Whispers of Spring to come..

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One of the more esoteric signs of impending Spring in any town of size is the Spring Orchid show — the enthusiasts and local botanical gardens do their best to show what they have that is blooming.

Leipzig is no different and we recently had the chance to catch the local show here. I confess that I have become somewhat jaded, having grown and exhibited orchids for several years, as well as working closely with several American Orchid Society judges as a judging clerk. That sort of experience tends to have an impact on expectations and is unavoidable. Still…

I was delighted by some of what I DID see in the show. I can’t tell that there was any kind of judging or competition among the growers and it wasn’t clear if the plants we were seeing were from local enthusiasts or if they were from the greenhouses of the Botanical Gardens. At any rate, I did see some old familiars, a few new faces of orchids I’d only read about or seen in photos. I also discovered that the native American orchids that I was fortunate to find in the wild have been cultivated and some of the greenhouses here are actually selling them. Goodbye, paycheck… I’m about to have a relapse of orchid fever!

And the light is starting to change as the sun is finally crawling a bit more northward in the sky. The buildings are getting painted with a new light that serves them nicely.

Of course, the light on the tram is as seductive as ever and one uses the camera at hand to capture the fleeting visions as one can.

That’s all for now. Tschuß and a bientôt!