The Orchid Show

Thanks to a sweet friend, I got to visit the NY Botanical Garden for the first time on Friday. It was Member's -Only Preview Day for The Orchid Show. She and I were talking at dance class Thursday night. (Her gran-daughter P - yes...same initial because she has the same name as our P, is in C's dance class.) We were talking about fun places to visit and she mentioned the Botanical Garden. When I said I had never been there she said, "I'm going tomorrow to see the Orchid Show, you should come with me." And so I did and we had a wonderful time.

I really didn't know anything about Orchid's and had no idea there were so many varieties. They grow naturally in rain forests but up in the trees, not on the ground. Consequently, they don't grow in soil. They get their moisture from the air and they are anchored into the moss, etc., growing up in the trees.

I was so glad I took my camera. All of the following are orchids. Note the variety in their appearance. Orchids consist of 3 parts that vary greatly from species to species (sepal, petal, lip). These variations and all possible combinations of their variations result in a huge variety of flowers, not only in colors but in appearance.








Pansy Orchids



Lady Slipper Orchids



Little Dainty Orchids (see the little pink orchids above the pink pansy orchids.)


As a main attraction of the show, the Botanical Garden brought in Patrick Blanc a french man who was the first to create Vertical Gardens. He has designed and built several growing gardens around the world. If you want to see some interesting pictures of his work, click here.

For the orchid show, he designed several vertical gardens using orchids and complementary plants. These are much more dramatic in person. I couldn't get the lighting right to show the real contrasts, colors, and textures. They're kind of washed out in the pictures.




I also saw some other fun flowers I took a picture of a few of the most unique ones.
Bird of Paradise.

Not sure what this is but thought it looked interesting.

How about a pink pine cone. These delicate petals look just like a pine cone and are the size of a pine cone. (Sorry about the focus, not sure why I didn't get this one in focus.)


Lilly pads in bloom.

And we thought this was a unique pink flower/seed pod that we saw in one of the orchid displays.