Orchid Daze 2019

Get out of the cold and get into the tropical warmth, vibrant colors and delightful fragrances that are this year's Orchid Daze at the Atlanta Botanical Garden! Your experience begins in the Conservatory Lobby...

Orchid Daze 2019 | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Orchid Daze is one of my favorite wintertime getaways and it can be yours too through 
Sunday, April 7. (If you're a local, keep an eye out for the "Gently Used Orchid Sale" following the close of the exhibition.)

The exhibition begins in the Conservatory Lobby and continues throughout most of the connected Orchid Center. There's not a specific theme, per se, but the exhibition is cohesive and spectacular. The colors, the featured art, and the display techniques are all dazzling. I truly believe you'll just love it!

Orchid Daze 2019 | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Throughout the Orchid Daze exhibition are brilliant, large-format orchid photographs! They're spectacular! The photo above is one of them, me peeking at it through live orchids on the right and upper right.

The artist of these magnificent photographs is local, award-winning photographer Parish Kohanim. I've just read a long article about his life and it's fascinating. More than that, his devotion to his craft is heartwarming and inspiring. 

See more of Parish's work at Parish Kohanim Fine Art.

Orchid Daze 2019 | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

My favorite feature of this year's Orchid Daze exhibition are the six pendulous displays of bamboo canes featuring a wide range of orchids in varying colors, many of them the large-flowered orchids! Those displays are in the Orchid Center.

Orchid Daze 2019 | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Tomorrow is the Garden's annual Vanilla Sunday, 1pm-4pm. There will be activities for kids and adults, discovery stations, cooking demonstrations and more! 

Orchid Daze 2019 | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

There's another spectacular Parish Kohanim photograph behind these gorgeous orchids!

I've mentioned is many times before, but maybe you missed it or your a new wanderlust ATLANTA follower. If you're a avid orchid enthusiast, not only do you have to see this exhibition, you'll also want to follow The Orchid Column, a blog about orchids written and beautifully photographed by the Atlanta Botanical Garden's Orchid Center Manager Becky Brinkman.

Orchid Daze 2019 | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Also, for every level of orchid enthusiast, the annual Atlanta Orchid Society Show & Sale will take place Friday-Sunday, March 8-10, 9am-5pm. I've attended many times over the years and it's always splendid! You'll be glad you went. 

Think about making it a day at the Garden. See the Orchid show in Day Hall, see Orchid Daze, see Atlanta Blooms!, make lots of photos to enjoy later, and then take in lunch or dinner at Longleaf! 

Orchid Daze 2019 | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Be sure to stop by the Garden House Gallery to see "Conservation through Creation: The Works of Ed, Philip and Matt Moulthrop", three generations of woodturners! Some of the approximately 40 pieces on display are made from downed trees from the Atlanta Botanical Garden! 

To give you an idea of the level of craftsmanship and artistry you'll see in this exhibition, they have works on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Craft Museum of New York, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and Atlanta's High Museum of Art. The pieces on display are also available for purchase.

Orchid Daze 2019 | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Speaking of the High Museum of Art, if you missed Yayoi Kusama's "Infinity Mirrors" exhibition, through spring of 2019 you can see her installation "Narcissus Garden" in Storza Woods. The site-specific exhibition is comprised of approximately 1,400 stainless steel spheres arranged by staff from Kusama's studio in Japan. This work dates to 1966!

Orchid Daze 2019 | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Remember to see Orchid Daze at the Atlanta Botanical Garden by Sunday, April 7, and definitely remember your camera, phone camera, sketch pad, and/or eidetic memory...you'll want remember these beauties well into spring, summer and fall.

Orchid Daze 2015

The Atlanta Botanical Garden is celebrating another magnificent Orchid Daze exhibition. For more than a decade, the Garden has celebrated this incredibly popular flowering plant with a signature display.

Orchid Daze: Pop! - Atlanta Botanical Garden

The last three exhibitions—including 2015—have been fashioned after a specific style of art. This year the focus is on Pop Art.

