Friday, March 21, 2008

Kuala Lumpur orchid garden



Time for installment three of 'KL by nature'.

The Kuala Lumpur orchid garden showcases more than 800 different species of common, rare and endangered orchids. A coral reef of the botanical world, Clare and I were amazed by their delicate structures and colours.

Did you know that:
  • There are about four times as many orchid species than the combined total of all mammal and bird species.
  • Vanilla used in cooking actually originates from a type of orchid
Mum - you would absolutely adore this place!
Libby
- Does Alan know about this one? No doubt he would - we were thinking of how much he would have enjoyed it.
Everyone else
- So you're not out of the loop, my Mum is an amazing gardener, with an encylopaedic knowledge and appreciation for all things floral. 'Alan' is Clare's uncle, who is an expert in orchids.

Here's some pics from our self-guided tour:

The tiered, covered (and refreshingly cool!!) orchid walkway into the garden...

We weren't sure if this one was transplanted onto the tree, or naturally occured. Any help from our experts??

A hibiscus from an adjoining garden...I couldn't help but dig the colour!

Heliconias and the pinkest of pink frangipanis. A first for both of us, we also saw bright fire-engine red frangipanis elsewhere in the city.

One of my favourite shots. Note the small spider on the inside of the front orchid (click the photo to see an enlarged version).

4 comments:

tim said...

Pansy.

:)

Mum said...

Just beautiful........and the orchid on the tree (just to answer the query) is natural in the wild, we even have a few native ones in our yard.

Belly said...

Wirris
I'm thinking of genetically splicing my own orchid and calling it a 'girly man'. :-)

Mum
Glad you enjoyed the photos. Thanks for the help with the query!

tim said...

btw... the first flower in the post looks like a vagina.

There. I said it. Don't pretend like you all weren't thinking it also.