Happy St. Patrick's Day! Green Orchid Photos and Haiku Poems

Irish Blessing Plaque: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2017

Happy St. Patrick's Day and floral Friday! The plaque in the photo above has this Irish blessing:

"May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

The rains fall gently upon your fields

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of His hand"

This plaque hangs, year round, in our bedroom. I am a wee bit Irish, after all.

Green Orchid "cymbodium goeringii" : Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2017

I thought green orchids would be perfect for this St. Patrick's day post. The photos were taken at the U.S. National Arboretum in their Bonsai Museum. It's a great place to visit, any time of the year.

Green orchids rising: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2017

Back to St. Patrick's day. While praying and walking today, God gave me these two haiku poems.

St. Patrick's Day Haiku Poem I:

Saint Patrick was real!

He spread the gospel message

and loved our Lord God!

St. Patrick's Day Haiku Poem II:
He used shamrock leaves

to explain the Trinity:

Father, Son, Spirit.

Saint Patrick was a devoted Christian and I'm glad to celebrate his life by wearing green but I think loving God and serving others honor him best. 

Green orchids in pretty pot: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2017

The photo above is an overview of the green "cymbodium goeringii" orchids in their pretty pot. When I first saw the pot, I thought it was a pot of grass! But when I looked more closely I could see the orchid flowers.

Kittens love an unmade bed: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2017

Just in case you wondered what our kittens were doing on St. Patrick's day - they were relaxing. Every time I went to make the bed, a cat was on it. It's late afternoon and I still haven't made the bed,  but the day isn't over. But their kittenhood almost is - they will be a year old a week from today!

May God bless you and all you love!

How do you celebrate Saint Patrick's Day? 

Related posts:
My Favorite Funny Cat St. Patrick's Post: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/hilarious-happy-st-patricks-day-cat.html
More funny Irish cat photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/03/funny-st-patricks-day-photos-of-moose.html
Cute cats wearing the green: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/funny-st-patricks-day-cat-photos.html

Note:
This is not a sponsored or paid post. All opinions are my own.

Pretty Orchids in Glass Houses

As part of the Longwood Gardens Orchid Extravaganza there were these cute little displays of orchids in little glass houses. I think they were in the banana room, which is next to the regular (year-round) orchid room.

I guess these orchid houses are a fancy version of a terrarium and I suspect the Longwood Gardens staff built them especially for their precious orchids.

 Here you can see a bit of an overview of the setting the little orchid glass houses rested in.

 I thought it was neat that the roof panels could be raised to let out a bit of moisture if needed.

Have you ever seen orchids in glass houses before? Hope you enjoyed today's photos. May the God who created every beautiful thing bless and keep you!

Related posts:
2014 Orchid extravaganza: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/02/orchid-extravaganza-at-longwood-gardens.html
Orchid close up photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/02/close-up-photos-of-beautiful-orchids.html
2013 Orchid extravaganza: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/02/orchid-delights-at-longwood-gardens.html
Orchid Jubilee: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/orchid-jubilee-at-us-national-arboretum.html

Orchid Extravaganza at Longwood Gardens

Longwood Gardens is featuring their amazing "Orchid Extravaganza" exhibit through March 30, 2014. I took these photos on a recent trip with my husband and hope you enjoy them.

Longwood Gardens staff members created these neat pyramid-like orchid walls to anchor one of the main conservatory displays. If you look closely you can see some giant orchid balls hanging from the ceiling too.

Here's a shot featuring the orchid balls. They were much larger than the photos convey and filled with beautiful blooming orchids.

Another highlight was the "orchid meadow" which featured many different types of beautiful orchids blooming in a small field-like setting.

There were six of these modern art type orchid sculptures (the first photo in this post has a close up of the one in the middle of this shot). 

Here's the conservatory display from the opposite side. You can see the potted palm trees more easily from this direction (and the orchid wall/pyramids in the far background). I hope you enjoyed this mini photo tour of Longwood Garden's Orchid Extravaganza and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the photos. Which was your favorite? Come back soon for some orchid close up (macro) photos!

May God bless and keep you!

Floral Fair Photos, Art and Arrangements

I took this week's floral Friday post photos at the Montgomery County Fair. Montgomery County has some talented artists! There were so many great floral photos that they'll need two posts so watch for another post with floral fine art creations from the fair. The above moth and flower photo was a definite eye catcher.

 And this is about as perfect an orchid photo as I've ever seen.

 I thought the Olympic rings were a touch of genius for this floral arrangement.

And this prize winning Montgomery County Fair floral arrangement incorporated the Maryland state flower as well as some colorful vegetables.

The above photo is a blue ribbon winning photo frame decorated by hand made paper flowers. It looked nicer in person than in the photo.

If you enjoyed this week's floral Friday photos I'd love to hear about it. May God bless you today and always!