On a clear, sunny March Sunday afternoon, old and young alike came to admire the unique treasures nature has to offer at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. The Niagara Frontier Orchid Society puts their best plants on display at their Orchid Shows in the Spring and Fall. These shows are often accompanied by guest lectures and supply sales to allow any visitor to create their own plant.
Beautiful blues, purples and other hues lined the walkways of the botanical garden greenhouses, each piece demanding visitors attention. Included in these displays are varying types of wood, moss, water features and, in one case, a fog machine. The art of creating prize-winning flower displays requires not only a green thumb, but an artist’s eye as well.
According to Tom and Rhianna, staff at the botanical garden, the event is a “passion project fronted by the members of the Orchid Society with the help of the garden”. They meet once a month to discuss the best ways to grow, and invite others who rear orchids to come with their own problems for help. All of the displays are home grown by the members of the society, whose pride is tied to what they produce. The show runs for two days, March 7th and 8th, and is estimated to have attracted as many as 800 attendees. This is not the only show of this type at the garden, The Buffalo Bonsai Society runs its own event from June 6th-7th. Additionally, The Spring Flower Show, one of the garden’s biggest, is approaching on March 28th. Lumagination, the biggest event the garden puts on with the help of Luminated Landscapes, a local landscaping and outdoor lighting company, has been one of the most successful this past February and January, drawing crowds consistently across its duration.
Mikayla, a freshman environmental science major at Erie Community College, attended the event as a part of her interest in plants and their artistic presentation. When asked about the possible impact an event like this might have, she excitedly responded “Allowing people to admire nature in this way can build an appreciation and awareness of our environment, spurring its protection.”.
Following a period of orchid viewing for the general attendees, a guest lecture by Howard P. Martin described the delicate details of orchid-rearing. The lecture ranged in demonstration from the repotting process, to techniques meant for keeping the flowers from drying out. Some interesting details setting orchids apart from many other plants, is their need to be grown in bark and moss. In fact, one key tip described by Martin in the lecture was to wrap the roots of the flower in moss, which provides constant moisture in a mutually beneficial relationship.
A rear greenhouse was reserved for a number of booths run by members of the society, selling plants, kits and gadgets focusing on ornamental horticulture. In this regard, many members of the Orchid Society make a side hustle out of their vocation, selling these goods online or at other garden shows as well. Despite the commercial nature of these stalls, potential customers are regarded as fellow hobbyists and welcomed warmly into the arms of these “plant people”.
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