A few Phals at the Edison Winter Estate in Ft. Myers, FL

[mauraec]

In my never-ending quest to fill time without Phillip, I went to the Edison Estate yesterday, where, among the banyans and palms, they have been trying to mount orchids on the trees. I say "trying" because I saw a lot of distressed orchids tied to trees and not too many on bloom, or green, even. I think they should hire an orchidist if they want to do it right. There were, however, several Phals that caught my eye. I'll post the non-orchid photos on another thread.


The first one that really blew me away was sitting in a pot on the porch of Henry Ford's house (next to Edison's). Since it was down low, I couldn't get a good head-on shot of the whole plant - without the leaves, it's almost hard to see how this could be a phal (and maybe it's not), but to me, it looks like the prettiest, most peloric phal I've ever seen. The others are more conventional.



I rescued this shot from a seriously underexposed state, so I apologize for the lack of detail around the base - there were people everywhere, so it was hard to take my time. Weird angle, too.

[mauraec]

And a couple more...






There were a few ailing dens as well, but I don't think they warrant taking up space.

[tucker85]

I enjoyed the Edison estate when I visited a few years ago. It's a beautiful location and the museum is very interesting. The Edison property seems like an ideal place to grow orchids. Like you said they should definitely hire an orchidist. A couple of historic sites in Ft. Lauderdale have orchidists who not only take care of orchids in the landscape but use the property to hold orchid potting classes and other events to draw more visitors to the property. In fact two of our historic sites now have orchid shows once a year on the property. It's a win-win for the orchid vendors and the venue.

[mauraec]

Aha - found a better shot of that peloric phal - still a weird angle, but you can see the leaves better.

[Bumblebee]

The pink one is sooo dainty and pretty! Just love it. I think its a great idea to have a orchidist on site and to hold potting classes an shows etc. Just wondering if any other Australian members know if we do the same thing?

[angel]

The white phal is so lovely. It is so representative of what a phal should look like.

[catttan]

Nice shots Maura. Good idea using the time to indulge in photographing the orchids and plant.

[zainal abidin]

Well done Maura now I can see the peloric phal very clear it's really pretty one.

[Dorsetman]

I don't remember any orchids when I visited a few years ago , but it was a most interesting place ( especially to me, as a retired Patent Attorney, since Edison was such a prolific inventor, or at least patentee - I read a biography of him afterwards which suggested that he always had to be named as inventor , whoever was actually responsible out of the large number of engineers he employed - which is not the way Patent Law works, but thats another story ! ).

But as to employing an orchidist , I went to an "orchid garden" on one of the Caribbean islands in January - "30,000 orchids" it said in the publicity - $12.50 to enter.... I have more good orchids in flower in my 500 sq. foot greenhouse than I saw there . I intended to complain, but another bus-load of suckers was filling the pay desk area when I left, so I had to content myself with e-mailing the Tourist Board for the island, telling them to make sure they get a professional orchid grower,or shut the place down - it is a disgrace with half the orchids dead, and yet more dying. Thousands of rain forest orchids tied to fences in full sun, and looking as though they were last watered last year - ugh !
I never had any reply, of course.

[mauraec]

I don't remember any orchids when I visited a few years ago , but it was a most interesting place ( especially to me, as a retired Patent Attorney, since Edison was such a prolific inventor, or at least patentee - I read a biography of him afterwards which suggested that he always had to be named as inventor , whoever was actually responsible out of the large number of engineers he employed - which is not the way Patent Law works, but thats another story ! ).

But as to employing an orchidist , I went to an "orchid garden" on one of the Caribbean islands in January - "30,000 orchids" it said in the publicity - $12.50 to enter.... I have more good orchids in flower in my 500 sq. foot greenhouse than I saw there . I intended to complain, but another bus-load of suckers was filling the pay desk area when I left, so I had to content myself with e-mailing the Tourist Board for the island, telling them to make sure they get a professional orchid grower,or shut the place down - it is a disgrace with half the orchids dead, and yet more dying. Thousands of rain forest orchids tied to fences in full sun, and looking as though they were last watered last year - ugh !
I never had any reply, of course.

Perhaps you could work out a consulting deal with them?

By the way, I meant to post this the other day and forgot - I came across this illustrious orchid expert's book in the Garden Shop at the Edison Estate:


They apparently have very high standards for the books they display in that relatively small space!