Some Tropical Colour Inside Toronto's Allan Gardens Conservatory

Baby, It's Warm Inside

Outside, not so much as the struggle for higher spring temperatures is real here in Toronto. 


My previous post titled "The Allan Gardens Conservatory 2018 Spring Flower Show: Enough With the Winter Interest, Let's See Some Flowers!" gave you a ton of colour by showing some highlights from the 2018 Spring Flower Show: masses of hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths, Salpiglossis (Painted Tongues) and Schizanthus. 

Here's a reminder:

Schizanthus and Pale blue grape hyacinths
 at the Allan Gardens Conservatory 
2018 Spring Flower Show 

If you ever visited the Conservatory with a camera, you'd know that are many other photo opportunities besides the seasonal displays. I couldn't help taking these pictures making up this post. The source of these flowers are from the Conservatory "permanent" collection of tropical plants which are not moved around during the seasonal Flower Shows.

As spring slowly arrives this year, these shots remind me of hot and humid days in July and August even though outside the glass panes now, it's anything but.

African Senna or Candelabra Tree flowers 
(Senna didymobotrya) at the 
Allan Gardens Conservatory

African Senna flowers Candelabra Tree 
(Senna didymobotrya) at the 
Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia) 
at the Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Bird of Paradise flower (Sterlitzia reginae) 
at the Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Brassocattleya maiki "Mayumi" orchid 
at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Brassocattleya maiki "Mayumi" orchid 
at the Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Brazilian Tree Fern (Blechnum brasiliense) 
emerging fronds with white Bougainvillea 
petals at the Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet) 
at the Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Calliandra haematocephala (Powderpuff) 
flower  at the Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Light purple Cattleya orchid hybrid 
at the Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Pachystachys lutea 
(Golden Shrimp Plant or Lollipop Plant) 
at the Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Rhyncholaeliocattleya George King 'Serendipity' 
orchid at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Rhyncholaeliocattleya George King 'Serendipity' 
orchid at the Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Yesterday,Today,Tomorrow (Brunfelsia pauciflora) 
at the Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Etobicoke's Centennial Park Conservatory 2017 Spring Flower Show

No Pots and Pans and Hot Tubs: Just Flowers

Toronto's other Flower Show just ended this past weekend to, as usual, mixed reviews. The National Flower Show known as "Canada Blooms" (because, hey, Toronto is the horticultural capital of Canada right?) runs every early March when the fine citizens of this city are at their most vulnerable and desperate for anything resembling living vegetative matter. I haven't attended in a few years, even with the lure of free media tickets, because the Show doesn't resonate with me: I simply want to see and take pictures (for you, dear reader) of pretty flowers and not be solicited aggressively with offers of kitchenware or outdoor hot tubs. The exhibits for Canada Blooms are located close to a Home Show in the same complex so one usually needs to run a gauntlet of home improvement salespeople to see gardens which focus on dimly lit large areas (read expensive) of concrete pavers. (According to some of the latest reviews on the Canada Bloom Facebook page, this experience hasn't changed much since my last visit.)  

But let's be fair so here's a great overview of the Show titled "A Viral Tour of Canada Blooms 2017" by fellow Toronto gardening blogger, Helen Battersby,  for those of you interested in seeing the exhibits and reading her witty comments. Apparently she had a bad cold while attending, what a trooper!

I was in the west-end of Toronto in a section/municipality called Etobicoke (for you non-natives) the other day for an appointment and decided to visit a public Conservatory afterwards to see its spring floral displays. It was much more my style: low key and quiet with me and a few families escaping the lousy March weather inside the greenhouses. The Centennial Park Conservatory is the smaller and perhaps overlooked compared to her bigger and better known sister, the Allan Gardens Conservatory, which I've visited and posted about many times. But smaller is good too sometimes: there's always ample parking, no admission fee (although donations are welcome) and never (in my experience) a big crowd getting in the way of my pictures!

