One of my favorite annual traditions that kind of launches the arrival of spring for me is treating myself to the Orchid Show at New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Even if it’s super cold out, or snowing or whatever, the Metro-north train station ($10 round trip from Grand Central) is directly across the street, and the show is inside the gorgeous End A. Haupt Conservatory building, so you cannot even use bad weather as an excuse to not go, unless you are a total pussy. Because, look at this:
If there’s any doubt about how hot this Hot Pink Nymphaea tropical day-blooming water lily really is, check out the impossibly horny Bee doing its thing  right there in the center of the flower.  So hot.
Photographed at the Enid A Haupt Conservatory at the New York Botanical Garden.
Cherry Tree Blossoms in Brooklyn’s Greenwood Cemetery (All Photos By Gail)
Today, April 22nd, is Earth Day, so I wanted to celebrate something from the earth that adds value to my life each time I leave my house. For me right now, that means spring flowers. We didn’t get to fully enjoy the unique beauty of spring in 2020, due to the pandemic lockdown, but now many parks and botanical gardens are reopened and in full bloom. On the weekends especially, I try to spend as much time outside as possible, and flowers are my favorite subject to photograph. Please enjoy this carefully-curated selection of ten beautiful flowers taken during my recent adventures in and around the NYC area.
As soon as weather turns from winter to spring, you are going to see a full spectrum of jewel-hued tulips pop up all over NYC. These guys were hanging out in a public planter in the Flatiron District.
When I check the calendar on my iPhone, it’s easy to isolate March 7th, the day I visited the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden, as the last time I attended a public event at any cultural institution. Maybe ten days later, the NYBG, like every other art museum, gallery and event space in NYC, closed for an indeterminate period of time as part of the Covid-19 shelter-in-place order. The new normal for many of us living in the city means life with little or no contact with nature and art: which is just unacceptable. For this reason, Worleygig.com brings you Art in the Time of Covid. Today we are going to revisit NYBG Orchid Show!
The New York Botanical Garden’s annual Orchid Show for ended a couple of weeks ago, but if you weren’t able to make it all the way to the Bronx for the 2018 edition of this landmark event, you can now live through me with a selection of my favorite Orchid photos from the show. Enjoy!
The show takes place each year inside the beautiful Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, the garden’s climate controlled glass treehouse which is based on an Italian Renaissance design. I visited the show on a frigid Sunday in late April and, like these lovely tropical plants, I was very grateful for the warmth!
This years show featured installations by Belgian flora designer Daniel Ost.
Just inside the conservatory, you enter the Palms of the World Gallery, where Ost installed a monumental living sculpture of orchids entwined within a network of transparent tubing — which mimics the jungle vines on which orchids grow in their natural environment.
The show features hundreds of varieties of orchids, and while many of them may look similar, each plant has unique characteristics.
These look like little Ballerinas, don’t they? I think so.
Orchids live mostly in the air, attached to trees, rather than on the ground, rooted in the soil.
Its almost impossible to resist taking one photo after another after another.
Look, how beautiful is this one, which its bright crimson center?
You might this that this bright fuchsia bloom is identical to the ones at the top of this post. But if you go back and compare the two, you will see many differences, aside from the similar color.
I’m sure you can see how moving from room to room, being continously faced with so much breathtaking beauty, can be a bit overwhelming.
Here’s a reminder to look up!
About half way through conservatory, you come to a room with a fountain in the middle of a  long reflecting pool , which runs through its center. This is the room where everyone stops to take all kinds selfies and posed photos, so it gets pretty congested. You have to indulge people though, because as you can see it is quite beautiful.
The fountain is draped by a curtain of hanging orchids.
As hard as it is to leave the fountain room, there are many more orchids to discover!
I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of this year’s Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden, and that if you live in NYC area you will add a reminder to visit to your calendar for next year!
