Need help to identify these magnificent orchids in India
Rose-coloured orchid
My green thumb is pretty faded. In fact, it’s never been all that green. I love plants and flowers but I’m not very good at growing them. Just like I’m not very good at hand washing laundry.
So I admire anyone who can get the earth to offer up healthy food and things of beauty.
Needless to say, I was gobsmacked by the array of orchids at the Flower Exhibition Centre in Gangtok in Sikkim in the northeast of India.
White orchid with deep pink and yellow centre
The centre, which is located in a large tropical greenhouse, is open year-round (admission is 10 rupees or 20 Australian cents), but we were lucky to have our visit coincide with the annual Sikkim Flower Show.
The display features pot after pot of beautiful orchids, in all colours and from all parts of India. I couldn’t help myself and took way too many photos (50 to be exact) of plants I didn’t recognise and couldn’t name. You can see I used some restraint when I chose what to post here.
Some plants still had their identifying tags, but most of those had faded or the ink had run in the two weeks since the show opened.
Brown orchid
As a consequence, I’ve managed to identify only a few of these beauties, so I need your help to name more. Please share names (or possible names) for any of these orchids, and I’ll be mighty grateful.
Thanks is advance for any insight you can give.
This year’s the month-long Sikkim Flower Show opened on 17 March. If you’re anywhere in the area be sure to visit and take your camera. If you can’t get there this year, put it on your 2016 calendar.
P.S. I wonder what Nero Wolfe, the famous detective and orchid aficionado, would have thought of this display? He was an avid eater too, and I wonder if he’d have liked my page-32 recipe for Indian cheese pakoras. If you’ve never read his books, written by Rex Stout, you should give them a try.
Yellow pink orchid
Where to next? 
Beautiful 🙂
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Glad you enjoyed them.
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The Orchid photos are beautiful ! I started to do a search for various types (regarding photos you posted) but there are a zillion different types of Orchids and hard to pinpoint specific types.
The New York Botanical Gardens currently is having an Orchid Show; The elegance of the orchid in all its myriad forms. And my brother traveled to Philadelphia to see an Orchid Show there a few weeks ago. Finally, I believe I read that Taiwan is the #1 place to see/buy Orchids… ??
Sy S.
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Oh Sy, you are a troublemaker. Now Taiwan has to go on the must-visit list. 🙂
This is orchid time of the year so I imagine there are shows going on all over the world. Pity that I can be in only one place at a time.
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P.S. Orchid Plant Sources –Pointers to orchid vendors’s sites-
http://www.orchidmall.com/spedload.htm
Vendors selling Orchids; America has a huge listing, followed by Thailand and then Taiwan….
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Thanks Sy. That’s a great link. Will look at it more closely when I’m back in Australia.
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I’m pretty sure she would have said, “This blog post is the definition of dopeness.” Thanks for sharing 🙂
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My pleasure.
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Gorgeous. It’s as if the orchids are opening their mouths to give us their names. I just can’t understand the language.
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Nor can I.
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Beautiful flowers and photos Peggy. Some of these certainly look familiar but I don’t know their names even though I’ve bought them. I’m going shopping today so if the florist has orchids Ill see what I can find out.
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Many look familiar to me too. I suspect most are cymbidiums, but I just don’t know their individual names.
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Next time you are in Moruya around September the local growers have a fantastic display there. Maybe someone in the local club could name some for you.
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Thank you. What a brilliant idea.
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oh my! Peggy these are all just so beautiful!! Unlike any I’ve ever seen!
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Same for me. I’d never seen so many orchids in one place, and so many different ones.
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