Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Vanilla and many many more...

I went to the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden this past weekend. It was fabulous. If you live in New York you should go, quick, before it's over this weekend. And if you can go in the middle of the week when there's fewer people, all the better. I love plants and flowers in general and orchids are particularly amazing. There are about 24,000 species of orchid on the World Orchid Checklist (including the Vanilla Orchid) and about 800 names are added every year. Many of these are hybrids created by growers. If I was rich I would absolutely have an orchid greenhouse.I got this picture from the NYBG website since I didn't take any pictures at the show. I just wanted to look. But many people were taking pictures, with big cameras, with small digitals, with their phones. I think some people saw the whole show through the lens of their camera. I think that's a shame. I think they lost something in their zeal to capture the image. Better to really see them and smell them and then buy some post cards at the gift shop. You can also buy an orchid. Some species (like the moth orchid that you see for sale everywhere) are not too hard to care for. The folks in the shop can help you pick out the right one for you. I don't get enough light in my apartment which is probably a good thing as I would have walked out with several.

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