Walls of Orchids

Went to the Conservatory before it opened last Saturday and had a delightful walk through the 2012 Orchid Show at NYBG. This year, the show features the vertical gardens or "walls" of French botanist and artist, Patrick Blanc. Vertical surfaces covered with a proliferation of orchids, ferns, epiphytes; splashes of color amidst a carpet of green; thousands and thousands of some of the most beautiful, evocative, and evolutionarily-advanced flowers you can imagine. Really gorgeous.

That said, the subtlety and wonder afforded by the careful study of single orchid is somehow lost for me when these amazing flowers are presented in such large numbers.  I mean, really, check out the incomparable reproductive structure shown below. How much more sensual could a pollinator-attracting device get? [NOTE: The Orchid Show continues at The New York Botanical Garden until April 22]. 

Doña Olga's Orchid Tree

When I am working in the forests of Tres Garantias in Quintana Roo, I always try to have lunch with Doña Olga (more on this later).  Besides the delicious frijoles, there is a Terminalia tree in front of her house that is festooned with orchids. There are, at least, ten different species growing on this tree, all collected from the forest and subsequently given to Doña Olga (probably because of the frijoles). The one shown above is Prostechea cochleata Knowles & Westc. [NOTE: M. en C. Antonio Sierra identified the orchid (thx, Toño); Luis Chai set up the lunch date (thx, Luis)].

Orchids, Orchids, and More Orchids

I waited until the last day to see the orchid show, Brazilian Modern, at The New York Botanical Garden. The blossoms had been on display since February 28, but they were still breathtaking. I snuck in before the Conservatory officially opened to the public and had the whole place to myself. I can't imagine evolution ever producing a floral structure more sublime than that exhibited by this group of plants. [NOTE: Music by Bebel Gilberto].