New York Botanical Garden Shows First Signs of Spring (Photos)

New York Botanical Garden Shows First Signs of Spring (Photos)
Cymbidium 'Valentine Rose' orchids at the 12th Annual Orchid Show: Key West Contemporary at the New York Botanical Garden on March 4, 2014. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)
Kristina Skorbach
3/6/2014
Updated:
7/18/2015

An explosion of colors and shapes filled the New York Botanical Garden Tuesday. The Orchid Show: Key West Contemporary made its annual entrance to herald spring. As soft music played, people enjoyed the exhibit featuring thousands of orchids set in a Key West Garden. As one looks closely to the orchids, eyes, wings, noses, and arms start becoming obvious, making them come alive.

Orchid Facts

- Orchids are extremely adaptable plants, growing in habitats from semi-desert to Arctic tundra

- Sizes vary from flowers of 1/16 in in diameter to giants more than 25 feet tall with flower spikes up to 10 feet long

- Some have unusual buckets, traps, and trigger mechanisms to ensure insect pollination. Unlike other flowers, their pollen comes in a single mass meaning each orchid flower has only one chance to transfer pollen to another.

SOURCE: New York Botanical Garden