Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. For hands-on demonstrations and orchid tips, join her in the Conservatory’s GreenSchool every Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. throughout The Orchid Show.
In the past two weeks I’ve blogged about making a potting mix for orchids, removing the orchids from their pots, and cleaning up the roots. Now let’s actually repot some Cattleyas.
You might have thought you were in charge of the process, but in reality, the plant ultimately dictates how it is repotted. For example, as Fintan O’Sullivan and I were tackling our orchids to repot, we saw that the foliage on one of the plants was badly puckered, a sign of either overwatering or underwatering. When we removed it from its pot, we discovered that most of its roots had rotted (overwatering).
Let’s See Your Pictures of The Orchid Show and the Outdoors
Saturday marks the first day of spring! Bulbs are popping up all over. Birds are singing their songs in anticipation of mating season. The Orchid Show: Cuba in Flower is in glorious display.
We invite you to visit the Garden with your camera during this marvelous season and during this stunning orchid exhibition. Share your beautiful images on our Flickr site, where dozens of visitors have already done so.
Jessica Blohm is Interpretive Specialist for Public Education.
Orchids are one of the largest genera of flowering plants, with about 30,000 species worldwide. Orchids vary widely in their appearance. Many have stunningly beautiful flowers with stripes and spots, while others are almost ugly with hairs and even warty bumps. What do all these striking flowers have in common?
In describing a plant genus so vast and so diverse, it is almost safe to say that there are no rules. However, botanists generally agree that one feature above all others defines the orchid and differentiates it from virtually all other flowering plants: the fusion of the male portion of the flower (stamen) and female portion (pistil) into one structure called the column—often visible protruding from the center.
Look for these orchid parts on the more than 7,000 orchids in The Orchid Show: Cuba in Flower. (Click on the image to view it larger.)
Sepal—one of the three outer parts of an orchid flower that protects the petals Pollinia—a solid mass of pollen found in the anther Column—the fused sexual organ of an orchid flower Petal—the three petals on an orchid are the true flower; one is modified into a lip Lip (or Labellum)—a specialized petal, unique to orchids Ovary—the part of the flower that develops into the fruit Ovule—a small protuberance in the ovary, capable of forming a seed when fertilized Stigma—the sticky area of the pistil that receives the pollen
Jessica Blohm is Interpretive Specialist for Public Education.
Christopher Columbus first landed in Cuba in 1492, leading the way to the country’s being settled in 1511 by the Spanish, who quickly discovered how well suited the land was for growing sugarcane. The plant, which is from the South Pacific island of New Guinea and thrives only in tropical areas, had been introduced to the New World by Columbus during his second voyage (1493–96).
European colonial powers established huge slave-based sugar plantations throughout Cuba and the Caribbean. The cane sugar industry became Cuba’s economic mainstay of the 17th and 18th centuries.
But by the 20th century, the popularity of sugarcane gave way to an alternative source of sugar—the sugar beet, which could be grown in Europe and other temperate regions. This new sweetheart crop plant, coupled with the abolition of slavery in 1886, resulted in the closing of numerous sugar mills throughout Cuba and the Caribbean. Ruins dotted these lands, many of which have since been reclaimed by native forest.
Jorge Sánchez, president and co-founder of the landscape architecture firm Sánchez & Maddux in Palm Beach, Florida, designed this year’s Orchid Show.
For Sánchez & Maddux to be awarded the opportunity to design The Orchid Show: Cuba in Flower was, indeed, a feather in our cap. The fact that the show is centered on Cuba made it very personal for me, for it is where I was born and grew up until the ripe old age of 11½.
I’ve often said we are all born with a talent. The key is realizing that talent. I don’t mean that one has to be the best in the world at whatever it may be, but that one has a gift for something. For me that gift is designing landscapes. I have enjoyed plants, history, and architecture as far back as I can remember, and my field of work encompasses all of these things. This has also given me a very good visual memory. And so here I take you back to my childhood and the influences of my native Cuba that have helped to shape elements of this year’s Orchid Show.
I must have been 10 years old when my two maternal uncles purchased a ranch in the province of Pinar del Rio, about 55 miles from Havana, where we lived. One day, while staying with one of my grandmothers (which my siblings and I did whenever my parents were away traveling) we went for a picnic at the ranch, Las Maravillas de Roja, rather a long name for a ranch.
