Once a year the Missouri Botanical Garden shows off its world class collection of winter-blooming orchids at the height of perfection. The annual six-week display, called "The Art of Orchids" in 2007, opens on January 27 and continues daily through March 11 inside the Garden's Ridgway Center.

The show will convey both the beauty and science of the Garden's orchid collection, artfully presented within a classic conservatory setting. Nearly 800 exotic fragrant orchids and tropical plants will be shown as vignettes inspired by a watercolor painting. Glass cloches will enclose orchid blooms and suspended window frames will surround plants presented as living art, complemented by sample prints from the Missouri Botanical Garden Press.

Winter-blooming orchids make up 60 to 70 percent of the Garden's 8,000-plus collection, which focuses on plants that can tolerate St. Louis's summers and temperature extremes. Diversity of size, shape, color and bloom time is emphasized, explained Babs Wagner, who has been the orchid grower for 11 years. The collection is a work-in-progress that grows and changes as orchids are acquired through purchase, trade with growers, and donations. The oldest plant sometimes used in the show - a Vanilla planifolia from 1904 - is not even the collection's oldest. Some summer bloomers date to the 1890s. Many Cattleyas from the 1940s and '50s are no longer hybridized, said Wagner. Harlequin Phalaenopsis and smaller Cattleya hybrids are among the current trends.

"Every year there is something that someone hasn't seen before," she said. A recent donation of orchids includes many Vandas that may be in the show. There will be some Cymbidiums and a few Phalaenopsis that visitors have not yet seen. Wagner hopes that some of the cork-mounted orchids will bloom in time for the show.

Visitors who return throughout the six-week show may notice subtle changes from week to week as fresh blooms are added. “We start out with about 800 orchids in the show,” says Babs Wagner, “and I switch out approximately 100 per week to get as much diversity as possible.” Wagner expertly juggles temperatures in the greenhouse orchid range starting in the fall to force early blooming or to delay blooms for the show. The horticulture division's greenhouse and floral display staff and a busy group of volunteers plan and prepare for the show months in advance.

Throughout the show, visit the Garden Gate Shop for an outstanding selection of orchid plants and gardening accessories. Proceeds support the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Admission to the show is $3 for adults and children in addition to Garden admission which is $8 for adults - Ages 13-64. Admission for St. Louis City and County residents is $4 for adults, $2 for seniors.
Members are admitted free to both the Garden and orchid show.

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