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Inside The New York Botanical Garden

orchid show

What’s in a Name? Paphs, Cyps, and Phrags

Posted in History on March 9 2017, by Katherine Wagner-Reiss

Katherine Wagner-Reiss has a Certificate in Botany from The New York Botanical Garden and has been a tour guide at NYBG for the past two years.

Photo of a Paphiopedilum orchidThe Orchid Show: Thailand features a genus of lady’s slipper orchids native to Eastern Asia known as Paphiopedilum. The Latin name has a beautiful background story relating to the birth of Aphrodite, goddess of love, beauty, and fertility.

According to ancient Greek myth, Aphrodite was born out of the sea, and landed at the site of Paphos on the island of Cyprus. A great temple was built in her honor at Paphos (and ruins remain there today). This orchid’s shape and beauty would have made it a suitable slipper for the goddess of love; hence it was named Paphiopedilum (Paphio- for the city of Paphos, –pedilum from the Ancient Greek word pedilon, meaning slipper).

Cypripedium is a genus of lady’s slipper orchid native to most of the Northern Hemisphere, and it also happens to have a name inspired by the popular Aphrodite (Cypri– because Aphrodite was the Lady of Cyprus). Another common genus of lady’s slipper orchid, native to Mexico and South America, has a much more scientifically derived Latin name: Phragmipedium (Phragma is Greek for “division,” i.e. the ovary is divided into three).

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This Weekend: Your Last Chance to See The Orchid Show

Posted in Programs and Events on April 17 2015, by Vilina Phan

Magnolia stellata 'Waterlily'Come experience the uniquely stunning The Orchid Show: Chandeliers in its final week at the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and stay for the newly opened Hudson Garden Grill, serving New American cuisine inspired by locally sourced and ethically produced ingredients.

And while you’re here, take advantage of the weather by soaking in the sun while delighting in the budding cherry blossoms, blooming magnolias, and breathtaking rhododendrons. Programs abound to help guide your weekend activities, so read on, and see what piques your interest!

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Poetry of Paradise

Posted in The Orchid Show on April 1 2014, by Matt Newman

The Orchid Show: Key West ContemporaryJust beyond the glass of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, where clouds of tropical orchids form a colorful interpretation of Key West’s wholly original island atmosphere, you’ll enter a world of poetry. More than a canvas for some of spring’s earliest blooms, the Perennial Garden is also home to the Orchid Show‘s written verse (because the flowers speak so eloquently for themselves). There you’ll find placards displaying some of the finest writing to come out of the Florida Keys, from expatriate poets as diverse as James Merrill, Richard Wilbur, and Elizabeth Bishop—all of whom found a second home near the Southernmost Point.

Not content to let these works stand alone, we enlisted some of the country’s brightest modern poets to lend their voices to their predecessors’ pens. This Sunday, April 6, join us for our once-only Key West Poetry Reading as these published writers recite the lyrical legacy of warmer climates. And if you haven’t already paid a visit to The Orchid Show: Key West Contemporary, now is as good a time as any!

Our cadre of visiting poets certainly doesn’t lack for skill or accomplishments, as you’ll see below.

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