Orchid Daze: Pop! features three famous pop artists, each iteration located in a different area. And I love that they always print—on a wall, on the floor, floating in mid-air—a quote from the featured artists. Be sure to look for each of them!

Orchid Daze: Pop! - Atlanta Botanical Garden

Entering the Fuqua Conservatory lobby, where the first Pop artist is featured, you immediately recognize who it is. 

Orchid Daze: Pop! - Atlanta Botanical Garden

The dozens of soup cans and the brightly colored triptychs just scream Andy Warhol!

One of my favorites of his, and you'll probably know it too, is "Marilyn" Portfolio of 10 Silkscreens, part of the permanent collection at the nearby High Museum of Art. It's not currently on exhibit, but I distinctly remember seeing it in 2011.

Orchid Daze: Pop! - Atlanta Botanical Garden

If you're an orchid enthusiast, and so many of the people I know are, may I recommend subscribing to the Garden's orchid blog—The Orchid Column. It's authored by Becky Brinkman, who's more than an orchidologist. She's an excellent writer and a magnificent photographer! I think you'll really enjoy the blog. I certainly have. 

The blog has its own Instagram account, too!

Orchid Daze: Pop! - Atlanta Botanical Garden

Keith Haring, another personal favorite—evidently I like Pop Art more than I thought I did!—is featured in the Orchid Atrium in the Orchid Center. There's no denying that his work is one of the most widely recognized "visual languages" of the 20th Century. That fascination and his activism even today remain impressive.

Orchid Daze: Pop! - Atlanta Botanical Garden

What's your most prevalent memory of Pop Art?

Orchid Daze: Pop! - Atlanta Botanical Garden

As of this writing, there's one more Orchid Market Weekend scheduled during this exhibition. It features live orchids, orchid supplies, art, jewelry and more...including orchid advice!

The only remaining 2015 Orchid Market Weekend is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, April 4-5.

I took a couple of friends to see Orchid Daze: Pop! last weekend when the annual Atlanta Orchid Show, presented by the Atlanta Orchid Society, was at the Garden. I didn't make as many photos as I usually do, but my friends enjoyed it immensely! If you've never seen it, be sure to watch for the announcement from the Garden for next year's Orchid Show.

Orchid Daze: Pop! - Atlanta Botanical Garden

If you've ever been a fan of comic books and are of a certain age, you can't not know the work of Roy Lichtenstein! Of course he's not a comic artist...he's an artist who often used comics to inspire his work...his magnificent work!

Orchid Daze: Pop! - Atlanta Botanical Garden

Tomorrow is the first day of spring and it brings with it the annual Atlanta Blooms! exhibition. Visitors will enjoy hundreds of thousands of blossoms, a great many of them my personal favorite flower...tulips! 

Atlanta Blooms! is seasonal and the length of the exhibition is determined totally by Mother Nature, but when I was there last weekend there were quite a few daffodils and other bulbs, including tulips, already making an appearance.

Orchid Daze: Pop! - Atlanta Botanical Garden

Orchid Daze: Pop! is on display at the Atlanta Botanical Garden through Sunday, April 12. See you at the Garden!

Orchid Society Show 2014

One of the perks of the Atlanta Botanical Garden's Orchid Daze exhibition is that the Atlanta Orchid Society holds their annual Orchid Show at the Garden...and it was pretty awesome!

Atlanta Orchid Society's Orchid Show, Atlanta Botanical Garden

The Show is presented in Day Hall, adjacent to the Parterre Garden, and fills the entire space. I can't imagine how many orchid blossoms there are in the show! And I always see varieties that I've never seen before—not terribly difficult given orchids have more varieties than any other flowering plant on Earth!

Atlanta Orchid Society's Orchid Show, Atlanta Botanical Garden

I'm loving the first few photos in this post. All the photos are of course mine, but they turned out well because some of the vendors provided dramatic lighting...fantastic for those of us who had cameras—and there were a LOT of us!

