2021 saw the release of #10280-1 Flower Bouquet and since then the Botanicals Collection line has been pretty popular. In 2022 we saw two more sets in the theme get released. The first one is #10311-1: Orchid. This one was released in the US on 15 April 2022 for $49.99. It contains 608 pieces which works out to $0.082 per piece. The good news is that at the time of this post, a few retailers in the US have had it on sale as of late. I purchased it from Target and was able to get the VIP point offering from LEGO too. It’s not as many VIP points as buying direct from LEGO, but it’s better than nothing and the set was on sale.
The box looks similar to the Flower Bouquet with the black coloring and and 18+ greebling. The front shows the front side of the set. The back gives another view, dimensions of the flowers, a picture of the actual flowers, and a few close up shots.
The set comes with four numbered parts bags, two longer Technic axles, and an instruction booklet. Bag one contains a piece separator.
The first bag builds the internals of the pot for the plant. It is a good example of how to make something round out of bricks that are typically square. You build an internal structure using plates and then connect the outside with Technic beams and pins.
The second bag adds the design to the outside of the pot. I’m not sure of the official name of the blue color, but I like the shade of blue. If you end up not liking the set, getting some of this blue color is a decent perk. Repeating the step a bunch of times isn’t exactly fun, but my NLS and I built it together so we shared the load.
The third bag builds some leaves, stems, and roots. Like the flower bouquet, this one has little blurbs in the instructions that explain what you are building or where a piece came from in the LEGO world. The instructions can be challenging to follow all of the angles of the stems, but in the end it doesn’t matter a whole lot as you can have the stems grow in whichever way you want them to grow.
Here’s the final build. The last bag builds 6 flowers and then 2 of the smaller ones. The design of the larger ones is pretty cool. I especially like the frog piece that is mixed in. You can place the flowers wherever you want on the stems, but we did our best to follow the instructions.
Definitely a fan of this one. It looks pretty realistic and my NLS was even willing to set in the house as she was glad to not have to water it (still have to dust it).
Definitely look to pick this set up on sale. I’ve seen it a few places for $41 at the time of this posting. Maybe it’ll go down further for Black Friday sales.
In the meantime, happy building!
