In the sweltering Labor Day heat, I paid the New Orleans Botanical Garden a visit. Established in the 1930s and incorporated in one of the oldest urban parks in the US (City Park, 1854), the botanical garden is definitely a greenspace worth its weight in ferns and orchids, both of which are many.

This formal promenade of evergreen hedges, sculpture, and a carpet of green turf set the scene of a serious botanical garden.

Poking your head through the hedges into the private side gardens, you'll find specimens lining the "walls". This Weeping Juniper (Juniperus rigida 'Pendula') speaks to a very specific taste.

The tallest of the species in the outdoor fern garden, this Australian Tree Fern (Cyathea cooperi) is reaching near 15' in height while using David as a scale, who stands at 6'8".

What I call the "Hall of Horns". This collection of Staghorn Ferns (Platycerium bifurcatum) is seriously impressive! This epiphyte is native to Australia and surrounding islands.

I was pleased to find a cacti house here in humid New Orleans. These old glass houses always have an old Victorian charm.

This is a fantastic Parodia magnifica specimen, and blooming to boot. This cactus must be decades old.

I was really taken with this pot planter, almost like she's out of Avatar. Spilling out of the pot is Euphorbia aeruginosa, native to South Africa.

Sadly, I forgot to record the name of this succulent and its magnificent blooms.

In the next greenhouse is where the ferns and orchids reside. This wet wall is home to an innumerable amount of fern and related species.

It is easy to tell why the species of the Drynaria is named quercifolia when the genus of Oak trees is named Quercus.

Cleverly named E.T. Fern (Polypodium formosanum 'Cristatum'), these roots would be the real reason one would grow this variety.

While not large, this Japanese garden was nearly immaculate, but that's kind of the point of the stylized design.

Back into the fern and orchid greenhouse, this Tillandsia xerographica is quite possibly the largest I've seen in person.

I'll close this tour with the menagerie of blooming orchid varieties found at the New Orleans Botanical Garden. Enjoy!