Well first it’s worth mentioning that we had an amazing lunch at Samy’s.  We had a sampler course that featured a LOT of spicy and delicious food served on banana leaves.

It was too much for most of us to handle. But SO GOOD!

Afterwards, it was off to the gardens where we first checked out the Orchid section. It was burning hot that day and an area called the Cool Room (featuring ferns, pitcher plants, and cooler climate specimen) was a very popular destination.

A fiddlehead fern in the Cool Room. Koru is the word for this in Maori, and it is said to represent life and growth, and emphasize continuity and origin.

The orchids were, of course, stunning.

Heliconia was all over the garden, but this is one of my favorite and in my opinion one of the most beautiful tropical plants!

Overall I think the Garden was very neat and well organized.  I and a few others walked through the rest of it after the orchids and I liked how they created different areas, like a rainforest area along with  a general park area with sprawling fields and bamboo and gazebos for outdoor family excursions.

It was a very colorful and hot day in many different ways!