Singapore Will Be The Theme of the New York Botanical Garden's annual orchid show

"the New York Botanical Garden's annual orchid show... opens... and runs for six weeks...
The theme of this year's show is Singapore... one of the largest orchid producers in the world.
...

The major design elements of the exhibition... inspired by the classical parks and gardens of Singapore. There is a two-story pagoda fronted by a
pond, as well as a lane of trees arching overhead, covered with flowers.

Of the 4,000 or 5,000 plants that will be on display over the course of the show, a majority come from the Garden's own collection... Others by necessity are purchased from nurseries around the country...

The Garden has around 8,000 plants in its collection, many of them rare species and some over 100 years old. The Garden is also a federally
designated rescue center for plants confiscated by the Department of Agriculture. In 2005, for instance, 1,100 wild orchids were confiscated at
Miami International Airport, after having been imported under a permit that falsely identified them as artificially cultivated.

The plants were sent to the Garden... dehydrated, shriveled, and torn ? and the gardeners... immediately went to work to save as many as possible. In the end, around 80% of the plants survived... Some will be on display in
this year's exhibition.
...
The first known hybrid was created in 1856 by John Dominy, a grower for the English nursery of James Veitch & Sons.
...
orchid collectors... The most famous... was Benedict Roezl, a Czech botanist who worked for an English importer and commercial grower of orchids, Frederick Sander. Roezl, who traveled throughout North, Central, and South America, was famous for having lost a hand in a mysterious accident. Fortunately, the hook he had in its place made him particularly
adept at prying orchids out of trees."

URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/71598

photo : [caption : "Gardener Gary Bendykowski installs orchids for the upcoming orchid show at the New York Botanical Garden."]

http://www.nysun.com/pics/71598_main_large.jpg

"New York Botanical Garden...

The sixth annual orchid exhibition... fills the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and much of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library building, will run from Feb. 23
to April 6...

The exhibition... will feature miniature orchids... and a gallery devoted to the orchids of Singapore, which supplies 15 percent of the annual
worldwide supply. The library will feature more orchid plants and displays about the garden's efforts to save rare plants, scientific studies involving
orchids, and 18th- and 19th-century botanical illustrations."

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/garden/21cal.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"the New York Botanical Garden's Orchid Show opens in the Victorian-style Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
This... show will be the biggest scheduled in New York this year, since the Greater New York Orchid Society has just announced it will not be
producing its annual International Orchid Show for the first time in 27 years. For the past six years, that show was held at Rockefeller Center.
...
No date for resumption of the show has been proposed. "

URL:
http://www.nj.com/living/ledger/index.ssf?/base/living-0/120357215636600.xml&coll=1

"The New York Botanical Garden Orchid Show, Feb. 23-April 6, Bronx, N.Y.,
www.nybg.org

Atlanta Botanical Garden "Orchid Daze, Gargoyles & Grace," through March 30,
www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org

URL: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2008-02-21-us-garden-shows_N.htm