The Massachusetts Orchid Society Annual Show Does It Again

Award-winning brassia

The best thing about going to an orchid show, for me, is that for however long I’m there, I don’t thinkabout work, politics, or anything other than how much the plants in front of me are blowing my mind. Walking into the showroom is like emerging onto another planet—one with residents made of fantastical blooms, long root tendrils, and colors that don’t have names.

This year’s show theme was Old World vs. New World, which proved to be a great way to showcase amazing plants while also providing historical context to their native landscape and cultivation. The Society’s guide to what constitutes old versus new world is 19 pages long and includes classifications such as “cattleya alliance” and “vanda alliance” (an upcoming Star Wars spinoff, perhaps?) Old world orchids are from Europe, Asia, or Africa. New world orchids, such as most cattleyas, are from the Americas, Australia, and other places not connected to those three continents before 1492.

Paphiopedilum orchids, including my beloved Morris, are from the new world. So are lady’s slippers, which can be found in 47 of the 50 U.S. states (Florida, Hawaii, and Nevada are too hot).

Paphiopedilum Pinocchio—check out its “nose”

The distinction highlights the ways climate and landscape has shaped these plants, as well as the unquantifiable number of hybrid species, including some of crosses of old and new world orchids.

Another special quality of orchids is that they crossbreed robustly and wildly. Whereas some flower hybrids, like roses, tend to look pretty similar to the parent species, orchid hybrids often look really different from their predecessors.

Laelia pabstii X Laeliocattleya Aloha Case ‘Ching Hua’ (the latter is already a hybrid)

The size of some of the specimens at the Massachusetts Orchid Society show is as staggering as the number of varieties. A few of them are more comparable to the size of shrubs outside of my house, rather than any plants or orchids inside it. These older plants can harvest, store, and convert lots of energy, resulting in cascades of blooms.

The Massachusetts Orchid Society couldn’t give this dendrobium enough awards!

I always see orchids at these shows that don’t look like orchids I’ve seen before (at least, not since the previous year’s show). Sometimes that’s because they’ve grown so lush and full that it’s hard to discern the stems; other times, it’s because no matter how many shows I attend or how much research I do, I will never come close to knowing the 28,000 species of orchids out there. And what a wonderful problem to have.

dendrochillum orchid