Below are a few pictures of lovely tulips, daffodils and hyacinths from this spring's flower show, commerce- and commercial-free. We won't see these blooms outside until another month but it's officially spring so we'll go with that!

"Canada 150" tulips at the
Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017

"Rococo" Red Parrot Tulip at the
Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017

Tulip bed at the
Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017

Flaming Parrot Tulip at the
2017 Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show

"Canada 150" tulips at the
Centennial Park Conservatory
2017 Spring Flower Show

Flaming Parrot Tulip at the
Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017 

2017 Centennial Park Conservatory 
Spring Flower Show 
Flaming Parrot Tulip 

Canaliculatus mini daffodil (narcissus)
at the Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017 

"Rijnveld’s Early Sensation" Narcissus
at Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017

Tulips at Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017

"Rococo" Red Parrot Tulip at
Centennial Park Conservatory
2017 Spring Flower Show

Blue hyacinths at the
Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017 

Grape hyacinths at the
Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017 

"Pink Charm" daffodil (narcissus) at
the Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017 

Pink Charm daffodils and purple hyacinths
at the Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017 

"Pink Charm" daffodils (narcissus) at
the Centennial Park Conservatory
Spring Flower Show 2017 

Late Winter Colour inside the Allan Gardens Conservatory

Come on, Spring 2017!

This post, like all the others I've put up in the previous late winters, is more for my relief in dealing with another long Toronto winter than anything else. There's no theme or message today, just some pictures of colourful flowers and leafy things. (The only real outdoor colour I'm seeing is the yellow from my "Arnold Promise" witch hazel that's blooming his (?) head off right now, just like clockwork.)

I visited the nearby Allan Gardens Conservatory the other day to see what was blooming indoors. The staff is preparing for the Spring Flower Show scheduled to start on March 1 so the show beds still had remnants from the Christmas Flower Show like ornamental kale and cyclamen. I'll return in about a month when the Spring Show is in full "bloom" as it were and post pictures of tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths, etc. I did manage to take, however, some nice shots of orchids, amaryllises, and some unrelated tropical things below for your enjoyment.

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
white and purple Phalaenopsis orchid 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
white and purple Phalaenopsis orchids 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
white and purple veined 
Phalaenopsis orchids 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
white pale purple Phalaenopsis orchid 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
white Phalaenopsis orchid 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
yellow and purple Phalaenopsis orchids 

White and purple Cattleya 
at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

White and purple speckled orchid 
at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

White and purple veined 
Phalaenopsis orchid at 
Allan Gardens Conservatory 

White Phalaenopsis orchid 
at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Allan Gardens Conservatory "Clown" amaryllis/Hippeastrum 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
"Red Lion" amaryllis/ Hippeastrum 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
"Snow White" amaryllis/ Hippeastrum 

I tried to get "artsy" by photographing the underside of these huge Philodrendon leaves. Was I successful?

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
Philodendron leaf under side 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
Philodendron leaf underside backlit 

Philodendron leaf underside 
Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
Philodendron leaf underside 

Philodendron leaf underside 
at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

The camera's flash went off below, unintentionally, due to my fat fingers.

Philodendron leaf underside 
with flash Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Fern fronds when they unfurl resemble cobras so I see five baby snakes emerging from the centre of this Brazilian Tree Fern. I really do like the pale red new fronds (with some pink) contrasting against the mature green leaves!

Brazilian Tree Fern (Blechnum brasiliense) 
opening fronds at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

These witch hazels were in full bloom outside the Conservatory in the public park,  With no labels to depend on, I'm guessing the name of this late winter flowering shrub is Hamamelis x intermedia "Diane". The flowers' scent, to me, is a combination of orange peels and burnt rubber but, as the saying goes, "your mileage may vary."

At Allan Gardens Hamamelis x intermedia "Diane" 
witch hazel late winter blooms 

Hamamelis x intermedia "Diane" 
witch hazel late winter blooms at Allan Gardens