Sharing Your Love of Orchids with Kids

Photo Wall

The Houston Orchid Society created a “Photo Wall” to stand at the corner of our orchid show and catch people’s attention. The Kid’s Corner consisted of a table of activities and a hanging vinyl photo (4’ x 6’) of an orchid. The vinyl poster hung from a photographers frame and had the center cut out of one of the flowers for children’s (or adult’s) faces. Parents or friends took photos of their children’s/friends faces in the flowers. This month I will include detailed instructions so your club can create this very successful activity.

How to make your own Photo Wall. Requirements: Supervision, a photograph, a stepstool and a standing frame.

Preparation

• Select a photo with good resolution at least a 16mp digital photo (about 68 dpi or more.) Portrait orientation works best. It allows adults behind without having to crouch too low and hides the body of the person. The flower in the photo must face the camera directly. The flower must be full enough so that it completely surrounds the oval cut out (with no background showing on the oval.) When printed the flower needs to be big enough so that the face sized cut out only takes out the very center. Most of the flower should still be visible.

• Have it blown up to 4” x 6” and printed on vinyl. (It can then be rolled for storage and travel.) A pocket across the top and the bottom will allow for hanging from a frame and weighting the base. We used a “photographers’ frame” that a club member no longer needed for his exhibit backdrops. If necessary, a frame can be constructed economically using PVC pipes.

• Cut the oval hole using a craft knife from the center of the flower big enough for a face to fit in (approximately 5 X 7 inches.) ideally it should be in the top half of the photo.

• A sign asking “Please Do Not Touch the Photo” is a big help as kids will try to grab onto the sides of the hole.

• We also supplied a ...

The Orchids of Marie Selby
Botanical Gardens

Epidendrum ilense, which is considered extinct in its
native Ecuador, is commonly found in orchid collect-
ions today thanks to the conservation efforts of
Selby Gardens. Photo: Arthur E. Chadwick.

The mission statement of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is “to promote an oasis of inspiration and tranquility, while furthering the understanding and appreciation of plants, especially epiphytes.” Selby has one the world’s largest living collections of epiphytic plants.

Visitors are treated to a hot and steamy experience – waterfalls and well-established tropical plants. The orchids displayed are not common – they are mostly species from the jungle and many are obscure. In some cases, few examples exist in nature. There are not banks of cascading phalaenopsis clones or groupings of mass-produced oncidiums. Selby wouldn’t be caught dead with a ‘dyed’ orchid in their conservatory. This is a setting for purists – those who appreciate the finer aspects of orchids. It is common to see orchids that are normally only found in books.

Their plant tags are color-coded and contain not only the proper botanical name and country of origin but also the relative importance of each plant:

• Green – for display but not of any great scientific value (hybrids for example).
• Gold – for scientific collections.
• Red – very rare and likely a ‘type’ plant for the species.

Marie Selby was the widow of retired oil executive William Selby. In 1971, she left a special trust to create and maintain a public botanical garden on her 7 acre scenic estate in Sarasota, Florida. Today, Selby Gardens has grown to 16 acres on Sarasota Bay that is enjoyed by over 150,000 visitors annually.

Selby is dedicated to research and collection of epiphytes, especially orchids and bromeliads. A significant portion of their plants are documented species collected from native habitats. There is even an Orchid Research Center that...

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