems to be in bloom.

Mick, why the protection over and around the plants?

[mickthecactus]

Mostly orchids but not all. Yes, warm and humid - about 30c all year round.

Orchid blooms seem to last about 3 months but this wasn't the garden's peak and many plants weren't blooming.

I think the protection is to keep the birds off.

[bixaorellana]

I never even saw this until the new sub-board was created today!

Beautiful & interesting stuff. Is the second picture some kind of ginger? My giant E. milii are also coming into bloom, but with nothing like the drama of the one you show.

[Deleted]

I apologize Mick but I hadn't noticed that you had started posting in here yet.

A lot of non orchid plants I see and recognize a few from here.
The first pic of the Heliconia is gorgeous and it is huge compared to the ones I've seen.

Much of the pics remind me of the Miami Beach Botanical Garden of which there is a thread in here somewhere.

How big was the garden?

There are many misconceptions about orchids. Mainly because there are so many, and many that haven't even been classified.

I do believe that the orchid genus is the largest in the plant world, there are that many and each have different cultural requirements.

They also aren't as fussy as most people believe them to be. Many perish from being over pampered.

My dream is to have an orchid house someday...

Bixa, i don't think the second pic is a ginger. i thought the same at first glance. I believe it to be an orchid.
I think the variegated leaves is what threw us both off.

[tod2]

You have me intrigued Mick. The orchids are lovely but I'm trying to put names to the other unusual flowers and that great big green 'baloon' of a fruit. The nearest I can find to it's comparison is Crescentia cujete or common name Calabash tree.
Then I recognised what I think is Christ Thorn, the Lobster Claw flower, and the palm is a Cuban Royal Palm - Royestonea regia/Oredoxa regia. I see in the Caribbean it could be called the Caribbean Palm or Roystonica oleracea. My neighbor has one at the entrance to her gate but could swear to the exact name.
Thanks for all the photos!

[bixaorellana]

Mmmmmmmm. I still say ginger. Look at the pattern of the leaf growth and how thin the leaves are compared to those of orchids.

[Deleted]

Or, maybe it's two separate plants? The one in the rear being an orchid and it's bloom sticking it's neck out saying, "see me see me!!!", and the one in the forefront a ginger.
Maybe our intrepid reporter wrote down the names of the plants he took pictures of.
A lot of times the plants are not labelled. A major pet peeve of mine.

[bixaorellana]

Or maybe it's a ginger ~ www.projectnoah.org/spottings/6858714

[Deleted]

Yay Bixa!! I never would have guessed or thought of it being a ginger. All the more intriguing and enlightening to plant lovers galore.

The link/site is very cool btw.

[tod2]

I would like to know what the spikey green & purple leafed plant is? I have the smaller one growing along a terraced section of concrete garden blocks. They do a reasonable job of disguising the blocks filled with soil.

[mickthecactus]

Thanks guys.

Sorry but I didn't take notes mainly because I was accompanied by Mrs Cactus and 2 other people and it was bad enough me stopping every 30 seconds to take a picture but taking notes as well would have driven them crazy.

Casi is also right that they aren't that fussy to grow, rather like cacti and succulents. Only a handful are tricky.

Most of the orchids were labelled btw but not much else.

Not a big garden. If you weren't particularly interested in stopping to look at the plants you would be through in about 30 minutes.

[mickthecactus]

I was surprised to see epiphytic cacti growing:-

[bixaorellana]

Mick, coastal Mexico, with its hot, humid climate, has epiphytic cacti galore, which I think are native.

Tod: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=279283&isprofile=0&

[tod2]

Much obliged Bixa! Yes, rock gardens is my theme for this plant. It never dies and has been going for about 15 years.

[mickthecactus]

That last picture shows how many of them are grown - just strapped to a mesh fence.











This was a lovely pot fern -











End of tour!

[breeze]

So nice to see these photos when the ground outside is white.

Where there are overhead coverings, is that just for shade?

[tod2]

Yippee! More lovely tropical plants. The large pot fern looks as if it could be a staghorn.
I love the bird house!

[mickthecactus]

It could be shade breeze but I fancy more to keep the birds off.

[bixaorellana]

Can't believe those orchid roots don't get fried when the sun hits that metal fence. Do you suppose the ones on the fence get sprayed with nutrient-enhanced water?

Great pictures and beautifully grown plants.

That precious little Episcia looks as though it's growing straight out of the wall.

[lugg]

I was just thinking the same as Bixa as I scrolled down as in " how do they survive that metal fence !" Lovely photos Mick