Orchid Overload Vol. 1

I've gone to the Pacific Orchid Exposition, the largest orchid show in the world, for the last several years. I'll probably take a break due to the price increases, but here are my amazing pictures of these exotic flowers.

I begin with some group shots

So many!

 This one was the size of my face!

And they had all these new ones with strange flowers

 Vampire orchids...

 Curly

 Great colors

 The show is held at Fort Mason, a series of warehouses with historical significance and lots of small businesses. The views are outrageous:

More to follow soon...

Cemetery as Arboretum

I recently went here:

 Home of one of California's founding fathers:

They have a rose collection of heritage/heirloom varieties clipped from 100+year-old cemeteries from across the state. But this post is about the spring bulbs...

Fresia, they smell sweet like fruitloops!

 A flowering cherry at its peak

Fluffy 

Because they are double flowers, twice the petals 

Then the tulips, so many cool varieties 

This is likely the result of a virus, the tulip mosaic virus, which causes this mottled and gorgeous color

My favorite

 

Then the irises

 

 

My favorite

Some other stuff

 

I always love the native ceanothus, which blooms in late winter through early summer with bright blue/purple flower clusters that smell like honey 

 There are so many flowers the petals coat the ground under the trees (they often are grown as bushes for landscaping)

I even found  a rare white one 

It was recently easter, so I made some eggs for my nephew

Reggaegg 

Some interesting cloud formations