Atlanta Orchid Society's Orchid Show, Atlanta Botanical Garden

One of the vendors, artist Larry Mayse of Nature Glassworks, "was one of only 17 artists worldwide selected by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., to have works included in their The Artistry of Orchids exhibit." His resume is quite impressive!

Some of his Mayse's work was on display at the Show and it's stunning!

Atlanta Orchid Society's Orchid Show, Atlanta Botanical Garden

A few of the others at the show were Kool-logs, Peach State Orchids, Orchid Inn, Marble Branch Farms, J&L Orchids, Owen's Orchids, Odom's Orchids, Chidori Orchids Study Group, and several others.

Atlanta Orchid Society's Orchid Show, Atlanta Botanical Garden

"The Atlanta Orchid Society was formed in 1947 as a non-profit organization for people to learn about orchids, share their knowledge and experiences, and promote their love of orchids." - Atlanta Orchid Society website

They've been around since the year my mother was born! And they're one chapter of approximately 550 local chapters associated with the American Orchid Society. Who knew there were so many?!

Atlanta Orchid Society's Orchid Show, Atlanta Botanical Garden

The Atlanta Orchid Society meets at 8:00 p.m. on the second Monday of each month at the Atlanta Botanical Garden and they welcome visitors! I've not seen any hard data, but I believe that given the popularity of the Fuqua Orchid Center as a Garden destination, the Society's membership must be pretty enthusiastic. 

Atlanta Orchid Society's Orchid Show, Atlanta Botanical Garden

If you'd like to learn more about orchids, the Atlanta Orchid Society has a decent Orchids 101 on their website. And of course the Atlanta Botanical Garden has a number of resources, including The Orchid Column, a blog authored by Becky Brinkman, Manager of the Fuqua Orchid Center, and an orchid reference library.

Atlanta Orchid Society's Orchid Show, Atlanta Botanical Garden

If you missed the Show, you can still catch Orchid Daze through Sunday, April 13, and you can visit the Fuqua Orchid Center all year long! You'll never be for want of spending time exploring the amazing world of gorgeous and interesting orchids.

Atlanta Orchid Society's Orchid Show, Atlanta Botanical Garden

If you'd like to see a few more unique orchids, check out these on the Orchid Society's website.

Atlanta Orchid Society's Orchid Show, Atlanta Botanical Garden

The Orchid Show takes place every year during Orchid Daze, and there are LOT of other shows at the Garden throughout the year, so "Like" them on Facebook, become a member and get the member newsletter Clippings, or sign-up for Garden emails, which include event announcements.

Orchid Daze 2014

Since moving back to Atlanta, there's no way I would miss Orchid Daze at the Atlanta Botanical Garden...there's just no way! And as usual, this year's Orchid Daze is spectacular.

Orchid Daze 2014, Atlanta Botanical Garden

Orchid Daze: Lasting Impressions has been extremely well executed. You know immediately what the theme is and who inspired this show. The Atlanta Botanical Garden says of this year's Orchid Daze that it:

"...celebrates the work of three artists who found creative energy in the beauty of landscapes: Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet and Paul Gauguin. The exhibition showcases the artists eye-opening ways of seeing and perceiving the world."

Orchid Daze 2014, Atlanta Botanical Garden

One of the highlights of Orchid Daze is the Atlanta Orchid Society's annual Orchid Society Show, hosted at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. And it's this weekend! There's the Show, there are classes, and there's so much incredibly enticing beauty...prepare yourself!

Orchid Daze 2014, Atlanta Botanical Garden

Each of the three featured artists are quoted in the exhibition, with a quote that's specific to the experience of Orchid Daze.

"Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more." - Vincent Van Gogh

So true!

Orchid Daze 2014, Atlanta Botanical Garden

To give us the greatest orchid experience possible, the Garden starts the Orchid Daze exhibition in the lobby of the Fuqua Conservatory...what a treat! One of my favorite artists, Van Gogh is featured in the Conservatory lobby.

