If the flowering magnolias and budding bottlebrushes around the Garden are any evidence, New York really has shifted gears to full-on spring pleasantry. You know it was satisfying to leave your coat on the hook before work all this week! And with the Orchid Show now settled into its groove and flourishing with its thousands of exotic flowers, this is the time to head up to the Bronx and see what everyone is swooning over. You finally get to start off without the screech of an alarm clock, ditch the briefcase, and leave your uncomfortable shoes near the front door for a couple of days–make the most of it!
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Patrick Blanc‘s travels and expertise have taught him that no one plant can convey the true beauty of a vertical wall–the living art, as Francisca Coelho, our VP for Glasshouses and Exhibitions explains, can’t realize its full potential on the shoulders of an individual flower. That’s why this year’s Orchid Show is not only about spotlighting these captivating tropical blooms, but about complementing their place in one of our most complex and beautiful presentations of the last decade!
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Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.

Dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrid

To the chagrin of my more tropically-inclined colleagues, I have been resisting the temptation to sing the praise of dendrobiums for years. “Give me an oncidium any day,” I used to exclaim. “They are easier to grow and I will not kill them!”

Initially, it was true… I had issues with dendrobiums. If the vegetative growth (foliage and pseudobulbs) in many orchids is fairly unattractive when they are out of bloom, the cane dendrobiums are positively ugly.

I do not like them in bloom; I do not like them out of bloom; I do not like them Sam-I-am with green eggs and ham! I was adamant. They looked like mutant orchids, outcasts in an otherwise pulchritudinous family–the Orchidaceae.
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Have you been following Plant Talk this week? If you have, you’re already well aware that the skies are criss-crossed with soaring hawks, the daffodils are bobbing alongside the paths, and the NYBG‘s tenth annual Orchid Show is proving every bit the belle of the ball we knew it would be. With or without a few hems and haws from departing winter, a welcome spring is here more than two weeks early.

If you’re looking for escapism, the walkways of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory are a sure bet, ringed as they are with thousands of orchids in nearly every color of the spectrum. Better yet, you can start the day with Debbie Becker’s Saturday Bird Walk, then jump into orchid workshops and lectures of all sorts, with terrarium building in Little Landscapes to occupy the kids; there’s something about holding a miniature world unto itself–all in the palm of your hand–that’s infinitely appealing.
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In looking at the green walls that Patrick Blanc pulls from his imagination, you might regard each one as something similar to a painting. In a way, they are–they rely on careful color choices and shapes to create (in this case) an abstract flow. But depending on the artist you ask, the process of building a green wall can be far more organization-intensive.

Blanc’s Orchid Show creations–as with those he builds around the world–require planning. A lot of planning. Plants must be picked not only for their visual appeal but for the way they mesh with the rest of the leafy things on the wall. Sturdy, light-thirsty plants may need to sit higher up, while shade-loving species fit in lower on the totem pole to ensure each individual can thrive within the miniature ecosystem. There is nothing haphazard about the selections. And once Dr. Blanc has a solid idea of what he wants to fit into a given wall, he must then sketch out a blueprint using finely-delineated sections for each type of plant. This is how the swooping, soft-edged sections of color and texture come about.
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Instagram fans have flocked to this coy but colorful flower. (Thanks, Bergdorf's.)

Of all the flowers coloring the scenery of our Orchid Show, one in particular–technically not even an orchid–is drawing gasps and adoration in spades. Known as Medinilla magnifica to science (and the Showy Medinilla, or “Malaysian orchid” to everyone else), its bowing proliferation of pale pink flower clusters has found a home in botanical gardens throughout the world.

And you can have one at home if it suits you.

Contrary to its bold presentation, the Medinilla isn’t quite as rare or exotic as assumptions would suggest. It’s been raised successfully in conservatories from here to Belgium, where the late King Baudouin championed the flower through the latter half of the 20th century. So infatuated was he with this Southeast Asian native that it was placed on the country’s 10,000 franc note. But as a plant endemic to the small island of Luzon in the Philippines, Medinilla’s distribution in the wild has not proven broad enough to escape the consequences of horticultural fascination. It’s said that the demand of collectors has caused a decline in natural populations to such a degree that many believe the plant now exists only within the plant trade.
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So, what are you up to this morning?

The Orchid Show — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Much ado about the weather this week. Yesterday was a mid-spring day borrowed straight from early May, sending most of our office staff into ecstatic fits. I’m all but convinced one or two of us were out on the grass, belting out celebratory verses from The Sound of Music. Today it’s a bit cooler, of course. But with the warm sun and a promise of picturesque afternoons for Saturday and Sunday, winter seems all but out the door.

The dogwood is blooming, the crocuses are bright, and the Orchid Show is settling into the groove for its second big weekend. This is the perfect opportunity to hop a subway train to the Bronx and treat yourself to Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Gardens. But even if orchids aren’t your thing (a rare condition, albeit understandable), the schedule is packed with activities to suit.
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It might not be structurally feasible, but aside from that tiny concern I can’t see why we’re not building everything with explosions of flowers.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.

Last week we were discussing vertical gardens, or “living walls,” a specialty of French botanist Dr. Patrick Blanc. Since we are now in the midst of our spring Orchid Show, today we will explore why orchids are such good candidates for vertical gardening. With somewhere in the area of 70% of all orchids being epiphytic, members of the Orchidaceae family were destined to climb.

Orchids that dangle in the air–sometimes known colloquially as air plants–are classified as epiphytes. Epi- means “on top” and -phyte means “plant”–essentially growing on top of another plant. The relation the epiphyte has with the host is not parasitic (where it is harming the host), nor is it symbiotic/mutualistic (where both parties benefit), but rather commensalistic (where one benefits and the other is neutral). The term commensalism is derived from the Latin meaning “sharing a table.”
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