andipantz

Orchids are quite magnificent plants with upwards of 25,000 species found in almost every habitat on Earth!…including areas close to the Arctic Circle and Antarctica.  Several things that we seem to encounter on a regular basis are derived from orchids including vanilla bean.  It takes one single vanilla bean pod 8-9 months to ripen and because orchids have a very delayed blooming cycle, it’s easy to understand why vanilla bean is so expensive!

An exhibit of orchids recently started at Longwood Gardens.  I had never been to Longwood Gardens before (I know, I know - practically a sin for the plant lover in Philly), but I went to check out the orchid display and it’s quite magnificent.  I received some bad news last week so being surrounded by beautiful flowers and aromas for a brief time was quite nice.  However, I don’t think that my withdrawal for nature macros has been queched.

Anyway, this is not the orchid from which vanilla is derived, but just one of many orchids that I photographed.  I will post more soon.

While I was there, I also had some thoughts for more macro tips and tricks, of which I have not written much lately.  So perhaps I will do that sometime soon.