The Tropical Forest at Phipps has been redesigned to represent India for the next three years. According to the staff, more than three quarters of the plants had to be replaced, as we see in the picture below, taken a few weeks earlier when the transformation was in process.

It’s slipper-orchid season at Phipps—mostly in the orchid room, although right now the whole conservatory is filled with thousands of orchids for the annual winter orchid show. Father Pitt did not take down the exact names of these specimens, so if you want more information you’ll just have to go see them yourself. Above, an unusual Papihiopedilum.

Another Paphiopedilum.

A very elegant Phragmipedium.

A Phragmipedium with a bit more of a laissez-faire attitude to personal grooming.

We’ll be seeing more of Phipps Conservatory this week, because Father Pitt loves Phipps in the winter, and he has a bit of a backlog of pictures.

The Winter Flower Show at Phipps Conservatory has a Nutcracker theme this year. But, as usual, it’s just an excuse to show off mounds of Poinsettias and countless other flowers. After you’ve taken in the Poinsettias, you might want to look out for the various other species of Euphorbia that the gardeners have sprinkled through the displays as a sort of botanical in-joke.

This delightful miniature Victorian conservatory can be found in the Orchid Room.

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Sometimes the scenes in the garden railroad (in the South Conservatory) repay a closer look.

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This is the first time old Pa Pitt has seen a clock with a frame made of succulents.

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In the Broderie.

In the fall, the bright purple berries of this East Asian bush make a stunning contrast to the chartreuse-yellow leaves. This plant was growing in the Discovery Garden at Phipps Conservatory.

The Fall Flower Show at Phipps ended this weekend. Once again it earned its reputation as one of the year’s great events—especially if you happen to like chrysanthemums. Above, looking up into the dome of the entry toward a glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly.

In the Broderie.

A composition in red.

 

 

 

Phipps keeps a huge stock of orchids in the growing houses behind the public conservatory, so the orchid house is always filled with blooming orchids, no matter what the season.

A Phalaenopsis hybrid.

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Guarianthe bowringiana, formerly Cattleya bowringiana. Father Pitt has always suspected that, if the people who have put themselves in charge of orchid taxonomy were turned loose on the canine world, the domestic dog would be classified as hundreds of separate species within dozens of distinct genera.

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Brassolaeliocattleya Mem Helen Brown × Verdant Venture ‘Richard’: three different genera (Brassavola, Laelia, and Cattleya) are represented in the ancestry of this specimen. (When they get to four genera, the breeders stop trying to combine the names of the genera and just make up a new name.)

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An Oncidium of some sort (old Pa Pitt couldn’t find the tag).

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Are you stumped by this one, orchid lovers? Don’t worry. Sometimes even the experts aren’t sure:

The Fall Flower Show opens October 13 at Phipps Conservatory. Traditionally it’s a big deal, and right now the glasshouses are full of carts and wheelbarrows rushing hither and yon. Here in the Serpentine Room, new mums have already gone in behind a wheelbarrow taking away some of the debris from the previous planting.

The entrance to the Desert Room at Phipps Conservatory. The glass sculpture is by Dale Chihuly; it’s now part of Phipps’ growing permanent collection of art.

Is there anything more delightful than to stand in a tropical forest looking out the window at a beautiful snow-covered landscape? It’s a rhetorical question.

A winged sphinx contemplates a hibiscus flower in the Sunken Garden at Phipps Conservatory. On Friday nights, the conservatory is open until 10:00 in the evening.