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

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):

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

I was enchanted by this pristine white princessy Asocenda:

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

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:

Here’s a view of some of the displays:

I particularly like white Phals with fuschia lips:

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

A very serious amount of flowers:

Another Vanda shot for good measure:

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

These Phals caught my eye:

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

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.