Russia’s largest festival of orchids, carnivorous plants and succulents “Tropical Winter” will be held in Moscow in the Aptekarsky Garden for the 12th time from the end of December 2021 to April 2021. Every year it attracts thousands of spectators who come here during the snowless Moscow winter to look for inspiration and a piece of blooming spring.
The most appropriate epithet for the Tropical Winter festival would be the word most: the blackest, smallest, most expensive, most sinister orchids in the world will surprise visitors. And that's not all. Have you ever come across bee orchids, slipper orchids with huge lips, hairy orchids, tiger orchids? If not, then it is not surprising: some species are so rare that they are almost never found in nature.
Photo: hortus.ru
What to see at the festival
What’s new as part of the “Tropical Winter” is an exhibition of insects and botanical illustrations, and in the foyer of the Palm Greenhouse there is also an exhibition “Underwater Gardens” with underwater plants.
Visitors can see the rare tiger orchid, bee orchid, hairy orchid, a unique collection of miniature orchids and new varieties of breeding plants.
The festival also showcases one of the country's largest collections of cacti and succulents and an exhibition of insectivorous plants. Come admire the lunar cacti-lianas “Queen of the Night”, agaves, lithops - living stones, predatory Venus flytraps, sundews and other rarities.
Guests of the Winter Orchid Festival can visit the Victory Greenhouse, which features a large swimming pool and tropical water lilies.
Elizaveta Novikova: You can grow a rare orchid at home - the main thing is that you like the plant
Last weekend, the exhibition “Planet of Orchids” ended at the Timiryazev Biological Museum. We talked with Elizaveta Novikova , the author of the Orchidium project and the organizer of the exhibition.
— Tell us more about the exhibition.
Who took part in it? — The exhibition Planet of Orchids takes place every autumn at the Timiryazev Biological Museum. For 11 years in a row we have been opening it to visitors. Orchid lovers take part in it. Anyone who grows orchids at home can participate by bringing their pets to the exhibition. This year more than 200 plants participated. It was a wonderful holiday for all orchid lovers!
Master class at the Planet of Orchids exhibition
Composition of orchids from collectors from the Russian Orchid Society
— What are the most unusual orchids presented at the exhibition?
— Of the unusual, rarely exhibited orchids, we had two species of Gongora, as well as Paphiopedilum bungebelangi and Paphiopedilum lunatum, recently discovered in northern Sumatra.
— What plants besides orchids were at the exhibition and why?
— Orchids belong to a large group of plants - epiphytes, living high in trees. Not only orchids can do this, they have companion plants. These are bromeliads, tillandsias, some aroids, ferns and others. That's why they also take part in our exhibition. The participants brought more beautiful hoyas, they perfectly filled the hall with greenery. Carnivorous plants participated because they are some of the most unusual representatives of the flora.
Vanda Sansai Blue
— Tell us about your collection. How did you start collecting, what criteria do you use to form?
— My interest among the diversity of orchids lies in the region of the subtribe Pleurothallidinae. This is a neotropical group of orchids and includes Masdevallia, Dracula, Pleurothallis, Lepanthes, Dreslerella and others. Most species grow high in the mountains, among misty mountain forests. I have always been attracted to plants with oddities - an unusual growth form, or a strange flower. That's how I came to this group of plants. At the moment I have three greenhouses, two of them with warm-keeping orchids - phalaenopsis, coelogynum, stangopeia, paphiopedilum and others.
— What makes up the price of expensive orchids? How much can one plant cost?
— The price of some orchids reaches several thousand dollars. It depends on the rarity and spectacularity of the species. For example, Phragmipedium kovachii is a Peruvian species with a flower size of 15 - 20 centimeters. When it was first discovered, in 2002, the price for these plants was $10,000 for two copies. After a few years, it dropped to thousands of dollars per plant. The price of orchid hybrids can also be high. The most successful hybrids that receive the highest marks at orchid exhibitions according to the AOS or TOGA system can cost one and a half to two thousand dollars or more. The complexity of obtaining a hybrid and the professional instinct of the grower creating the hybrid are taken into account. Hybrids - carriers of good characteristics - size, shape, color of the flower, their number, are highly valuable. In the future, their genes are used to breed a lot of other hybrids.
Dendrobium Hibiki
— How difficult is it to care for orchids at home?
— It all depends on the plant. There are 27,130 species of orchids. The number of hybrids has exceeded 200 thousand. This is a large group of plants that occupy all kinds of biotopes and adapt to different environmental conditions. Some orchids cannot be grown at home. Usually, an amateur is faced with the problem of temperature and humidity conditions, which are difficult to reproduce in an apartment. People still need to live in it. Not everyone likes the tropics, peeling wallpaper and mushrooms on the walls. Some can be grown on a windowsill. These are numerous hybrids of phalaenopsis. They are produced for a wide market in huge quantities. They often like it on windowsills. This point is also taken into account in the selection of hybrids for the mass market. The main rule when growing phalaenopsis is not to overwater. The roots should dry out between waterings. Do not place in direct sun. It's not difficult, it's just that caring for them is different from other plants, and it takes time to get used to.
