I at all times study one thing once I go to with Marc Hachadourian, the director of glasshouse horticulture and senior curator of orchids on the famed New York Botanical Backyard (NYBG) and creator of Orchid Trendy (Timber Press, 2019). After attending the spectacular Orchid Present this yr, I used to be keen to seek out out a little bit extra concerning the orchids on the backyard. Orchidaceae is among the largest plant households on earth, with roughly 30,000 naturally occurring species within the wild, and greater than 100,000 horticultural varieties because of intensive plant breeding and naming. “I’ve a job the place I work on the intersection of science, schooling, and horticulture,” he says. “And at occasions, it’s nothing wanting magical.” Right here, Marc talks about what makes the NYBG’s assortment so necessary and provides some primary orchid recommendation.
Images courtesy of New York Botanical Backyard.
What’s the glasshouse assortment?
“We now have basically a residing historical past of the establishment in our glasshouse and orchid assortment that we have to protect for the longer term. This historical past might characterize uncommon and weird species and historic and venerable specimens. We work to preserve these uncommon crops, pure occurring species, and even uncommon hybrids that aren’t actually present in cultivation anymore. It’s not simply timber which can be lengthy lived, —there are a lot of crops that may reside a long time, if not tons of of years. So, loads of what we do is stewardship, which is one thing that I at all times really feel is necessary as a result of I’m connecting to the previous. I’m working with crops that have been introduced right here by the founding father of the New York Botanical Backyard 120 or so years in the past. I really like that. And hopefully many of those crops might be right here lengthy after I’m gone.”