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 News from Around Banderas Bay | May 2007 
Vallarta Orchid Society Lecture Series - Vanilla
 T.J. Hartung - PVNN
| | For more information, send an email to pvorchids@gmail.com, or visit the Vallarta Orchid Society website: pvorchids.com. |
The next in a continuing series of lectures on Orchids will focus on Mexico's gift to the world - the vanilla orchid, and vanilla itself. We will discuss everything from the cultivation of vanilla, the special techniques needed to pollinate the flower, the harvesting and curing of the beans, and the making of pure and imitation vanilla for cooking, and a lot of other uses.
This talk will take place on Saturday, May 26th, starting at 1 PM, at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens. Admission to the talk is free. These talks are designed to educate and enlighten, without getting into too much technical and scientific detail.
Vanilla orchids are common throughout Mexico, and can now be found in many of the tropical regions of the world. Only in Mexico does the orchid produce vanilla beans. Elsewhere, it takes human assistance to produce vanilla beans by manually pollinating the flower.
Since the vanilla orchid blooms during the month of May, This lecture will include a demonstration of the manual pollination procedure, providing, of course, that there is a fresh blossom to work with.
The Vallarta Orchid Society is open to anyone with an interest in orchids. There is a modest donation of $200 pesos for membership in the society.
The Vallarta Botanical Gardens has a large (and growing) collection of orchids and other plants from the area. There is also a restaurant, a swimming hole in the river, and shade houses where young plants get their start.
The gardens are located 24 Km south of town, just 3 Km past Chico's Paradise. The bus to El Tuito will stop at the entrance to the Gardens, and will return you to town. There is a small fee for entrance to the gardens, which can be used as credit towards food and beverages, or other purchases at the gardens.
For more information, send an email to pvorchids@gmail.com, or visit the Vallarta Orchid Society website: pvorchids.com. |
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