For 11 months of the year, the Missouri Botanical Garden cares for thousands of tropical orchids inside its greenhouses. But once a year, the Garden welcomes the public to enjoy these wonderful plants in full bloom during our annual Orchid Show.
In 2024, the Garden is hosting the Orchid Show for the second time inside the Emerson Conservatory, located inside the Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center. This Conservatory is home to the Garden’s Mediterranean plants which are incorporated into the Orchid Show.
Throughout the month-long show, horticulturalists care for the orchids on display, spending nearly an hour each day watering the plants before the doors open to the public. They also check to see which orchids are no longer blooming, swapping them out with the plants that have bloomed in our greenhouse during the Orchid Show.
Did you know? Orchids are one of the largest plant families with 25,000-30,000 species. Not all of these species have common names or they share a common name, which is why we’ve used Latin names in the descriptions throughout this blog.
Did you know? There are over 5,000 orchid specimen in the Missouri Botanical Garden’s permanent collection, representing 700 unique species of orchids.
Did you know? 1 out of every 10 orchids in the Garden’s collection is threatened or endangered.
Did you know? The oldest orchid in the permanent collection is from 1898, less than 40 years after the Missouri Botanical Garden was founded.
Learn more about the 2024 Orchid Show
Click to enlarge photos
Did you know? Missouri has more than 30 species of orchids, many of which are of conservation concern.
Protecting Missouri’s Native Orchids
Photos by Nathan Kwarta | Senior Digital Media Specialist
Copy by Jessika Eidson | Public Information Officer
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