Showing posts with label orchids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label orchids. Show all posts

Monday, March 31, 2014

Journey to a Magical Cloud Forest at Oliver Wolcott Library & White Flower Farm

The Oliver Wolcott Library on 160 South Street in Litchfield is hosting the photographs of Sue Kennedy through April 25 in the Gallery of this lovely library.



Twenty years ago Sue Kennedy was in Texas working on a Kinesiology and Adapted Physical Education PhD. If anyone had told her that photographing and raising orchids was what she would be doing today, she wouldn't have believed them. She is here to share her journey, and hopes you will smile, find joy, and most of all, peace from these images of her quiet and powerful children of the Magical Cloud Forest.

Sue's father was a pediatrician in the Torrington/Litchfield area, but he always had a second great passion...orchids. Before medical school he earned a PhD in Botany from Cornell and dreamed of discovering and naming a new orchid. 

After retiring from medicine and armed with a U.S. Department of Agriculture permit, he and his wife took many collecting excursions including the Amazon, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Plants were brought home, potted or mounted, and treasured in his "quiet place," the greenhouse he had built.



When her father passed away and her mother became ill, Sue was forced with a dilemma - let the orchids die, sell them off or give it a go. She dove in and never looked back. With each blossom she began to see and photograph the unique character of each plant. She shared her images with friends and would see their eyes light up with a kind of childish wonder, peace and joy. Sue continues to capture how light is reflected and penetrates; how it enlightens; how each bloom is a fascination.



After visiting the Library, stop by White Flower Farm to look at the fabulous selection of plants to be found there. White Flower Farm is located on Rte. 63, 167 Litchfield Rd. a few miles south of the center of Litchfield.  Visitors to White Flower Farm will offers a wide array of plants for sale.  The shop at White Flower Farm opens in April.  Visitors may also explore several beautiful display gardens that are adjacent to the shop. A special deal only available at the Farm is to earn one Pettingill Dollar for every $10 spent on plants and accessories.  Bonus dollars can be redeemed from July 1 - August 31 -- gift certificates are not included in this offer. For more information about White Flower Farm visit  www.whiteflowerfarm.com.

For more information on programs at the Oliver Wolcott Library call 860-567-8030 or visit www.owlibrary.org. For information about the Litchfield Hills visit www.litchfieldhills.com