Philippines Orchid Show 2016

Garden Shows in the Philippines are usually held at the Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City. As i am living in the vicinity and my office is just around the corner, i normally do not miss the big garden shows. There are many garden shows per year; horticulture garden show, orchid show, cactus and succulents, bonsai shows, arids and aroids. Every show has both the exhibit and commercial areas.  Exhibits showcase the predominant species or varieties famous or blooming at that period. The commercial areas, on the other hand, not only carry the theme plants but also other saleable plants like fruit trees, vegetables, other ornamentals, fertilizers, garden needs and more.

The Philippine Orchid Society show was held at the end of August to the 1st week of September, but i failed to post it at once. I went there only for a lunch meeting and was not able to take more and better photos. But somehow, these will give some ideas on what we have.

Waling-waling or Vanda sanderiana is our pride, as it is native to the Philippines and served as parent to most of the commercial vanda hybrids in commerce. I do not think anybody will say it is not beautiful, rather everyone is awed by its beauty. The time for the orchid show is always set when waling-waling is blooming. It is always the highlight of the show. Other orchids and plants used for the landscape exhibits and competitions are only secondary.

 This landscape design did not use many orchids as centerpiece, the terete vanda are just on the sides. Those hanging greens at the arbor however are also endemic to the Philippines, Dendrobium anosmum or what we call "sanggumay". It produces cascades of sweet scented viole or white blooms.

 A landscape design with mostly Phalaenopsis hybrids, or commonly called butterfly orchids, is showcased here. Phals, as it is also called is also native to the country. Beautiful foliage plants embelish and add beauty to the total structure.

By the way, these designs are also in competition, but i will not tell you the winners. I purposely cropped the awards and ribbons to hide that. However, winning plants can be seen in the exhibit, as shown by the blue, red and white ribbons.

Above is a composite of many orchid genera, but of course they are also native here. The top portion is occupied by the waling-waling, with lower portions with Phalaenopsis, Rhenanthera, Oncidium, and other lesser known species. You can see lots of blue ribbons and plaques there, i can't seem to crop them without destroying the photo.

 This is a showcase mostly of different Vanda cultivars, Mokara, Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis and others.

 big clumps of waling-waling 

Waling-waling, Vanda sanderiana, at its best

The  following varieties and hybrids just will show us the endless possibilities of the offsprings and grand offsprings of Vanda sanderiana. There are interspecific hybrids, intergeneric hybrids and more. All of us will be enthralled with their beauty, awed, mesmerized and wish we have a few of them in our gardens. 

I hope this will inspire you to go into orchid growing. I have been caught in it once, many years before. But time and space did not allow me to do it full time, so eventually they failed. I only have a few self-supporting ones at home, at the mercy of the elements. Whenever they produce a few blooms, they are the star of the garden. They surely know how to catch every attention!

 

 

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The Resort University Too

The previous post about The Resort University showed mostly the lowest side of the campus specifically the edges near the sea. This time i will try to show some photos inside the campus including the top edge or the mountains. I might not be doing justice to their campus landmarks, because i was there only for a short time doing official business and these are just spur of the moment shots when time allows. We just happened to pass these areas, so i might as well photograph them. I hope the photos will just speak for themselves.

the oval for athletics

LSU (Leyte State University) was the former name of the Visayas State University, this marker obviously hasn't been changed. We stayed here for the whole duration of our stay, 3 nights.

Do you like those table and chairs? They are outside the front lounge. Please scrutinize fully, as i was also fooled the first time. These are made of cement, just made to look like real hardwood. You were faked too! 

Blue bells (Thunbergia erecta) serve as hedges to slightly cover the hallway going to the rooms of the hostel.

Swings adorn the pocket gardens between hostel wings. They serve as trellis for twining plants making it also a lovely arbor.

These cottages are outside the premises of the hostel, built near the beach and can be rented by outsiders who wanted to stay for a few nights. Hmm it can also serve as private cottages for honeymooners.

The hostel lobby is always adorned with fresh flower arrangements, just picked from the university grounds. Some plants i know from the above arrangement are: Heliconia rostrata, Etlingera elatior, Acalypha wilkesiana, another heliconia at the top portion. some green leaves also for accents and fillers.

Etlingera elatior or torch ginger

Acalypha wilkesiana

More arrangements also caught attention. At the left is mainly composed of greens- boston fern and another i forgot. At the right are long inflorescence of Heliconia rostrata. 

variegated Aglaonema plants make a lovely center piece

On our third day, the flower arrangements are changed. The ever beautiful Heliconia rostrata is still there, it has a long vase life. Newcomers are green and red leaves of Ti plants, plus flowering spikes of Costus ginger. Those white flowers are so delicate-looking and only opens for a day. However, the succeeding buds will open too, so i guess there will always be opening flowers daily.

Another standing arrangement composed of foliage of boston ferns and flowering bromeliads adorn the hallway to the hostel rooms.

 This is a view from the hostel lobby looking outside to the sea. 

Did my photos caught your attention, took your fancy that makes you want to spend a weekend in this Resort University? I hope i do. Thanks for your attention, haha.

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