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Friday, March 12, 2010

USBG Production Facility Tour

Paph. victoria-reginaOnce again, we took the annual opportunity to visit the US Botanical Gardens production facility this past weekend. They have an open house every spring, and it is a wonderful opportunity to see parts of their collection that you may not otherwise see. You can see photos from last year here.

This year, not as much was in bloom, likely due to the cooler winter, or perhaps much of it had just been moved off-site for use in the conservatory or participation in various plant shows. As always, we were treated to several nobile-type dendrobiums and their lovely bank of Paph. victoria-regina specimens (upper left).

Dend. loddigesiiThe Dend. loddigesii, one of my favorite dendrobium species (of which there is an increasing number) were in bloom. These are sweetly fragrant, like roses. It is a delightful species to grow and they bloom fairly young. There are variegated clones of this species as well.

They also have a succulent collection with an interesting variety of this & that. There were a number of Euphorbias there I don't remember seeing before, and a few miniature Aloes. Aloes are a new fascination with me. I am especially fond of the miniatures.

Euphorbia horrida var. striata
Euphorbia horrida var. striata
Aloe humilis
Aloe humilis
Aloe aristata
Aloe aristata

And finally, because I think its cool, some liverwort. (Although, The Larry accused me of being weird for taking this photo.)

3 comments:

webb said...

Never been much of a fan of aloe, but like these two. May need to open my eyes (and my mind). sounds like a great opportunity. Is it open to the public, or do you have to know/be someone?

Unknown said...

I can't wait until my liverwort makes 'flowers'

Julia said...

I love the little aloes with nifty leaves. There are many, and they are compact and easy to grow.

As for the facility, they're only open to the public during their open house, and you have to purchase tickets. I first heard about it through Clive Ayeto, an acquaintance and USBG employee. But my buddy, The Larry buys the tickets every year. I'm not sure how he gets notice of the event. Perhaps he has given money to the conservatory. I would check the USBG website for events. It happens every year in March. I believe they only do it annually.