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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Philippine Orchid Show 2013

The Philippine Orchid Society holds a biannual show here in Quezon City, Philippines. This first for the year is on February 28 to March 11, 2013. The show features floral and plant displays, competition exhibits, daily lectures and commercial bazaars. Other areas also hold orchid and horticultural shows, but not as large as these held here at the center of Metro Manila. This first one is usually held at the start of the dry season to coincide with the blooming of many species. The second orchid show will be in October, coinciding with the blooming of another groups of orchids. It is a norm to have separate sites for the exhibit area and commercial area. These events hope to boost current efforts in showcasing the strong potential of our local horticulture industry.

The present show has the theme "Philippine Orchid Species Revisited" showcasing mostly the Philippine endemic and native orchids. Some are botanical species not anymore found in the wild but only in nurseries of collectors. I am always present in these garden shows, but there are still some species that I've just seen for the first time.

 One of the designs showcasing Gramatophyllum multiflorum, many years ago inhabit our forests. It is seldom seen in the wild now, they are now mostly in the hands of collectors.

 This design showcases many of the native and endemic orchids; Vanda, Gramatophyllum, Dendrobium, and a lot more including ferns and foliage.

 Phalaenopsis hybrids, or butterfly orchids

 Vanda hybrids which are not flowering yet, they will be showcased in the next orchid show in October. AT the center is the famous Vanda sanderiana, or our waling-waling, the mother of most vanda hybrids now in the world's commerce.

  Vanda teret orchids attached on driftwoods. This vanda very well suits our climate.

This is the back view of this design, highlighting Dendrobium anosmum or our sanggumay. It has a lovely scent that permeates the exhibit grounds. 

A different design without orchids but bonsai plants and local rocks.

This is the natural design of the exhibit grounds. Men water the plants every hour because of the heat which otherwise will bleach this plants directly planted on the ground. 

New Fotos from the Orchid Show

The Philippine Orchid Society holds exhibits and commercial plants sale twice a year at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City, Philippines. The first was held in February and the 2nd is ongoing for two weeks until September 10 this year. The first one, i confess  is so hot and humid, as it is during the dry season. This time the plants are happier as temperatures are not that high, sunlight is not so intense and periodic drizzles are common. It is also not very disappointing for visitors because the flowers stay longer than during the dry season. However, intense rainfall will probably pressure the flowers and will also be unfavorable. It is raining intensely now, I have to visit the exhibit again tomorrow to check how the flowers fared.

I was in the show for both Saturday and Sunday, and despite the drizzles my friends and I were happy to take photos. It was a good testing environment for my newly acquired macro lens. It made me so exciting and even forgot to take my lunch on time. I had the wider angle lens with me, but wasn't able to use it. Goodbye for now from the individual exhibit photos, anyway they were fully shown last February. I hope you will also be happier with my results now, as I did.

The Waling-Waling, Euanthe sanderiana aka Vanda sanderiana. This is the orchid pride of the Philippines, endemic here, and has been one of the parents or grandparents of most Vanda hybrids today.

 Coelogyne pandurata

 a Phalaenopsis hybrid

a Cattleya lip

a Cymbidium

 I love the texture of this Dendrobium

 red pincushion protea, or Leucospermum

 an ornamental pepper at different stages of maturity

 a bromeliad maybe a B. guzmania

 flower of a beehive ginger, Zingiber spectabile

a succulent, Haworthia attenuata (Thanks to Ash, also to Mark and Gaz)

After the landscapes, the orchids

I will confess that I am biased when it comes to orchids. I like all of them, I look at them with awe, they are all beautiful. However, when it comes to preference, i am more attracted to the Vanda. The photos i am posting here are all hybrids and the last two are the nearest in morphology and color to our native Vanda (Euanthe) sanderiana, which locally we call 'waling-waling'. 


Originally, the waling-waling is found growing high up on big trees in the rainforest. It has been discovered a long time ago, and already considered the grand-grand parents of most Vanda hybrids now in the commercial trade. Many inter-generic hybrids are also produced with this Vanda sanderiana as one of the parents. Examples of these intergeneric hybrids are Aranda (Arachnis x Vanda), Ascosenda (Ascocentrum x Vanda), Mokara (Arachnis x Ascocentrum x Vanda), Vascostylis (Ascocentrum x Rhyncostylis x Vanda), and more. Photos are from the ongoing Philippine Orchid Society Show at the Quezon Memorial Circle.

Above and below: Vanda sanderiana

above photo from previous orchid show