Imagine a fireworks display where each firework that goes off is frozen in time, and you have the freedom to walk around and examine each and every one. The NYBG has artfully created this sensation through their current exhibition of orchids, put together from their own collection of 8,000, and is on display until April 2.
I arrived with friends right before 10:00 this past Saturday, and there was already a line forming to get into the Conservatory. Once inside we were surrounded by orchids high and low. They were under stumps, floating in urns, hanging in baskets and attached high up in the tree branches.
Even when we were convinced we had discovered them all we would glance over our shoulders and see one we had missed. And yes, there were many ooohhs and aahhs from everyone.
Many great designers draw their influence from nature, often creating a series based on one keen observation. When you look at this variation on a theme that Mother Nature has accomplished with one species, it is humbling. Orchids are well adapted to their natural environment. They grow in specific shapes and develop specific smells, both sweet and rancid, all to attract very specific insects. They develop sophisticated, chameleon-like coloring and can attach themselves where other plants could only dream of going. Most orchids are epiphytes and can grow with their roots exposed or attached to tree branches, drawing nourishment from a humid environment.
Despite this complexity, you can easily care for one in your apartment. If you are at all interested to learn how, this would be your ultimate destination. After admiring these beauties you can walk right into the seminar tent and learn how to care for them from the experts and then move on to the retail shop and pick up your own. They have very handsome varieties in the $20 range, as well as others that cost in excess of $100.
- Matt N.
matt
i always look forward to opening your lovely slideshows. they are a wonderful counterpoint to the sometimes ferocious discussions on home design. mind you i enjoy those threads. they get me all excited. but your photos are all refreshment and calm tasteful beauty. keep them coming...
i agree. plant therapy is like a computer oasis.
o SIGH
lovely - thx Matt
I picked up a dendrobium at Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's has plants, TOO!!?? It sounds like there isn't much they don't carry.
Hey just keep an eye on the roots of that dendrobium. Many times orchids, if they are sold in places as a 'gift plant' are actually potted in a material that is not the best long-term solution. They remain fine for the term of the blossoms, but the roots are rotting out because the medium stays too wet. If you notice anything like that with the roots, or that the potting medium stays too wet, then get it repotted with a bark/peat moss mix.
Sounds like I will be the envious one soon - the BBG is having their annual plant sale in April, right? I hope to make it down there!
member preview at BBG is usually the afternoon of the first tuesday of may . . .
Please share your camera settings that allowed you to take such lucious pics.
Thanks Guido! That gives me more time to save my pennies.
Richard, my camera settings were all over the place because the light fluxuates so much in the Conservatory. In past posts I mentioned I use a Leica Digilux. It has a very large display that allows you to see with fair accuracy if the photo is balanced. I did not need to use a flash on that day, just work with the f-stop and the shutter speed. I went from 2.1 to 8.0 depending on the light. The rest is just a steady hand.
I think that any camera can take good pictures if the user takes the time to understand what makes the camera perform best. I used to have a Fuji Finepix that I brought back from Japan. It took incredible pictures, all on auto settings, I just had to be patient and wait for the right conditions.