While returning home from Repticon/Charlotte, Mrs. Zoomie and I spent the morning at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens in Belmont, NC. While the grounds were very nice, it was the orchid conservatory that made my heart go pitter-patter. At 10,000 square feet and 5 stories in height, it is the ultimate dream PDF enclosure. From a beginner's perspective, it was amazing.
Here are a few pics. Many of things that I was interested in did not have ID tags. I apologize in advance for being species ignorant on much of this stuff.
Also, picture quality is crap. I apologize. I was trying to avoid blinding white flash at all costs.
These Tilandsia balls were neat.
Heard to see but it was nice to know that if we got locked in, we had all of the bananas that we could eat.
Mrs. Zoomie posing in front of what may be the coolest potential PDF tank in history. As you can tell, Mrs. Zoomie just loves having her picture taken. On the fun scale, I believe that she places it somewhere between being married to me and a mammogram.
Here are the individual sections of the enclosure:
Just something that caught my eye:
The Broms were to die for. These were 18 inches in diameter:
This flowering Brom was absolutely stunning:
Now THIS is a water feature:
Huge arches completely covered in Tils. I begged Mrs Zoomie to let me pry off a few and stash in her purse, but she said that her talents would be better utilized gathering bail money for me:
This Til was at least 2 feet tall:
Another incredible Brom. Interestingly, many of the broms were getting very little light:
Anyone interested in climbing this Ceiba Speciosa aka Floss Silk Tree?
The mother of all Broms, Alcanterea Imperialis aka Red Imperial Bromiliad. You can clearly note the shock and awe factor by the expression on my face.
This thing was a beast
We had a great time. We enjoyed it so much that we plan to head down to ABG and check it out.
Here are a few pics. Many of things that I was interested in did not have ID tags. I apologize in advance for being species ignorant on much of this stuff.
Also, picture quality is crap. I apologize. I was trying to avoid blinding white flash at all costs.
These Tilandsia balls were neat.
Heard to see but it was nice to know that if we got locked in, we had all of the bananas that we could eat.
Mrs. Zoomie posing in front of what may be the coolest potential PDF tank in history. As you can tell, Mrs. Zoomie just loves having her picture taken. On the fun scale, I believe that she places it somewhere between being married to me and a mammogram.
Here are the individual sections of the enclosure:
Just something that caught my eye:
The Broms were to die for. These were 18 inches in diameter:
This flowering Brom was absolutely stunning:
Now THIS is a water feature:
Huge arches completely covered in Tils. I begged Mrs Zoomie to let me pry off a few and stash in her purse, but she said that her talents would be better utilized gathering bail money for me:
This Til was at least 2 feet tall:
Another incredible Brom. Interestingly, many of the broms were getting very little light:
Anyone interested in climbing this Ceiba Speciosa aka Floss Silk Tree?
The mother of all Broms, Alcanterea Imperialis aka Red Imperial Bromiliad. You can clearly note the shock and awe factor by the expression on my face.
We had a great time. We enjoyed it so much that we plan to head down to ABG and check it out.