Get growing! Orchid show, garden tours offer gardening inspiration
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Flower fans, plant parents and "gardenerds" will have two busy weekends of ogling fellow enthusiasts’ green babies. The Platinum Coast Orchid Society will host its annual extravaganza May 5-7 and Keep Brevard Beautiful’s Secret Garden Tour follows on May 13.
Platinum Coast Orchid Society show and sale
“Orchid Fantasy” is the theme for the Society’s 58th annual orchid show and sale, scheduled for the Kiwanis Island Park Gymnasium, 951 Kiwanis Island Park Rd., Merritt Island.
Individuals, orchid societies and growers will present their best specimens of these stunning flowers. Local and international orchid vendors will tempt attendees with their plants, and plenty of orchid supplies, complimentary culture sheets - along with advice and encouragement for newbie hobbyists - will be available to keep the new plant purchases happy in their new homes. Free orchid classes will be held on Saturday.
Platinum Coast member Patti Scholes notes that if treated correctly, orchids are fecund plants that reward their parents with keikis, the Hawaiian term for “little ones,” as the small plants that grow on orchid stems are called. Scholes loves to share keikis.
“That's the wonderful thing about orchids, they are easy to share,” Scholes said.
“Most people think orchids are hard to grow, but I have given divisions to my friends, hairdresser, dental hygienist, daughter's friend, all of them not orchid people, and they all constantly send me pictures of their blooming orchids that they just hang in a tree and water occasionally or not.”
Show hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5. For more information, visit platinumcoastorchidsociety.org.
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Keep Brevard Beautiful's Secret Garden Tour
The following Saturday, the emphasis is on green oases as Keep Brevard Beautiful hosts its Secret Garden Tour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, May 13. The annual event highlights outstanding, unexpected and Lagoon-friendly gardens, with a focus on particular sections of the county. This year, nine gardens in Melbourne, West Melbourne, Indialantic and Melbourne Beach were selected.
“We will have a spectrum of gardens, some with tree canopy, others with no grass and others with ponds,” said Jennifer Thompson, chair for KBB’s South action Secret Garden Tour.
The tour booklet provides the addresses for these hidden gems. Attendees can visit all or just some of the gardens at their leisure during the event. The booklet, which costs $10 and is used as ticket for entrance, can be purchased at City of Melbourne City Hall, Ace Hardware of Cocoa Beach, City of Satellite Beach City Hall, Keep Brevard Beautiful’s Cocoa office, Sun Harbor Nursey in Indian Harbour Beach, Vision 43 in Palm Bay and Ace Hardware in Merritt Island. Payment should be by check made out to Keep Brevard Beautiful with “Secret Garden Tour” in memo line or in exact change.
For more information, call 321-631-0501 or keepbrevardbeautiful.org.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Orchid show, secret garden tours showcase spring landscaping
