Fredclarkeara After Dark Orchid

Fredclarkeara After Dark

One of the most dramatic orchids at Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA this week is the dark-flowered Fredclarkeara After Dark. They have two varieties hanging in pots in the Orchid Room near the exit. Be sure to seek them out if you get to make a visit!

Dendrobium Andree Millar

Dendrobium Andree Millar in Phipps Orchid Room

It was a busy weekend around here that ended in a trip to Phipps Conservatory for their Orchid & Bonsai Show. Here are a few photos of the small and beautiful Dendrobium 'Andree Millar' orchid. There are hundreds of orchids under-glass at Phipps this winter. I am hoping to have some more time to share them this week. Enjoy!

Orchids at Phipps Conservatory

Paphiopedilum insigne f. sanderae from China

A few more orchid photos from our last trip to Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA. This week we will be going to see their winter Orchid & Bonsai Show, which has been my favorite of their displays in the past two years. I hope to share a nice batch of photos from our trip. Have a great weekend!

The Best of Wife, Mother, Gardener

The Front Walk Garden with Allium aflatunense 'Purple Sensation' with Tulipa 'Cum Laude' in May 2011

I am pleased, and a bit surprised, to announce that this is my 300th post on WMG!

Over the past two years, my blog has recorded what was blooming every month in our town garden, our garden maintenance, our garden's succession planting, visits to other excellent gardens (including a fellow-blogger's garden!) and scenes of our children in every season growing up surrounded by nature. It all began from my husband's encouragement to document some of our favorite plant combinations from the 2010 growing season.

Here is just a sampling of my favorite photographs of our gardens with links to popular posts from the past two years. Hope you enjoy them again - or for the first time!

Coffee Filter Flower Wreath Tutorial (aka: Must Have More Flowers!)

Paper flowers made from brown coffee filters.

Need some more flowers in your life at the moment? In addition to growing paper whites, cyclamen, African violets and amaryllis in the house at this time of year, flower crafts can also bring some spring to warm our lives in the cold. This particular craft was therapy for my flower-deprived soul a few weeks ago, so I decided to try sharing with you too.... just in case you are also feeling the winter blues.

"Snowcapped" Hydrangea

Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' dried and capped with snow this January.

See them with white blooms and leafy, green foliage in August in our garden.

Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, in Winter

Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, in winter.

My family and I traveled to Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA again this winter for their Christmas flower show. While I enjoyed the flowers inside, I also was eager to catch a glimpse of their Dawn Redwood trees (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) outside the beautiful old glass conservatories. These tree have wonderfully interesting branching and bark and also possesses the rare tree experience of being deciduous conifers, so I knew they would be worth seeking out, even in the nose-biting cold.

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ January 2013

One little groups of snowdrops (Galanthus elwesii) popped up on the Shade Path garden just for Bloom Day.

Not much is visibly happening in our Pennsylvania garden this month, except for the normal winter pattern of freeze, snow and thaw. Over the weekend, our temperature actually warmed up to 64 F/18 C! That removed our foot of snow cover from Christmas time. It also enabled this small group of Galanthus elwesii to emerge with a few glistening (if sparing) flowers for January.

Color for the Weekend...

A blue orchid, Vanda Hilo Princess, from Phipps Conservatory's Orchid Room.

Read more about Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA here on WMG.

Heavy Snow

Shoveled path to our front door.

We had quite the snowfall the day after Christmas, and it is still with us two weeks later. (See our still standing snow fort.) I took these photos of our garden covered in snow the first week. Hopefully, we are going to have a thawing out at the end of this week!

Snow fort!

A snow fort tucked in under the slide on our climbing tree.

Three happy rabbits in their snowy burrow.

We finally have our snow. We were fairly well snowed in for most of our Christmas vacation! But home was a cozy place to be stuck in a snow storm. :)

A Gardener's Christmas gifts...

Some garden reading for the winter months: The Wild Garden by William Robinson, Monet's Passion by Elizabeth Murray, Drought Resistant Planting and Beth Chatto's Damp Garden by Beth Chatto.