Garden’s orchid display chases winter blues
"Orchid Daze"
Tuesdays-Sundays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. through March 9, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. after March 9. Orchid Daze through April 13. $18.95 adults, $12.95 children 3-12. Under 3 free. 1345 Piedmont Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-876-5859. atlantabotanicalgarden.org.
Special events
- Guided Exhibition Tours, Saturdays, 1 p.m. Learn interesting insights about the exotic orchids in the exhibition.
- Orchid Market Weekends, Feb. 8-9, March 1-2, April 5-6, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Orchids, orchid supplies, expert advice and artwork.
- Orchid clinics, Saturdays, Feb. 8, March 1, April 5, 10 a.m.-noon. Bring up to two orchids for expert advice; $5 repotting, materials available.
- Gallery Exhibition: Exotic Tropicals, an exhibition of orchid and botanical drawings by students of Botanical Garden art instructor Carol Anne Sutherland, will be presented Feb. 8-April 13 in the Orchid Center Gallery.
- Vanilla Sunday, Feb. 23, 1-4 p.m. Be surrounded by the aromas and flavors of vanilla during a celebration of this amazing orchid. Enjoy an afternoon of cooking demonstrations, sensory experiences and delicious vanilla sundaes.
- Atlanta Orchid Society Show, March 7-9, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Hundreds of orchids on display. Orchids and supplies for sale.
The Atlanta Botanical Garden has a tropical antidote to the midwinter streak of gray, cold weather the region is slogging through.
“Orchid Daze: Lasting Impressions” is the second of a three-year run of artists-themed flower shows during which the garden has shipped in about 1,000 dazzling and brilliantly colored plants.
“It’s one of the most colorful displays we have here,” said Becky Brinkman, the manager of the garden’s Fuqua Orchid Center.
And popular.
As soon as the garden opened Saturday, a line of people holding plants started forming for Brinkman’s monthly orchid care clinics that she offers monthly during the show.
Others browsed the weekend-only orchid sales in the garden’s welcome center before moving to the Fuqua Orchid Center, where the flowers line up like so many can-can dancers flashing their bloomers. Families with grandchildren in tow, individual flower lovers and couples strolled slowly among the displays in the building’s atrium and inside the conservatory, where the garden usually keeps its regular collection of orchids.
Chris File, a garden volunteer and orchid specialist, was on hand to answer questions, point out which of the showy flowers have the sweetest scents, and keep an eye on these jewels among the plant world. Some orchids, she pointed out, have no scent, some release scents only during part of a day, and there are a few whose scents are, well, funky.
Last year, the displays celebrated the art of surrealists such as Salvador Dali. This year, designer Très Fromme chose to reflect the works of Impressionists Paul Gaugin, Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet.
The flowers in the lobby reflect Van Gogh’s painting “Starry Night,” with metal spirals hanging from the ceiling showing off miniature orchids that bear some of the same colors of the famous work. Dancing Lady orchids ascend from the floor, bringing to mind the yellow wheat fields the artist painted.
And so it goes through the exhibit, with a re-creation of Monet’s pond, sprouting orchids rather than water lilies, and flashy tropical blues, flaming oranges and pinks highlighting the Gaugin area.
The wild colors continue through April. If any of the plants’ blooms drop before the end of the show in April, Brinkman said other orchids are being kept to replace them.
And the end may be the best, for the real orchid lovers. That is when the garden puts all its current stars our for sale.
“We have the “gently-used” plant sale the week after the show ends in mid-April,” she said.
About the Author
Christopher Quinn is a writer and editor who has worked for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1999. He writes stories on Veterans Affairs, business including high-tech growth in metro Atlanta, Georgia's $72 billion farm economy, and he oversees assigning and editing news obituaries.
