Connect with us

Home & Garden

Ask the Expert: NYBG’s Marc Hachadourian on How to Be a Good Parent to Your Orchid – Gardenista

[ad_1]

I always learn something when I visit with Marc Hachadourian, the director of glasshouse horticulture and senior curator of orchids at the famed New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and author of Orchid Modern (Timber Press, 2019). After attending the spectacular Orchid Show this year, I was eager to find out a little more about the orchids at the garden. Orchidaceae is one of the largest plant families on earth, with approximately 30,000 naturally occurring species in the wild, and more than 100,000 horticultural varieties due to extensive plant breeding and naming. “I have a job where I work at the intersection of science, education, and horticulture,” he says. “And at times, it’s nothing short of magical.” Here, Marc talks about what makes the NYBG’s collection so important and offers some basic orchid advice.

Photography courtesy of New York Botanical Garden.

Above: Orchids in bloom at the New York Botanical Garden’s 2023 Orchid Show.

What’s the glasshouse collection?

“We have essentially a living history of the institution in our glasshouse and orchid collection that we need to preserve for the future. This history may represent rare and unusual species and historic and venerable specimens. We work to conserve these rare plants, natural occurring species, and even rare hybrids that are not really found in cultivation anymore. It’s not just trees that are long lived, you know—there are many plants that can live decades, if not hundreds of years. So, a lot of what we do is stewardship, which is something that I always feel is important because I’m connecting to the past. I’m working with plants that were brought here by the founder of the New York Botanical Garden 120 or so years ago. I love that. And hopefully many of these plants will be here long after I’m gone.”

One of the older orchids in the NYBG’s extensive orchid collection, Vandopsis gigantea was acquired in 1904 from a famous Victorian orchid nursery, making it at least 118 years old! This large, slow growing species has highly perfumed flowers and is native to tropical Southeast Asia, including areas of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, and Vietnam.
Above: One of the older orchids in the NYBG’s extensive orchid collection, Vandopsis gigantea was acquired in 1904 from a famous Victorian orchid nursery, making it at least 118 years old! This large, slow growing species has highly perfumed flowers and is native to tropical Southeast Asia, including areas of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, and Vietnam.
Like many orchids, this species (Angraecum sesquipedale), which hails from Madagascar, has a special relationship with its pollinator: a night flying moth called the Hawk moth. The moth’s foot long proboscis allows it to reach the nectar that’s found at the very end of the flower’s foot-long tube. As the moth flies from one orchid flower to the next to sip nectar, it pollinates the plant.
Above: Like many orchids, this species (Angraecum sesquipedale), which hails from Madagascar, has a special relationship with its pollinator: a night flying moth called the Hawk moth. The moth’s foot long proboscis allows it to reach the nectar that’s found at the very end of the flower’s foot-long tube. As the moth flies from one orchid flower to the next to sip nectar, it pollinates the plant.
Charles Darwin predicted the pollinator of Angraecum sesquipedale decades before it was discovered. After he was sent the orchid, known today as Darwin’s star orchid, he theorized that there must be an insect with a proboscis long enough to reach the drops of nectar at the bottom of the flower’s foot-long nectar tube. About 40 years later, scientists discovered the night-flying Hawk moth, proving Darwin’s prediction correct. 
Above: Charles Darwin predicted the pollinator of Angraecum sesquipedale decades before it was discovered. After he was sent the orchid, known today as Darwin’s star orchid, he theorized that there must be an insect with a proboscis long enough to reach the drops of nectar at the bottom of the flower’s foot-long nectar tube. About 40 years later, scientists discovered the night-flying Hawk moth, proving Darwin’s prediction correct. 

How does the NYBG help with orchid conservation?

[ad_2]

Source link

Related Topics: