Orchidaceous Adventures April 24, 2011 – Posted in: Aberrant Normalcy

Tomorrow is the last day for “The Orchid Show: On Broadway“at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, and I had the pleasure of visiting yesterday with Christine.  We arrived with only 90 minutes to spare before closing time, but that was enough to experience the wonderful smells, bright colors, and jungle-like greenhouse air.  Here’s what we witnessed as we walked in:  The “curtains going up” — the show begins…

(click on the images for a larger picture)

Most of the orchids were perched like they might be in their natural habitat, aloft in the nooks and crevices of trees.  As epiphytes, they do not require soil to grow, and instead derive their nutrients from rain and runoff.  Here’s one I rather liked:

The next one is not an orchid, but a type of philodendron.  The name philodendron comes from the Greek, the “love of trees” and most philodendrons in the wild can be seen happily climbing up the sides of trees.  Most people at one point or another have had a philodendron in their home.  But wouldn’t it be cool to have one like this?

Here’s good old papyrus, responsible for so much trouble and literacy!

Some orchids I thought were quite striking:

We walked into a sweet-smelling chamber where this large chandelier of orchids hung over all.

And then we walked into this beautiful hallway meant to recall the New Amsterdam Theater.

And I couldn’t help but throw in a gratuitous cute picture of my girlfriend.  She’s quite the talented photographer, but left her SLR home because of the rain.  She still got some nice shots with her pocket camera.

And this post wouldn’t be complete without photos of my own collection.  On the way out of the garden, we stopped at the gift shop, where I acquired some new friends.

A venus fly trap:

And a tillandsia, a type of bromeliad and epiphyte.  I purchased the cork bark and wrapped the twine around a crevice to hold the little guy.  Doesn’t he look happy?

No orchids, however, as they require conditions my small apartment can’t yet handle.  But in the future?  Who knows?  Anyway, that’s it for now.  Thanks for listening!