Trip Report: Myriad Gardens of OKC

I recently visited the Myriad Botanical Gardens of Oklahoma City with my family for the holidays.  I have been there a couple of times before, but not since I became a plant nut.

I was really excited about going to the Myriad Gardens, only having vague memories of the place.  The Gardens far exceeded my expectations.  I saw so many different plants, I can't begin to name them.  And the identifying placards were about 1 for every 15 plants, so there were many I had not seen before and still don't know what they are.  Currently the gardens are strung up in Christmas lights, which were lit and visible for about the last 30 minutes that we were there.

I took over 200 pictures - probably about half of the plants present - and put together a photo album here.  I will go through this photo album and add names as I identify them all, but for now it's just the pictures.  I'm sure I will dedicate several future posts to plants I saw there, as well.  The pictures are nothing special and a number of them are out of focus.  But for the most part you can tell what I was trying to take a picture of.

Here is a quick list of some of the highlights (all should be pictured in the photo album):

• pale purple Anthurium in bloom


• HUGE Philodendron bloom


• unknown Aroid shingler (possibly Rhaphidophora cryptantha) climbing rocks - most appressed plant I've ever seen


• Jamaican poinsettia tree (Euphorbia punicea) in bloom


• many different varieties of Heliconia (False Bird of Paradise) in bloom


• Yellow Neomarica (Walking Iris/Apostle Plant) in bloom


• TONS of orchids (Phaelenopsis, Dendrobium, Oncidium and others I can't name)


• lots of bromeliads, lots of ginger, lots of palm trees


• couple of large staghorn ferns

Enjoy the photo album!  (and check back for picture captions)