Manhattan’s Garden District is Orchid Mecca

I didn’t even know that Manhattan had a Garden District until a fellow orchid-loving friend recently enlightened me. Yesterday morning I found myself in midtown Manhattan for a doctor’s appointment and decided that I would check out the Garden District afterward, as it was nearby. And behold, I found a whole slew of garden shops on W. 28th St. between 6th and 7th Aves – some of which almost exclusively sell orchids! Holy moly, was I in heaven!!

The first store I bumbled into was called 28th St. Orchids, and they are not messing around. It was a long, narrow room filled with orchids galore! They had a ton of Phals, but there was also a good selection of lady slippers, Oncidiums, and Dendrobiums. There were some adorable mini Phals with white blooms tinged with light pink in the center. I asked how much they cost, and the guy told me they were $15. Fifteen dollars for a teeny tiny orchid plant? Yikes. It’s actually a good thing that the orchids in this neighborhood are too much for my budget, otherwise I would have come home with like 15 of them.

I ended up going into about seven or eight different stores; W. 28th St. is literally lined with store after store filled with orchids. I didn’t get the name of each store I visited because I was a little overwhelmed, but I did note a few: Designer’s Garden, Tropical Plants & Orchids, Paradise Plants, and Foliage Garden. One of the stores – I believe it was Tropical Plants & Orchids – had a pretty wide variety of orchids. They even had Zygopetalums (LOVE them!), Midnight Blue Oncidiums (gorgeous) and Vandas. All so beautiful and colorful, but I was afraid to even ask how much those varieties cost.

When I have some money to burn and am in the mood for a new orchid (which, duh, I always am), I’m gonna hightail it to W. 28th St!