Colours of India at the Orchid Festival,  Kew Gardens,  London,  February 2017

Every February, Kew Gardens brightens our lives with a tremendous Orchid Festival.  This year the theme is India and there’s no doubt that the colours and shapes (including an orchid-filled rickshaw) match the theme.

The 2017 Orchid Festival is on until 5 March – highly recommended if you’re in the area.

Hex colour ref:  a8efa0

A colourful note:  the gorgeous splash of green that pops up in bokeh-form above, can be found in Crayola crayon boxes under the name Granny Smith.  The name was granted as part of a public competition in 1993 when a young girl from Wichita won with her fruity name.

This version of green is named after the light-coloured and tough-skinned apple, Granny Smith.  It was named after Maria Ann Smith, who created the apple variety completely by chance.
I related this story last year, but it’s worth a repeat.  Maria was born in 1799 in England and migrated to Australia in 1838 as part of the New South Wales ‘Bounty Scheme’, where she and her husband developed an orchard.  The fortunate development of a pippin from rubbish thrown out after making an apple pie turned into the much loved apple.  At the time of Maria’s death in 1870, the apple was not yet a commercial variety, but a local orchardist later purchased part of the Smith farm and developed the fruit, known at that time as the “Smith seedling”.  It grew in popularity and by the end of World War I Granny Smith apples were being exported around the world.

Copyright Debbie Smyth, 15 February 2017

Part of Color Your World