Jessica Blohm is Interpretive Specialist for Public Education.
Cuba is home to more than 300 species of orchids, some native only to Cuba. In The Orchid Show: Cuba in Flower, one of the replicas on display is the Soroa Orchidarium, a botanical garden dedicated to education and the cultivation and conservation of the world’s orchids.
The groves of Cuban royal palms (Roystonea regia) on either side of the Orchidarium are meant to evoke the hills of Sierra del Rosario, a biosphere reserve of over 65,000 acres within which the Orchidarium is nestled. The Orchidarium features thousands of tropical plants and flowers from around the world, including 700 species of orchids from Asia, South America, and other tropical regions, many no longer found in the wild.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education.
We are celebrating Cuba this year in The Orchid Show. While Cuba lays claims to great national parks such as La Güira National Park and Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve, which houses the exquisite Jardín Botánico Orquideario Soroa (Soroa Orchid Botanical Garden), historically, the island wasn’t immune to the ravages of colonization and industrialization.
When Christopher Columbus sailed into Cuba in 1492, he encountered a tropical paradise covered with old-growth forests full of Caribbean mahogany, walnut, ebony, cedar, pine, and oak. This vast arboreal expanse was a paradise for Cuba’s native fauna and flora, including orchids. But the ideal wasn’t to last, giving way to deforestation and sugar cultivation.
At one time, according to https://www.thetoolboss.com, the felling of trees was regulated by the Royal Forest Reserve, which prohibited the indiscriminate felling of trees so that specimens could reach a certain height to supply shipbuilders with timber for masts, keels, and hulls for the Royal Navy.
But a greater threat to the environment and its ecological communities existed: a wholesale deforestation of the island by the sugarcane industry.
Beautiful Blooms, Old Havana, Cuban Countryside Featured
Laura Collier is Marketing Associate at The New York Botanical Garden.
Garden staff have been working in overdrive for weeks, filling the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory with thousands of brilliant orchids and tropical plants in preparation for the 8th annual Orchid Show.
I’ve been craning my neck during every visit to the Conservatory to get a glimpse of the show being set up. Fortunately, Rustin Dwyer, our expert staff videographer, has been behind the scenes catching all the action. He’s been working with Karen Daubmann, Director of Exhibitions, to document the details that go into the making of The Orchid Show: Cuba in Flower.
Check out the most up-to-date installment as well as all the videos building up to the opening in the box below. The show starts tomorrow, Saturday, February 27. I’ll be stopping in to see all the beautiful blooms, which are displayed this year in vignettes from Old Havana and the Cuban countryside.
Designer Visits from Florida to View Progress of Installation Jorge Sánchez (right), designer of The Orchid Show: Cuba in Flower, and John C. Lubischer (left), Senior Associate of the Palm Beach-based landscape architectural firm Sánchez & Maddux, visited the Botanical Garden last week to view the progress of the installation, which includes an allée of palm trees, a sugar mill ruin, and other iconic vignettes of Old Havana and the Cuban countryside—amid fabulous orchids. “All the pieces are fitting into place flawlessly—with grace and good humor,” Jorge said. “What a pleasure to be working with such a well-organized group.” Here he talks with Garden staff Francisca Coelho, Senior Curator and Associate Vice President for Glasshouses and Exhibitions (back to camera), and Karen Daubmann, Director of Exhibitions and Seasonal Displays, in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, where the exhibition will run from February 27 through April 11.
Massive Palms Arrive from Florida for Cuba-Themed Installation
Twenty-one Sabal palmetto palms, each over 1,200 pounds and about 15 feet tall, were loaded in Deland, Florida (top photos by John Lubischer), for a two-day trip to New York to be included in The Orchid Show: Cuba in Flower, which opens February 27. On arrival at the Garden last week (three bottom photos), they were unloaded to be planted in the seasonal galleries of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, where they will create a dramatic canopy effect, surrounded by a stunning display of orchids designed by Cuban-reared landscape architect Jorge Sánchez.
In the past two weeks I’ve blogged about making a potting mix for orchids, removing the orchids from their pots, and cleaning up the roots. Now let’s actually repot some Cattleyas.
