Orchid Showcase back for fourth year

For a temporary escape from winter, enter the gates at Denver Botanic Gardens on York Street and walk straight ahead to the Orangery and the next-door Marnie’s Pavilion, where you will find hundreds of orchids in bloom starting Jan. 9.

This is the fourth year for the featured Orchid Showcase, according to botanist Nick Snackenberg, who displays a variety of common and exotic species through Feb. 23. They come from the Gardens’ orchid collection of some 3,000 plants, supplemented by some purchased just for this show in order to have enough blooming plants on hand.

“The Orangery is a most lovely place to sit,” he recommends. One will be surrounded by fragrant citrus plants and blooming orchids of all sorts.

The next-door Marnie’s Pavilion carries a rotating exhibit of orchids and bromiliads through the year, based on what’s blooming at a given time.

Snackenberg said he grew up on a Midwestern farm and attended Iowa State University to study horticulture. He has been at Denver Botanic Gardens for 21 years and “fell into tropicals … It’s lots of work — they don’t stop growing and we have space limitations.” Palm trees, for example, can’t be pruned to keep them small, so eventually they must be replaced. “We call it the circle of life,” he said.

Orchids come to the collection from many sources. Some are traded with other botanic gardens and others are purchased from local suppliers or growers in Florida. Nurseries deal with the regulations on importing plants from out of the country. There are restrictions on trade in endangered species.

Snackenberg visits local collections whenever he attends a conference or national meeting. “It’s a good chance to look at the host and network — to see who’s got what.” Personal vacations will also often lead him to other gardens “to chat with the people in charge. My wish list never seems to end.”

For those who think they might like to grow orchids at home, he will be offering a class at the end of February. Details were not firm when we spoke by telephone, but it should be listed on the website soon.

Also, there is an active Denver Orchid Society which meets monthly and holds two shows a year, where it awards prizes to growers and has plants, supplies and advice available. New members are welcome.

The American Orchid Society has a great deal of material online as well, from basics to more complex topics. And there are numerous other resources on how and what to buy and how to cultivate.

All warn that overwatering is the quickest way to kill a plant.

Whether one is simply in need of a flower fix or is searching for a new hobby, a visit to the Orchid Showcase, Jan. 9 to Feb. 23, is in order.