News

Euro stars lead orchid celebration

Orchid experts from all over Europe are heading for the National Botanic Garden of Wales this weekend (Sep 11-12) for a two-day celebration of the largest family of flowering plants.

Growers from Holland, France and all over the UK are playing a part in the Garden’s third Orchid Festival – click here for a full list of nurseries attending the festival.

The event offers orchid fans a rare chance to see – and buy! – the best of blooms from Europe’s top nurseries. It also features a series of demonstrations and talks – for beginners and experts alike –  including ‘Basic Care of Orchids as Houseplants’, ‘Cultivating Unusal Species’ and ‘Orchids in Wales’.

There will be displays by orchid societies, as well as informative exhibitions, including one by the National Museum of Wales highlighting the plight of the Ghost Orchid – click here for the Orchid Festival Talks Programme

The festival is being organised by the Orchid Study Group, which was set up at the National Botanic Garden under the leadership of botanist Dr Kevin Davies with the aims of academic study and cultivation both of tropical and native orchids.

“The group provides a focus for orchid study within Wales,” said Dr Davies. “But it also serves to highlight the important role played by Welsh botanists and plant explorers during the early days of orchid collecting. This fantastic festival is already a fixture in many people’s calendars and we are hoping that this year’s bigger and better event will attract a whole new audience.”