Day 83: Gubler Orchids

People are very hospitable here.  Whenever we meet anyone, that person scratches their head and starts worrying about us having nothing to do, and making lists of attractions for us.  Never mind that we are very happy just going out in the desert every evening.  It turns out that the two prominent attractions of the neighborhood are Pappy and Harriet's and Gubler Orchids.  Pappy and Harriet's turned out well, so we thought we'd take a look at the orchids before we leave.

Gubler Orchids is a business that manufactures orchids in a large set of greenhouses in the middle of the desert and ships them all over the US.  It might seem a strange thing to visit but it turned out to be quite interesting (and beautiful).  A very nice lady showed us round and explained the technicalities of the greenhouses and orchid growing to us.  One of the interesting things about wild orchids, if you're a natural history buff, is that they rely on the presence of a fungus to germinate, so growing them in greenhouses is a complicated business involving fungus hormones!  Meanwhile, Antonia went wild with the camera.  I know she rates Gubler pretty highly as an attraction.

 She took several photos of the backs of orchids which is something an adult probably wouldn't do, but they came out quite interesting.

Cute orchids by Antonia!