Otherwise, in the armpit of February I dream of the Smithsonian orchid exhibit in Washington, DC.
This year they are showcasing orchids not only at the US Botantic Conservatory, but doing a mass exhibit in my favorite
museum, the Museum of Natural History, and one of my favorite art galleries,the Sackler, is hosting an art exhibit on orchids in Chinese painting. If only I had spare cash to fly back over spring break to see ol' Jumbo's toes surrounded by orchids.
easy-care Phalaenopsis (right.)
Minnesota's state flower is a native orchid, the Lady's slipper, which I didn't get to see this year because somebody picked the outcrop near the hiking trial. Fun fact: It takes ten to seventeen years for a Lady's Slipper orchid to grow from seed to flower, and they live decades, if not centuries. While they can be cultivated, they are hard to grow from seed, and can't be cloned by vegetative propagation, which means they'll never be
as abundant in cultivation or sold in K-marts like my
Phalaneopsis. In fact, most species of Ladys' Slippers are rare or endangered precisely because of collectors picking them from the wild, depriving the rest of us of their beauty.
If you're curious as to what drives those orchid hunters' greed, read this article. If you want to dip into a historical british novel about Quakers and Lady's slippers, read Deborah's Swift's comments on her books and the history of the Lady's Slipper here. There is a suprising amount or orchidophilic literature out there-- colorful reading for a slushy and mushy Mardi Gras.