My Visit to The Orchid Show: Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Gardens

Centerpiece in the Haupt Conservatory atrium

I finally made the trek up to the NYBG yesterday for my fourth annual visit to the Orchid Show. This year marks the show’s 10th anniversary, with the theme being vertical gardens. Botanist, provacateur, and vertical gardening artist Patrick Blanc, aka “The Green Man,” created this year’s stunning displays. Orchids really are the perfect plant for constructing breathtaking vertical gardens, with their long, arching flower spikes and their ability to produce massive sprays of blooms. These plants sometimes grow on vertical surfaces in nature—tree trunks, branches, rocks, etc—so a vertical garden is a very logical way to show them off!

My mom was in town and we made the trip together. We both took about a million photos, and of course I want to share some of my favorites with you. Get ready for a hefty dose of orchid porn, starting…NOW.

I snapped this shot with my iPhone and it actually turned out quite well (click any photo to see a larger version):

Oncidium Sheila Anne ‘Hilo Glory’

Who doesn’t love a Vanda? Here’s a shot from an atypical angle:

Vanda lip

I was enchanted by this pristine white princessy Asocenda:

xAsocenda Princess Mikasa ‘White’

This peachy Asocenda x Vanda hybrid is absolute perfection. I can’t stop thinking about it:

xAsocenda Tubtim Velvet x Vanda Kultana Gold

Loved the big white lip on these yellow guys…I didn’t catch the label but they look like they are part of the Oncidium Alliance:

These orchids look like they’ve got big old man beards!

Here’s a view of some of the displays:

That’s my mom there on the right! Hi Mom!

I particularly like white Phals with fuschia lips:

A gorgeous arrangement of gorgeous Phals

Phals are such attention whores; they’re just begging to be put on display:

“Hey everyone, look at us!”

A very serious amount of flowers:

Large sprays of Oncidiums

Another Vanda shot for good measure:

The color on these is just phenomenal; the photo appears more blue than they really are

Oh, hey there—I’m just posing by a wall of orchid. Don’t mind me…

Happy to be surrounded by beauty

These Phals caught my eye:

Hadn’t seen Phals with this coloring before

Aaaaand, let’s close out with another shot of Phals taken by my iPhone:

Tiger stripey Phals

More photos from my visit can be found in my Flickr set. I took pics of lots of plants—not just orchids.

We had such a wonderful time! Of course we visited the garden shop after our jaunt through the conservatory. I didn’t end up getting any orchids this time around…I think I have my hands pretty full at the moment. If you haven’t yet gone to the Orchid Show, do it soon! The show runs through Sunday, April 22, so there’s still time left.

I have some updates on my own orchid collection that I have been meaning to write about lately, but life has been pretty busy. I will get to it soon, though! As always, thanks for reading.

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7 comments

  1. Girl those are some beautiful orchids, thanks for shearing. I will be going to my second orchid show on the 9.4.2012 I am so excited to be sorrounded by the loves of my life. I hope I can sleep on sunday night I am taking my daughter with me she shares my passion she is sooooo excited she already chose her clothes to wear. I will tell you all about it. LOL.

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