New York Botanical Garden Orchid Show 2016: Orchideliriium
Feb 27-April 17
So gorgeous they almost make you crazy. The NYBG calls it "orchidelirium," a reference to the 19th century craze when wealthy collectors sent explorers off to all parts of the world in a quest to bring back the best and most unusual orchids.
This is the 14th annual NYBG orchid show, and it will feature thousands of blooms that highlight the adventures of explorers who risked life and limb to collect prized specimens from tropical forests around the world. The exhibition will display orchids as they grow in natural, wild landscapes, cascading from trees and nestled in rocky crevices. Visitors then move on to the greenhouse era, when England's Duke of Devonshire began collecting orchids and, along with his gardener, revolutionized the way the plants were cultivated in large glass houses.
The show will also highlight famous collectors and horticulturists and some of the rare orchids they brought back to England and the United States.
Orchids belong to the largest family of flowering plants, with more than 30 thousand species. Exploration today is tied to conservation in order to protect the plants in the wild. The NYBG is a designated Plant Rescue Center and part of its mission is to nurture orchids that have been illegally collected in the wild and seized at international borders through the Convention on Illegal Trade in Endangered Species.
The exhibition was designed by Christian Primeau, who oversees the garden's tropical and sub-tropical plant collections.
Check out the exhibition website for many special events, including orchid evenings, lectures, demonstrations and much more.
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