Like a fireworks show at its peak, the New York Botanical Garden's new orchid show is a vibrant display of shape and color. The display, dubbed Orchidelirium, offers up thousands of blooming plants native to the world's tropics, bombarding you with deep crimson, lush purple, simple white. It's meant to be a spectacle. There's almost too much to take in.
Throughout the garden's Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, these orchids are a feast for the eyes. But there's much more to it than that. Orchidelirium is a term sourced from the late 19th Century, during the Victorian era when European travelers began hunting, collecting, and selling orchids at a rabid pace. To London's leisure class, the flowers represented power and opulence, and as demand rose, the search for orchids became a serious—even dangerous—business.
"When you hear about the people who died to get them, some of the irresponsible practices, you appreciate what we have now," said Christian Primeau, manager of the Haupt Conservatory. Take a guided tour of Orchidelirium and you'll learn of the lengths Victorians went to for the sake of these blossoms. It wasn't unheard of for an explorer to dig an orchid plant out form the ground, then burn the entire area, making it impossible for others to find the same plant.
Scott Heins / Gothamist
Once they completed their journey they were sold to the wealthy upper class and proudly displayed as worldly, posh decorations. Like coffee and spices, the European orchid trade triggered an obsessive demand for what was at that time a thrilling, exotic experience. One German collector, Benedikt Roezl, lost a hand while searching for orchids. He replaced it with an iron hook, and kept up his work. Many traders died on ships bound for Madagascar, Africa, and South America, and some were even murdered by competitors for their finds. The orchid trade was a beautiful, violent business.
"We have the privilege to sit back and enjoy these things on our windowsill, but people don't think about how they came to be. When you think about people losing their lives to get them, it's great perspective," Primeau said.
With this year's new show, the Botanical Garden has put this history front and center; out of the hundreds of different species of orchids on display, many of them were first classified during the Victorian era, and there are recreations of orchid planters' workshops, transport cases, and the potting process. It all reaches a tall, sumptuous climax with a small mountain covered with multi-colored orchids, made of volcanic stone and complete with waterfall. It's an absolutely beautiful conclusion to a show that explodes in every color from all sides, all at once.
Orchidelirium opens Saturday, February 27th and runs through April 17th at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx // Tickets $8-25
