ORCHIDS AT KEW GARDENS
In search of fragrant paradise.

How to capture some exotic scents and colours in the dark winter months in London? The answer is the Kew Garden orchid festival that the BSP joined on the evening of 26th February 2003.

At night, the stunning displays take on a whole new dramatic life of their own in the candlelight. As we stroll from the entrance through the gardens, romantically lit with night lights, the "Lonicera fragrantissima" (Winter flowering honeysuckle) stops us in its tracks, exuding linalool, citrus notes, and an overall sweet smell of freesia in the cool night air.
In the Princess of Wales Conservatory we enter this tropical rainforest environment, glass of wine and canapés in hand -- a very civilised way to view the splendours of the orchids... A feast of colours assails us: hues of pinks, purple, white, green, oranges shimmer in this tropical arena. The orchid experts, Kew volunteer guides, are on hand to give talks on their specific areas of knowledge and passion.
Half a million exotic orchid flowers, flown in especially from the Far East for the festival, adorn pillars and trees creating a steamy orchid paradise, smelling green, woody and slightly musky. A definite antidote to winter.
Orchids have always held a special fascination: for Confucius, the orchid was the aristocrat amongst plants with its exquisite perfume symbolising virtue, wisdom and quiet authority. In Ancient Rome and Greece the local orchids were perceived to have aphrodisiac powers. For the Aztecs, the value was primarily economic: they pioneered the cultivation of the vanilla orchid. The tropical varieties arrived in Europe from the 17th century onwards. They were taken from the wild by intrepid plant hunters, beloved by the wealthy and cultivated by innovative horticulturists.

Orchids are now on the endangered species list: not least because as collector’s items, rarity is a bonus and it was not uncommon for some of the early gatherers to remove all the plants from an area, thus increasing the value of the specific plant. They now need to be protected. For example they form one of the largest plant families in Madagascar with over 1000 known species, but their survival is increasingly threatened. Habitat destruction and over collection mean that some rare and beautiful species are on the verge of extinction. Kew gardens are doing much to protect these threatened plants.
(To find out about the conservation work you can contact the Friends of Kew on 0208 332 59 24 or visit www.kew.org/friends/madagascar)

As we stand near the large pond listening to the trials and tribulations of the early orchid hunters, a giant catfish steals the limelight for a while... looking for food or maybe wine?

Scientists were fascinated by these flowers: the pollination of orchids furnished Charles Darwin with evidence of adaptation, symbiosis and natural selection. When asked what could pollinate the slipper orchid, he ventured that it was a moth with a very long proboscis and was soon proven right.
As early as the 1850s horticultural developments were taking place that would transform the orchid’s status, making them widely available. Nurserymen had begun to master the art of growing orchids from seed as well as producing the first artificial orchid hybrids. A century and a half later, more than 100,000 hybrids have been created.

These plants vary in sizes dramatically from the smallest at 4mm in size, barely bigger than a pin head to the largest flower, a slipper orchid (Paphiopedilum sanderianum) in the Guinness book of records with a flower with petals of 88.9cm. The trailing orchid’s plants such as the vanilla can attain one hundred metres in length.

The spider orchid, a large white flower, smells of muguet and freesia, whereas the slipper orchids exude a greenness mingling with hints of bergamot.
The pale white coelestis, brought out from a glass cabinet for us by one of the guides, exudes a light vanilla musky fragrance.

Leaving through the gardens, our heads are filled with tropical colours, an insight into these fascinating plants, their history, lives and scents. Having previously visited the festival during the day, I felt the evening viewing enhanced the magic of these flowers.
(For next year’s dates contact www.kew.org or tel 0208 332 56 55)

Additional reading The above are available on www.amazon.com
Rhona Wells

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