Phalaenopsis hybrid
Phalaenopsis hybrid
— What should you pay attention to when choosing an orchid?
- On the condition of the plant. The root system must be well developed. Living roots are silver in color, with green tips - growth zones. Particular attention should be paid to the “trunk” of the phalaenopsis - the so-called neck. These are monopodial orchids, and they have one growth zone, on the upper part of the shoot bearing leaves. If something happens to it - it rots, dies - then such a plant has little chance of surviving. The plant must be externally healthy, without signs of rot, without pests.
— Which orchids are considered the most unpretentious? What advice do you have for beginners?
— The most unpretentious ones are some hybrid phalaenopsis, some coelogines. Some people are immediately able to “negotiate” with oncidiums and paphiopedilums. It’s difficult to advise where to start. One thing I know for sure: you have to like the plant! So that there is an incentive to learn more about him. Interest and attention to detail are the key to success. You know, when you notice small details, it develops a special look over time. An opportunity to look at the world through the eyes of a plant and understand what is preventing it from developing normally. To do this, there must be a clear understanding of the plant’s needs in the external environment. In any case, you shouldn’t be afraid to try! Only experience will help you grow the orchids you want.
Cattleya hybrid
— Are there any more exhibitions and lectures planned?
— The exhibition “Planet of Orchids” will traditionally be held next fall. And in the spring the Orchidium fair awaits us. We launched this project the year before last. This is a fair of orchids, bromeliads, tillandsias, insectivores and houseplants. You can chat with plant breeders, learn how to grow and purchase new pets. This spring there will also be lectures and master classes at the Orchidium.
You can find out about upcoming events of the project on social networks: VKontakte, Instagram.
Stanislav Karpukhin, especially for BOTSADY.ru
How to get to the Aptekarsky Garden
By public transport: metro station Mira-ring. After exiting the metro, turn left and walk along Prospekt Mira for about 180 meters. Enter the glass doors of the dark green building (there will be a cafe on the left) and go through it.
Address: Mira Avenue, building 26, building 1
Opening hours
Every day, from 10-00 to 20-00, cash desk - until 19-30
From Thursday to Saturday, the Palmovaya and Victornaya greenhouses are open additionally from 20-00 to 01-00 (entrance from Grokholsky Lane), the cost of entry during these hours is only 50 rubles.
Ticket prices
- Entrance ticket (includes visiting the territory of the Vegetable Garden and the Greenhouse complex) - 300 rubles,
- Reduced ticket for schoolchildren, students and pensioners upon presentation of an ID - 200 rubles.
Some categories of visitors are entitled to free admission.
You can take photos for free.
How it was before
The orchid show was a huge event, one of the most significant at this time of year in New York. A giant mirror orchid with water cascading into the pond was one way to start the show and surprise guests. This is the creation of world famous floral designer Geoff Leatham. “We really want people to come here and experience something they've never experienced before,” said Jeff Leatham at the exhibition's opening in February 2020.
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The New York Botanical Garden featured thousands of colorful and fragrant flowering plants each year. Under the huge Palm Dome of the historic Haupt Conservatory, a tunnel has been built that looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. Every year, designers decorated it in different styles. For example, in 2020 they tried to work with a kaleidoscope theme and created a beautiful light show in the tunnel.
Photos from the festival
Alley of the Palm Greenhouse. It is very humid here - the camera lens instantly fogs up.
Orchids are located among the greenhouse plants, most of the flowers are equipped with nameplates.
Rare exhibits are displayed in separate display cases. Orchid "Black Pearl".
"Venus' slipper" is one of the varieties.
Miniature flowers.
A few more photos of tropical beauties:
As part of the Tropical Winter festival, carnivorous plants are demonstrated in the Palm Greenhouse.
Nepenthes winged.
Cephalotus sacculosa.
On the second floor there is a rich collection of cacti and succulents:
A real flower fairy tale
Every year, visitors to the galleries are transported into tropical forests with hundreds of different varieties of orchids. Old favorites will be back on display. Pansy orchids echo the shape and color of more familiar harbingers of spring, while showy corsage orchids attract crowds of photographers.
Everyone loves the muted tones of some of the taupe and purple swatches. Did you know that vanilla beans (from which pure vanilla extract is made) are vanilla orchid pods? Imagine a room that smells like grandma's baked goods but looks like her chintz sofa.
The Darwin's Star orchid is a perennial favorite of the exhibition. Charles Darwin, after studying a specimen of this orchid, insisted that there must be a butterfly with a very long tongue to pollinate it. Darwin was sharply ridiculed because in those years it was believed that such a butterfly did not exist in Madagascar, the birthplace of orchids. Four decades after Darwin's death, a moth with an unusually proportioned proboscis was discovered, confirming the great naturalist's theory.
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