'Orchids! A Cultural Odyssey' and other flowers Photo Gallery by Helen Betts at pbase.com

'Orchids! A Cultural Odyssey' and other flowers

A spectacular exhibit of orchids from around the world at the US Botanic Garden. I ended up visiting it four times altogether; some images I like, some not so much, but I find the flowers fascinating. Page 2 is just a collection of various flower images I've taken over the years; NEWEST IMAGES ARE AT THE END.

Reflections	Wall of orchids	Cascade	Long
Exquisite	Tinged	Backlit	Up close and personal
Colorful	Pouch	All alone	At an angle
Experimenting	Traditional	Ray of sunshine	Standing out
Demure	Dappled pair	Neon	Fire engine red
Profusion	Bronze	Orchids of the world, unite!	Experimenting
Standing out	Brilliance	Pastels	Extended
Sunspot	Sparkling	Night light	Delicate
Vivid	Daffodil look-alike	In the spotlight	Fan
Center stage	Floating	Center of attraction	Bright spot
Lighter shade of pale	Silent beauty	Gold and rose	Bright
Beginning to fade	Fading off into nothing	Pale	Golden drops
Crazy ladies	Camouflage	Riot of color	Welcome
Bunch of orchids	Like calamari!	Rear view	Sun-dappled
A bit bizarro	Three bizarre amigos	Pointing the way	Through glass
Rear garden peony is blooming	Peony resting on a branch	Flowers at the Mall (Saturated Challenge)	Color at the US Botanic Garden
Topkapi tulips	Topkapi tulips	Topkapi tulips	Topkapi tulips
Inner Glow (Half a Second Challenge)	Sunflower	Mosaic (I Like It; What Is It? Challenge)	Sunflower (Best of 2006 Challenge)
Half & Half (9th place, Favorites Challenge)	Eye of the Storm	Red/White (9th place exhib, Color Contrast Challenge)	Sunburst
Brilliant Bloom (8th place, 'Wonderful World' Challenge)	Roses on the Mall	Floating in a Sea of Green	Tulips again
Sun Flower (Color Contrast Challenge)	Pansy (7th place, Macro Challenge)	Time Out (Creamy Bokeh Challenge)	Summer Wilt (9th place, Creamy Bokeh Challenge)
Butterfly Habitat, Natural History Museum	Promise of Things to Come	What a difference a day makes!	Fading glory
Reaching for the Sun (9th place, Changing Seasons Challenge)	All lit up	The advent of spring	Summer wilt
Spring, National Gallery East Wing	Cherry blossoms	Cherry blossoms, Jefferson Memorial	A reflection of spring
Official arrival of spring	Magnolia	Magnolia closeup	Washington, city of tulips
Gaggle of tulips	Sun worshippers	Tulips at the Capitol	Tulips at the Capitol
Tulips in red	Tulips at the Capitol	Just an array of purple and gold	Floating magnolia
Carpet of tulips	Field of tulips	Fantasy in purple and white	Congressional pink
In the spotlight	My prize tulip	Beacon	Duotone
First clematis this spring	Clematis to be	Clematis almost open	Clematis in bloom
:: Azaleas and Rhododendrons at the National Arboretum ::	Capitol columns and tulips	Parking strip iris	Up close and personal
Pink velvet	Suspended	Glowing from within	A head above the rest
Iris at the fence	Wisteria in the making	Night light	Early peonies
Peony bud	From my garden	The light within	Prize peony
Another from my garden	Golden surprise	Baby poppy	Poppy
Peony on the fence	Just another clematis	Offspring	Busy bee
Hydrangea	Floral rocket	Firecracker	Hosta
Varying shades of pale	Pincushion	Crape myrtle	Fragrant
A la Gauguin	Purple bells	Pretty in pink	One of many
Pink	Blue	Blossom	Pods
Flower ball	One day later, and with tripod/105 mm	My flowers on glass	Back to hydrangeas
Wrought iron hibiscus	:: Lily heaven on Capitol Hill ::	Seeing green	Dahlia
Backyard dahlia 1	Backyard dahlia 2	Dahlia bud	Inside story
On the fence	Straight lines	Just a pretty grouping	Out of the ordinary
Gigantic	Newseum flowers	A tinge of purple	Sunflowers in the city
Tree blossom

Denise J T Lee		04-Apr-2025 01:25
Love your flower galleries. They're all so sharp, and all the colors look so natural. Thank you for providing this gallery for people to come back to browse around ! ~VV~

Lampridis Dimitris		06-Apr-2015 16:14
Excellent Collection , Amazing Work *****

Joe Bonello		12-Aug-2014 15:07
Beautiful gallery full of colors,great captures

danad		11-Oct-2013 08:28
An excellent work again, Helen, with beautiful colors, lights, details and backgrounds. BV.

MummaDragon		03-Jun-2012 23:58
I like the backgrounds! Lovely gallery. V.

Guest		29-Jun-2010 01:04
Excellent work! V.

Tom K. Wysocki		23-Jun-2010 19:55
Outstanding gallery! Bravo! V!

T. Richard Chen		07-Jun-2010 22:52
One never gets tired of taking the beauty of the flowers especially of orchids. A very outstanding collection. - V -

joseantonio		10-May-2010 18:31
Fabulous collection of images

Jean-Luc Rollier		30-Apr-2010 10:12
Outstanding collection Helen! Love your garden!... :')) JL Vote

William Barletta		25-Apr-2010 15:23
This gallery keeps getting better and better. Plus it was the inspiration finally to get the new camera and lens. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Guest		14-Apr-2010 20:37
Great collection of botanical photos with impresive colouring and excellent detail

gsaf		11-Apr-2010 01:24
With the D700 for flowers, I prefer the results with the 70-200 at 70 over the 24-70 at 70. Not really sure why. Bokeh maybe?

Zolt�n Balogh		10-Apr-2010 21:56
Beautiful gallery with wonderful photos! V

Ali Majdfar		29-Mar-2010 18:36
Fabulous collection, lovely shots. ~V

Giancarlo Guzzardi		29-Mar-2010 06:56
beautiful collection of splendid blooms

William Barletta		28-Mar-2010 02:11
I love the new additions to this gallery. You have captured the exotic beauty of this exhibit.

William Barletta		27-Mar-2010 15:47
This is a super gallery. Gorgeous images that are sharp, rich with color and texture. The compositions are superb. Bravissima!!!

click on thumbnails for full image