Orchid Tourism in Florida and Georgia

Playing Orchid Tourist

Last week, my husband and I took a six-day vacation to Orlando, Savannah, and Charleston. When I travel I always like to find out if there are orchids I can see along the way. John did a little research and found an orchid nursery called EFG Orchids in DeLand, Florida that was only a bit out of our way on the drive from Orlando to Savannah. So we took a tiny detour from our road trip to see some orchids!

EFG Orchids

EFG is fairly small compared to some other orchid nurseries we’ve visited, but they have a nice variety. I of course took lots of photos and wanted to share them here. I didn’t catch the names of all of these, so if you can ID any of them, please let me know in the comments. First up, I particularly loved this Phaleanopsis schilleriana:

I love the sunny yellow of this Oncidium Alliance orchid. Possibly an Odontoglossum? Miltoniopsis?

My photo of this intense, waxy Phalaenopsis Sogo Grape “Fireball” does not do it justice:

Here’s a lovely Paphiopedilum lowii half alba ‘#2’ x Paph lowii half alba ‘#1’:

And they had a few Zygopetalums—my favorite orchid!

I was especially taken with the unusually large lip of these Phalaenopsis:

And I believe this is a type of Phalaenopsis, but I didn’t get the name. The blooms are very small, maybe an inch tops. They’re super cute!

I didn’t buy anything because we were going to be traveling for the next five days and I haven’t had much luck with keeping orchids alive that I’ve brought home on a plane. But we enjoyed our visit to EFG Orchids and I recommend you check them out if you’re in the area!

COASTAL GEORGIA BOTANICAL GARDENS

On our second day in Savannah, we decided to drive 20 minutes outside of town to visit the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens. I came across the place while researching things to do in and around Savannah and I saw on the website that they have an orchid greenhouse. The gardens were pretty desolate when we arrived in the morning, and there was only one person in the greenhouse, Jimmy, who was tending to the orchids. We ended up chatting with him about the collection quite a bit and learned a lot from him.

Again, I didn’t take pics of many ID tags, so please let me know if you can ID any of these!

I have no idea what this orchid is, but it sure is beautiful:

Obviously this is a Vanda…these orchids always take my breath away!

I believe this is an Ascocenda. I love the orangey-coral shade of the blooms!

I think this might be a Phalaenopsis manii? The blooms are pretty small.

Jimmy specializes in Lycaste and has some award-winning specimens in the greenhouse. How gorgeous is this one?!

No idea what this orchid is, but the foliage is pretty unusual and the blooms are tiny for such a large plant. I’d say the flowers were maybe a quarter inch in size, tops.

I’m pretty sure this is a type of Dendrobium. I love the super velvety ruffled lip!

This orchid has to be related to the Angraecum sesquipedale. Look at that long spur hanging down from the back of the bloom!

This Bulbophyllum bloom is stunning. It’s different from the other Bulbo blooms I’m familiar with, and it didn’t smell like rotting meat.

This white orchid may be a Dendrobium? Whatever it is, its teeth kind of crack me up.

This orchid had a beautiful, long spray of dainty blooms:

I’m always drawn to whatever this type of Encyclia is:

And this similar orchid:

This intense red Paph was simply gleaming in the sunlight:

And here I am enjoying myself amongst my favorite plants:

The CGBG orchid greenhouse was somewhat small, but as you can see, it was jam-packed with all kinds of wonderful orchids in bloom. It got me excited to build our greenhouse this summer!

I love taking time out to visit orchids while traveling. There’s something calming about being surrounded by these plants. And I’m happy that we had the opportunity to see orchids not once, but twice on our trip!

Have you visited EFG Orchids or CGBG during your own travels?

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