Over the years I’ve been to flower shows occasionally and have always found them to be like Victorian Curiosity Cabinets–full of both amazing beauty and strangeness. The Santa Barbara International Orchid Show last weekend definitely fit that description.
One of the first oddities: ‘Why is it called ‘International’ when it appeared that all the exhibitors were from southern California? The only international aspect I noted were the 5 tour bus loads of people (mostly overweight ladies speaking an eastern European language) who arrived at the same time I did. I had hoped to see what growers were doing in places like Hawaii or South America or London, but none were there. (If you are interested in what the Europeans are doing with orchids, go here. The Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Orchid Show is in Spring in London.)
Next, I always wonder why grower/breeders seem to aim to create flowers that distort the natural beauty of the plants in endless search for novelty. This love of the unnatural took several forms.
There were orchids that appeared at first glance to be daffodils; others that looked vaguely like foxgloves and others, like yellow and red wistaria–which, of course, are wistaria colors that don’t exist.
Then there are the displays, which usually are slightly hokey and orchids, with their traditional association with glamour, really brought out strangeness.
I cannot even guess as to why slightly battered Barbie and Ken dolls were propped up on a purple table in one display.
For the best–most trend-setting–displays in the garden world, go to the RHS Chelsea Garden Show on May 19-23, 2015.
I did find something that brought back lovely memories: displays of orchid corsages. I can remember wearing orchid corsages pinned to the formal gowns I wore to dances as a teenager. The second prize winner embodied much of the elegance from that era: long white gloves with orchids attached to them. These orchids were exotically brown and yellow; the orchids of my teenage years back in the late 1950s were either white or magenta pink.
If you are traveling to Southern California and would like to visit some of the orchid growers near Los Angeles, take a trip on the California Orchid Trail of growers.
So here are some of the people and flowers I saw at the show:
