Tag Archives: Como Park

February 1, 2020 · 8:01 am

Winter Carnival Orchid Show

Every year the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory located in Como Park, St. Paul, has an orchid show during St. Paul’s winter carnival, typically the third weekend in January. I try to make it every year even though it’s very popular which means it’s very crowded. I thought I was being smart by getting there just a few minutes before it opened at 10:00. Um, not!! As we approached the conservatory on Estabrook Drive cars were already parking on the street. I thought for sure we’d get a spot in the parking lot as we always have before. Wrong again! The parking lot was completely full this time so we went back to the beginning and parked even further down the street than when we first passed it a few minutes earlier. Next year we’re going 30 minutes early and we’ll wait in the car! It worked out, obviously, so without further ado, below are some galleries of not just gorgeous orchids but other beauty contained within the conservatory.

I’m going to split the galleries up a little bit. First, some photos of plants and flowers other than orchids.

I know of one couple who got married here.

beautiful bromeliad

one of my favorite walkways

red ginger bloom

red ginger bloom up close

a pruned ficus

pruned ficus further away

fern room path

Next, some photos of “general” orchid views.

Finally, some close up photos of the exquisite orchids that I photographed. I couldn’t capture them all, there were just too many people. But, as always, it was so worth it just to feel a bit of the tropics on a winter day and to view beautiful flowers.

love this delicate yellow

And my favorite of the group, nice and large.

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Filed under Minnesota

Tagged as Como Park, Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, orchids, photography

August 4, 2017 · 11:22 pm

Water lilies at Como Park

Every summer about the end of July, beginning of August there blooms these exotic water lilies in ponds near the conservatory at Como Park. I don’t always remember to go look at them but something on my phone reminded me that the last time I photographed them was 8/1/15. In fact, I created a post about that visit. Do check it out, I think you’ll like it.

I had been thinking about these gorgeous flowers but didn’t take the next step to go look at the dates on the photos to remember when they bloom. Instead I was reminded via current technology. Smart phones are great tools!!

And so I give you this year’s version of the dazzling beauties that are the water lilies at Como Park in St. Paul Minnesota. I hope you enjoy!

water lilies-Como Park

One last one full size on its own. I’m so glad I got to see them this year!

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Filed under Gardening, Minnesota

Tagged as Blooming Victoria water lilies, Como Park, photography, Victoria water lilies, water lilies

August 1, 2015 · 9:51 pm

Water lilies at Como Park, St. Paul

I love these flowers!! And I missed seeing them the last several years. Well, tonight was the night! I decided to take the short drive to Como Park AFTER the zoo and conservatory closed so as to miss the hoards of people that undoubtedly were visiting this fine park. I found a parking spot easily and headed to the outside of the conservatory where these gorgeous flowers are blooming. They are Victoria water lilies and commonly called Blooming Victorias. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Click on any image to view the gallery.

water lilies at Como Park

Como Park

I saved this one for the end. I wasn’t sure if this would look so good since it’s in the bright sun. But I really love the way it came out.

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Filed under Gardening, Minnesota

Tagged as Blooming Victorias, Como Park, flowers, photography, Victoria water lilies, water lilies

February 2, 2014 · 5:00 pm

Marjorie McNeely Conservatory – Como Park, St. Paul, MN

One of our favorite activities during the winter months is to visit the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in Como Park. It’s a ten minute drive from our house and provides a nice refuge from the frigid weather. And boy howdy, have we ever had frigid weather this year! Not to mention the piles of snow we’ve accumulated. Here’s a good view of that snow with the conservatory in the background:

piles of snow

approaching the conservatory

I don’t think anyone’s going to be sitting on this bench any time soon :)

don’t let that bright blue sky deceive you – it was about zero degrees

This year I focused more on the blooms. Last year I documented many of the plants that are contained within the conservatory. If you’re interested, check out that post by clicking here. We managed to strike it rich in terms of seeing beautiful orchids. The winter carnival is happening right now and there was an orchid contest and the winners were displayed in one of the rooms. I also noticed that there were many more orchids blooming this year than last year. Last year we visited the equivalent of about 3 weeks ago. What a difference 3 weeks makes!

orchid at the conservatory

I did snap some photos of lovely greenery too:

A collection of some other things blooming:

The sunken gardens where many couples get married:

And here’s a photo from hubby’s camera, the photographer at work ;)

This was quite the scene with the sloth named Chloe and the lone sun bittern. There was a volunteer who just told us how the bittern loves to torment the sloth to gain control of this tree. Another volunteer watched with us while the sloth moved away from the bittern. He said he’d never seen that sloth move so fast! It seem the bittern won this round:

I’m thinking the bonsai room was either closed last year or we missed it. There’s a nice display of a few bonsai plants but it wasn’t a good day to take photos in there. It was too bright. But I did get one of an olive tree and then a view of the room: