A Walk in an Orchid Greenhouse... Our homeschool group took a field trip to an orchid nursery today - what a great trip for winter in Minnesota. It was so nice, warm, bright and fragrant in there that one would never want to leave. Too bad it wasn't planned for the -24 day we had a few weeks ago. We are actually experiencing a heat wave here - nearing 40 degrees!

But I digress - the tour was excellent. It was amazing to see how many different kinds of orchids there are and how long they take to grow. It really gives you perspective on the reason they are so expensive (they take an average 3 years to bloom) and so beautiful.

Rhiannon had prepped a little ahead of time - last night we spent about 30 minutes online looking at a variety of orchids and learning some basic facts. We also printed out an orchid coloring page and two color photos of her favorites for her portfolio. We discussed where orchids grow and what colors there are and how many different species there are.

Today on the tour the guides asked some of those very questions and shared those facts - it was nice for once to have been ahead of the game.

Here is what Rhiannon had to say (dictated by her typed by me):

"Today I saw a pink sky orchid and I liked it and it had mommy and daddy orchids as well. I learned that orchids can grow in any state and they can't grow in Antartica. Orchids come in any color except black. I remember there were 10,000 different kinds of orchids. I would like to send this message to all the people of the world. I want to tell you something very exciting - at the end of the tour we got to see lamas and we also got flowers. Friends I think you should take a tour of the greenhouse and explore all the flowers. It's so good. Love, Rhiannon. "