2012 Winter Warm-up
By April Greene on February 29, 2012
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Orchids make up the most diverse plant family on earth, comprising between 20,000 and 30,000 species. BBG’s renowned orchid collection contains over 6,000 of these precious plants, and on a rainy night in February, our President’s Circle members and friends got a behind-the-scenes look at their home in the Robert W. Wilson Aquatic House.
The tour began with a reception in the Steinhardt Conservatory Gallery, transformed by Terrarium, a joint exhibition by BBG curator Jennifer Williams, who displayed exquisite examples of these gardens-in-a-bottle, and artist Jae Hi Ahn, whose enchanting sculptural works cascaded from the gallery’s skylights and played on its walls. BBG president Scot Medbury and director of Interpretation Sonal Bhatt spoke about the exhibition and the history of the Garden’s orchid collection before David Horak, curator of the Orchid Collection and Aquatic House, took small groups on tours of his humid domain, pointing out plants of particular interest and explaining methods of propagation and care.
Guests lingered in the reception area after the last tour finished; it wasn’t easy to leave the lush confines of the conservatory and return to the chilly Brooklyn winter that night. Luckily the Aquatic House is open year-round for temporary equatorial escapes.