By starting Orchid Daze in the Conservatory lobby, visitors get to explore the Dorothy Chapman Fuqua Conservatory on their way to the Orchid Center. If you've given yourself plenty of time, do explore all five display areas in the Conservatory. There's the lobby, the Tropical Rotunda, the Desert House, a special exhibits space and an Orangerie!

Orchid Daze 2014, Atlanta Botanical Garden

Aside from Orchid Daze, the Atlanta Botanical Garden boasts one of the largest collections of orchids in the United States. Of the 25,000 species of orchids on planet Earth, they have approximately 2,000 species in their collection. Now that's impressive!

In addition to the permanent collection, the Garden  brings in thousands of additional blooms for Orchid Daze...making for a truly wonderful exploration of one of the world's most fascinating and beautiful flowers!

Orchid Daze 2014, Atlanta Botanical Garden

In the Fuqua Orchid Center lobby you'll see Claude Monet featured (first photo in this post). Over in the Orchid Center Display Room you'll see Paul Gaugin featured, and keep an eye out for some of his trademark Tahitian female figures among the foliage.

While you're in the Display Room, keep an eye out for the world's second most expensive spice...you might be surprised! And also seek out one of my personal favorites, the Darwin Orchid, at the back of the Display Room—and it's in bloom now!

The Display Room is also where you're most likely to find one of the Garden's very helpful and knowledgeable Orchid Specialists. I've never asked a question that they couldn't answer!

Orchid Daze 2014, Atlanta Botanical Garden

Becky Brinkman.

Yes, Becky's name alone gets its own paragraph. Becky is the Fuqua Orchid Center Manager and has managed the Garden's orchid collection since 1995, seven years before the Fuqua Orchid Center opened in 2002.

One of the reasons that I have such great respect and admiration for Becky is her authorship of The Orchid Column, her blog about orchids and the Fuqua Orchid Center. She's a brilliant writer, and spectacular photographer, an engaging teacher...I would LOVE to see The Orchid Column win a "Blog of the Year" award. Becky totally deserves it!

"While you were pounding the ice from your doorstep, we were putting the final touches on our orchid display. ABG's impressionism-inspired orchid display, Lasting Impressions, open this weekend!, is exactly what you need to put all that behind you." - Becky Brinkman, The Orchid Column

Orchid Daze 2014, Atlanta Botanical Garden

There's no short supply of Orchid Daze add-ons. One of the bonuses is the now annual Orchid Market Weekends. There was one going on when I last visited and the orchids for sale were gorgeous! There are also crafts, other products, and Chef Phil was selling the most delicious cookies...I enjoyed the lemon cookies, and I mean really enjoyed! (Chef Phil also works in the Garden's Gift Shop)

The next, and final, Orchid Market Weekend is April 4-5. 

There's also Orchid Care Clinics, an art show in the Orchid Center, and although Vanilla Sunday has already passed, there are some vanilla recipes on the Garden's website that you can enjoy anytime.

Orchid Daze 2014, Atlanta Botanical Garden

Keep your eyes open for some rather odd looking kinds of orchids, too. Truthfully, some of those are my favorites, the Dracula Orchid, in particular. 

If you find yourself in the Orchid Center and you spy an orchid or plant that doesn't have an identification plate and there's not an Orchid Specialist on duty, there's always the Plant Hotline. I recommend making a photo of the plant/flower in question and emailing it to the Plant Hotline. But you can always call and give them a location and description of the plant/flower in question.

I've used the Plant Hotline on numerous occasions and have ALWAYS met with success in having my questions answered. (Thank you, Luanne!)

Orchid Daze 2014, Atlanta Botanical Garden

Orchid Daze: Lasting Impressions is on display at the Atlanta Botanical Garden through Sunday, April 13. And while you're there, you'll get to enjoy Atlanta Blooms! When I was there last weekend, there were already hundreds of daffodils up and a few tulips, too! Just make sure you see the orchids!