Need a balm for the late winter blues? Find it at the New York Botanical Garden’s Orchid Show, a lush, bright, blooming — and entirely indoor — escape from the elements.
The 16th annual exhibition opens this Saturday, March 3, filling the NYBG Conservatory with thousands of different orchid varieties. This year’s show is designed by Belgian floral artist Daniel Ost, whose training in Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging — especially as it incorporates Wabi-sabi, an aesthetic principle that privileges imperfection and asymmetry — informs his approach.
“Daniel believes that each individual flower is a star,” says Karen Daubmann, Associate Vice President for Exhibitions and Public Engagement. “He has a wonderful way of weaving the orchids together with all of these beautiful foliage colors and types.”
In the conservatory’s Palms of the World gallery, Ost has installed a latticed dome of green timber bamboo interwoven with a ribbon of golden, salmon and peach-hued orchids. A clear tubing suspends hundreds of orchids from the ceiling of the glasshouse, mimicking the way the epiphyte grows in nature. On the grounds, terrestrial orchids are interspersed with different tropical selections, like phormium, croton and dracaena.
Visitors can also attend Orchid Evenings, select nights during the show’s run when they can mingle among the flowers — lit up with lights — while enjoying live music and dance, plus dining and drinks.
The Orchid Show is on view from Saturday, March 3 through Sunday, April 22. For ticketing and tour information, visit nybg.org.
