by Connie Oswald Stofko
Colorful orchids are displayed in a way you’ve never seen before during a new Orchid Exhibit that will open Wednesday, Jan. 24 at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo.
The opening of the exhibit was postponed because of the weather, but it’s worth the wait.
Enter through arches adorned with orchids. See orchids hanging from orbs and enjoy the masses of orchids in pots. Make sure you look up to see the orchids on bamboo ladders that are hanging from the ceiling.
Members of the Niagara Frontier Orchid Society worked with the Botanical Gardens to create the arches and orbs.
Also featured during the Orchid Exhibit is a unique art installation, Chromatic Organics. These metal sculptures are twisted and turned into natural shapes.
The Orchid Exhibit will continue through Sunday, March 3.
You can also experience the orchids under entrancing lighting during Orchids After Dark on select evenings through March 2. The first dates are Wednesday, Jan. 24 to Saturday, Jan. 27. See all the dates and make reservations here.
“This exhibit is filled with hundreds of orchids of all different types,” said Andrea Masterson, horticulturist & collections manager at the Botanical Gardens.
“We brought in roughly 1,500 Phalaenopsis orchids in a wide variety of colors (pinks, purples, yellows, whites, greenish yellow, speckled, spotted, etc.) and around 100 different varieties of Dendrobiums and Oncidiums. On top of that, we are also using the Botanical Gardens’ collection of Vanda, Cattleyas and many others to supplement. We ordered orchids in from Ohio, Florida and Hawaii. They all arrived safely and warm during our harsh Buffalo storms!”
Get behind-the-scenes details of the displays from Masterson below.
Orchid arches
The staff started with regular garden arches or trellises, Masterson said. The arches were reinforced and lined with chicken wire and coconut coir fabric (which is made from fiber extracted from the husk of coconuts).
Then the orchids were planted like kokedama, a Japanese method using a packed soil mixture covered with moss and tied with string. The balls were wired onto the chicken wire. They used orchids Phalaenopsis and Oncidium, sphagnum moss and ferns.
“The coconut coir helps keep in moisture and hides the ugly chicken wire,” she said. “In some cases, we will throw a bit of Spanish moss on them too for extra added texture. They are really beautiful and are going to make amazing photo opportunities!”
Orchid ladders
The ladders themselves are made out of old bamboo pruned from specimens at the Botanical Gardens,
“We cut them into appropriately shaped sizes and wired them together to make ladder shapes,” Masterson said. ‘We added air plants to them for an extra pop of color and texture. Just like the arches, we then wired Phalaenopsis orchids with their root balls wrapped in sphagnum moss. The moss wrapped around the roots helps to keep moisture on the roots.”
See the orchid ladders at the beginning of this article.
Hanging orchid orbs
These were made using two hanging baskets wired together, then meticulously stuffing them with sphagnum moss, ferns and orchids.
“They make really unique looking planters,” Masterson said. As they had done in the arches, they used sphagnum moss, ferns and Phalaenopsis and Oncidium orchids.
Ceramic pot displays
Phalaenopsis orchids are planted in ceramic pots along with other filler plants, creating mass blocks of color in the display beds, wrapped around and highlighting the Chromatic Organic sculptures.