Wandering through Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory keeps me sane in winter months. It can’t compare to the Enid Haupt Conservatory that I used to visit in New York, but like so many places in Seattle, it has a charm of its own.
The holiday season means pretty lights and a room full of poinsettias – not my favorite plant, but oh well – with a model train running through it. When the holiday cuteness irritates my aesthetic sense the Cactus House, with its quiet gray-green colors and interesting shapes, satisfies. There’s also the Bromiliad House, and a Palm House set with orchids tucked into glass cases surrounded by Maidenhair ferns, so really, what better place on a gray winter day?
Here is an admittedly eccentric group of images from a visit last week:
bluebrightly 
Gorgeous shots, I love the different effects you have used.
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Oh good – I’m glad you liked that – sometimes I think I should keep the style uniform throughout the post.
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No way! I love the variation 🙂
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We agree on poinsettias! The shot before the cactus looks like Q-tips. My favorite is the orange flowers that I can’t remember a name for. The first orchid (also can’t remember the name) is like one I was given that bloomed for 14 solid months. Amazing. Altogether a nice collection of images.
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I think they’re called Moth Orchids – Phalaenopsis – they do stay on for a good long time. Isn’t it amazing how they’ve taken off and are in every Trader Joe’s and supermarket now? Thanks for your thoughts Gunta! (Yes, absolutely, it’s gotta be a Q-tip flower!)
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Crystal Palace looks amazing, I’d like to visit it someday… 😉
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It’s small, but it’s over 100 years old, which is part of the charm I think.
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Oh, sooo beautiful !
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Another gorgeous gallery! You make some wonderful choices with your framing and perspectives.
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That’s the fun part!
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an increase of colors …beautiful
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We need it now, don’t we? Thanks!
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Such a wonderful place to be in the winter. Fantastic photos!
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Yes, it’s a balm for the soul…or really, it’s just the air I need to breathe.
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Lynn,
You have such a fabulous eye! These are all wonderful, but my favorites are the delicate yellow cactus blooms in the foreground and the lights in the background as well as that wonderful bird’s eye view of the round cacti with their wheels of spikes. Now I want to get my Nikon down to the Denver Botanical Gardens! Happy New Year!
Cathy
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I’m really glad you noticed that one – it was such a cool juxtaposition of flowers and lights with similar shapes & colors. And cacti are such easy, willing subjects! 😉 Yes, go, because I know you’ll do some great work there. I forgot you’re in Denver – or near there
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What an enjoyable way to spend some time out of the wintry chill BB …. how long were you there by the way 😉
Love those cool sophisticated greys and pale lemons .
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Soon you’ll be in Hawaii, huh? I can’t wait to see what you bring back!
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😉
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Great shots and great looking conservatory Lynn!
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A conservatory is a great place to spend a cold winter’s day. We visited the u.s. Botanic garden conservatory right before Christmas and we had model trains there too! As always, your photos are amazing!
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A lovely post Lynn – hope your weather isn’t as awful as some of the rest of the US. The photos are all terrific but for some odd reason I’m most drawn to the first shot of the conservatory. Something about the glass panels I think. Anyway, Happy New YEar to you!
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What a beautiful place to be! Your macros are absolutely stunning and I love how you processed each one a bit differently!
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So many luscious florals caught in delicious light. Refreshing!
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Wow. These images are gorgeous. I just melted when you said that you visited the cactus house and the bromeliad house and the palm house! Orchids too! Now, if I die and go anywhere, I hope it’s straight into a conservatory like this one! I enjoyed these images so very much! Thank you.
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Great perspectives! I’d love to see the Bromeliad House.
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So many wonderful shapes, forms and shades – the cacti have so much life in them!
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Lovely captures! I can almost smell the humidity.
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It’s so snowy and cold and colorless here…thank you for such a warm, beautiful view of why such places exist! 🙂
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Well, it’s been that way here too – good we all have one another to remind ourselves that other worlds are out there, and ours will change, too! Thanks for commenting!
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WOW! BEAUTIFUL PICS AND LOVELY CONSERVATORY . REMINDS ME OF KEW GARDENS IN ENGLAND.
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But WAY smaller! thank you –
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