Yesterday marked my fifth anniversary of falling in love with orchids, as I attended the New York Botanical Garden’s 11th annual Orchid Show! The first Orchid Show I went to was in 2009 and I was just awestruck, so I celebrate the beginning of my orchid obsession every year by attending a new show.
This year’s show doesn’t have a theme like past shows, but lack of a theme doesn’t mean a lack of beauty. Francisca P. Coelho, Vice President for Glasshouses and Exhibitions at the Garden, designed the Orchid Show, incorporating many of the garden’s Hurricane Sandy-damaged trees.
A couple tips for those of you planning to visit the Orchid Show: 1) Look up as you browse! The garden has a wide variety of orchids in their regular collection, and you can find them attached way up high to tree branches throughout the conservatory. Many of them are in bloom right now, so you’ll be rewarded with little (in some cases, nearly microscopic) treasures by scanning the branches above you. 2) Sniff the flowers! This year’s show seems to have an especially large contingent of fragrant orchids, and there are some really amazing scents everywhere you turn.
