Orchid Festivals for Your Calendar and 2023 Highlight Reel
By Jill Brooke
Do you love orchids? Well, it’s definitely orchid festival season, and worth putting any of these on your calendar. Because I love sharing the beauty of the world with you, here are a few shows to consider this year or plan for next year.
The 20th annual Orchid Show at The New York Botanical Garden with landscape artist Lily Kwong as the guest designer is in full bloom.
The immensely popular show runs from February 19th to April 23rd.
Kwong is an inspired choice. For the past two years, NYBG’s orchid show was designed by superstar Jeff Leatham. He is the florist to the Four Seasons hotels, Philadelphia Flower Show as well as stars ranging from Taylor Swift, and Miley Cyrus to Oprah. Leatham’s exuberant designs focus on exploding purple vanda orchids and rainbows of colorful blooms.
Kwong’s show looks for cultural expressions and connections. As the show explains, The Orchid Show: Natural Heritage explores the diversity, adaptability, and worldwide cultural significance of these formidable flowers.
A new rival is the San Diego Botanic Garden’s colorful “World of Orchids” in California. It commences on March 11 and runs through April 9th. It is staged in the state-of-the-art, 8,000-square-foot, glass-enclosed facility at the Dickinson Family Education Conservatory. It’s curated by SDBG’s highly awarded Artist-in-Residence, René van Rems. The Dutch-born van Rems is a respected speaker at museums around the world as well as a designer.
Then over in Taiwan, there’s the 2023 Taiwan International Orchid Show starting March 4th to 19th at Taiwan Orchid Technology Park in Houbi District, Tainan. This popular show is 19 years old. Did you know that Taiwan is one of the most important orchid suppliers and exporters worldwide of orchids? This year, “Orchid Mirror – Witness the New Beginning” is used to lead the public to travel through time and space to explore the origin of orchids and connect the past and the future through different themes.
Although the Tamiami International Orchid Festival in Miami just took place in January, there is another one on May 19. This festival also is organized by the famous Motes family which is to orchids what Chanel is to clothes. Three generations of orchid developers and connoisseurs.
All these festivals offer a peek to see thousands of rare and prized orchids that are cultivated by masters in their field of horticulture. This way you can see the vast diversity that exists outside of the very affordable phalaenopsis varieties we love for our homes. This is the museum’s look at these flowers, all gathered and curated to delight.
All are eye-popping serene and beautiful experiences for life’s highlight reel.
Jill Brooke is a former CNN correspondent, Post columnist and editor-in-chief of Avenue and Travel Savvy magazine. She is an author and the editorial director of FPD, floral editor for Aspire Design and Home magazine and contributor to Florists Review magazine.