Darlings, sometimes it's nice to take a quiet walk and gather your thoughts. When La Diva and the DJ have been working hard, with loads on our minds and need some peace and tranquility, we go to a garden. There we can breathe fresh air, the birds are chirping and the wonders of nature take my mind away from everything except the present.
A few weeks back, we headed over to one of my favorite places in Miami for a bit of calm: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. To La Diva, it doesn't make any sense to go to a calming garden just to have all the tranquility we recently acquired dashed by the ensuing traffic jam on Old Cutler Road upon leaving the garden, so we rode our bikes to avoid the hassle.
As the garden is quite far from the beach, we put the bikes on a rack on the car and then drive to Dinner Key Marina at Coconut Grove, about five miles away and park. We then ride through the "Grove" and enjoy the lovely sites en route to the garden on Old Cutler Road.
The bike path is beautiful and green as we leisurely ride under a canopy of huge moss-covered trees and massive banyon trees alongside stunning mansions and stately homes. As we get closer to the festival, the traffic begins to line up and La Diva and the DJ breeze on by into the entrance. We lock up our bikes and begin our journey into tranquility.
Orchids were on sale from vendors as far away as from Hawaii and were offering a multitude of varieties including woodland, fragrant and rare flowers. There were also food vendors and inside there was a competition judged by the Orchid Society. The displays, including this specimen, were breathtaking. This one reminded me of some sort of alien bug.
For sustenance, La Diva made a lovely potato and rainbow chard frittata and salad. Earlier, I had packed it onto my bicycle bag with a cooling ice block and we had a lovely picnic under this tree. Ahhh........
Starburst
I adore this colour green in a flower (pairs so nice with deep purple!) and have never seen an orchid with a fringe before.
The garden is renowned for their research on tropical plants and includes a center for tropical plant conservation.
I'm lucky I have a big, strong guy that enjoys the beauty of flowers like I do. The DJ quite enjoyed the subject matter and took all of the photos on this day.
I bought a lovely spotted orchid for only $10 and after we strolled around a few hours and ate lunch, we left. Refreshed and at peace, we cycled back to the car, the orchid bobbing out of my bike pack. Hardy little creature, it made it back to the car without losing a single petal.
Out of all of the orchids on display and for sale, these were my favorite. A gorgeous salmon pink, I've never seen an orchid with these delicate hues before.
This post is dedicated to Chickory and Aunty Belle, beautiful flowers for beautiful ladies. My thoughts are with you both. xo
BE-YOU-TEA-FULL!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the dragon/dinosaur thingy.
Those colors are just amazing. I love orchids, but they can be pricey and I have a bad habit of killing them. But that salmon pink is stunning and makes me want to try again. Thanks for the nice walk with you and yours and how sweet to dedicate such beauty to Chickory and Aunty's Mothers.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your post and then being able to visualize the places ( Old Cutler Road, Coconut Grove, Fairchild Botanical Gardens)...What a lovely way to spend the day.
ReplyDeleteVelva
P.S. Andy is hosting one of his photos on my blog. Come on over and say hello.
Quite nice, indeed.
ReplyDeleteHey Jill, me too! Wouldn't that be nice in your back yard?!
ReplyDeleteBoxer, I think the trick to orchids is to ignore them a bit! I always underwater. I've yet to see that colour orchid for sale anywhere!
Thanks, Velva, I'm happy to bring you back to Miami! Andy's getting to be quite the photographer, isn't he?
Thanks Tor, welcome!
I love orchids. I don't kill them, which is probably why I've got so many.
ReplyDeleteYou've made me realise, I haven't been in the garden enough.
Just gorgeous, La Diva!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fine way to spend the day. The lime sherbet colored orchids are stunning, but I agree with you--the salmon / peach orchids stole mah heart.
An"... aw, mercy, thanky fer thinkin' of me and Chick(.
One of hte benefits of living in Florida. We don't have botanical gardens in Jersey (although there is Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania but that's a couple hours away), we have pine barrens. I would have liked to see the fritata lunch. Nice day and tribute to Aunty and Chicky.
ReplyDeleteMistress MJ just returned from a short (30 mins) bike ride.
ReplyDeleteJust around the neighbourhood to get some fresh air and hear the birds chirping (as you mentioned) and watch as winter is changing to spring. (We're a little slow with that kind of thing up here.)
I so heart this post. And orchids. We have several wild ones around here and they amaze me with their intricate structure. But I've never seen a fringed orchid. Wow. So beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThis post has it all, beautiful orchids, a bicycle ride, a picnic, shopping and a romantic angle.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these photos, such beautiful flowers;-)
Hi La Diva,
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures! Thanks for bringing me "home" for a few minutes. I grew up in Miami and spent a lot of time in the Grove and at Fairchild Gardens. An old beau worked at a sailboat rental place at Dinner Key and after concerts we went night sailing. It was so much fun growing up in Miami in the late 60's, early 70's. Old Cutler is a beautiful drive!
Patti
So very pretty. I tried an orchid once and it died in under two days. I felt so bad.
ReplyDeleteThe description of your day was absolutely lovely.
Usually a few valium calm my mind....but the flowers shore r purdy!
ReplyDeleteYour partner certainly knows how to capture the beauty that comes free from nature. How I wish I could be there in the same tranquility and beauty...and of course along side with my biccicletta ;o)
ReplyDeleteYour post has actually given me a good start to my day...thanks Laura for sharing the very real side of you.
this meant a lot to me. My mom loved going to the botanical gardens. she loved exotic plants - one time we were at leu gardens and she snapped off a seed pod of a blue bean vine. she grew it all along our fencing. thanks so much for this lovely stroll. and for thinking of me (and aunty)
ReplyDeletexo bless you, la diva