The national terrier specialty this week

A highland Nepenthes, a carnivorous pitcher plant from Borneo, grows in a corner, well established in a hanging teak basket. It was easy to believe that it was 1909, and that I was lost in the maze of 100 year old wood and glass greenhouses at Longwood Gardens, in Pennsylvania.

These back greenhouses are what greenhouses are supposed to look like, the sort that we see in period films where the wealthy kept exotic black orchids and man eating plants. No man eating plants here, but I thought that I might share some of the images that struck me as interesting from our trip this past week to PA ( Lydia, our Irish Terrier was in a string of national dog shows, and the national terrier specialty this week). Sometimes, the simplest of ideas can inspire us - I liked this thermometer box, protecting the device from the hot sun.

This name may be a mouthfull, but once you disect its name, you can see where it came from. It is a what is known as an intergeneric cross between three species, here, a Brassavola, a Cattleya and a Laelia. Many growers abbreviate this name as Blc.The Cycad relative Encephalartos are investments for any collection, with even tiny plants selling for hundreds of dollars. This South African native is Encephalartos woodii, or Wood's Cycad, and it is nearly 14 feet in diameter.