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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