Orchids bright and beautiful
Orchids are out in force at this year's Chelsea Flower Show. Eleven breath-taking displays in the Great Pavilion feature orchids, while both cool-growing and tropical orchids put in appearances in the gardens.
Pansy orchids
Miltonias, known as pansy orchids, are the focus of The Eric Young Orchid Foundation’s gold medal-winning exhibit. More than 100 plants showcase the Foundations breeding work and create an eye-catching swathe of pretty pinks, delicate primrose-yellow and white. Many of the hybrids have never been shown before, including Miltonia Les Ecrehou, pictured above, with its unusual magenta and red central ‘mask’.
Oriental splendour
The wow factor award has to go to the Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden’s vibrant display, which won a much-deserved gold medal. A gold bell tower at the centre is surrounded by a huge, winding three-headed naga (a mythical dragon serpent) towering over decorated elephants, gods and pillars of orchids. Each element is decorated with thousands of orchid petals hand-sown together to create panels of colour. The naga alone is decorated with more then 50,000 orchid flowers and it took close to 20,000 flowers just to decorate this little elephant!
Anniversaries celebrated
The Orchid Society of Great Britain is celebrating its 50th Chelsea with an impressive gold medal-winning circular stand packed with a wealth of their members' plants. An orchid-and-moss-clad tunnel forms the central structure of the display, flanked by statues of two lions that guard temple doors in Sri Lanka. Tropical orchids are accompanied by a selection of hardy Cypripedium hybrids - perfect for a woodland border in the garden.
Top 20 plants
Cypripedium plants also feature on the McBean’s Orchids display, and among them is C. flavum white-form, nominated in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year. The lack of a single Phalaenopsis (moth orchid) on the McBean’s stand, and the fact that it won a gold medal, should help growers of moth orchids see the possibilities of other members of the orchid family to try on the windowsill at home.