There are an estimated 28,000 different species of orchid in the world.
Which, for a little context, is four times the number of mammal species.
And while you won’t see quite all of them at Kew Gardens’ new floral festival, they’ve done a pretty good job of amassing as many as possible to create a breathtaking miniature rainforest in their Princess of Wales Conservatory.
Each year the festival brings a beautiful part of the world to the conservatory with Costa Rica, Indonesia, Cameroon, and Madagascar recently getting the opportunity to strut their stuff, and for 2024 it’s Peru’s turn to flex its incredible floral muscles. The South American nation packs in some 3,000 species of orchid, with many of them being unique to the country.
(From last year’s festival)
Every year, the displays at the orchid fest seem to become slightly more elaborate and impressive, and this year they’re planning on widening eyes & slacking jaws with an island inside their indoor pond, which will be dressed up as Lake Titicaca, and which will be home to “a breathtaking cornucopia” with reams of flowers literally “tumbling out”. Then, there’ll be a recreation of Machu Pichu, flanked by floral flamingos in their own smaller pond. There’ll be an ‘orchid aviary’, with birds made from flowers, and an alpaca covered in blooms. Apparently you can even “wander beneath a starry night sky adorned with dazzling Allium flower heads”.
(From last year’s festival)
But the real showstopper will be a genuine Puya raimondii – commonly known as the Queen of the Andes, it’s the world’s largest bromeliad, and it’s highly endangered. It’ll be shown alongside some floral sculptures inspired by the plant.
And as usual, they’ll also be putting on a series of Lates, featuring Peruvian musicians, performers, and artists (and not to mention cocktails) while the space gets bathed in the glow of mood lighting.
It sheds a whole new light on the display…
NOTE: Orchids at Kew runs from 1st February – 2nd March 2025. Tickets are included with entry to the gardens, which is £20, while tickets to the After Hours events are £17. You can find out more, and book, at the Kew website.
Orchids | Kew Gardens, TW9 3AE
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