It doesn’t feel like spring. Not one bit. The snow on the first day of spring just added flakey salt to the wounds of this brutal winter. Ugh! Winter, I said we were never ever getting back together, so stop hanging around! Fuck off! Seriously, no one likes you!
Sunday afternoon the sun was out but temperatures hovered in the mid-30s. I’d had enough, more than enough. I decided to do something about it. If spring won’t come to me, then I’ll just have to go to spring!
No, I didn’t head to JFK to by a plane ticket. I went somewhere I venture even less frequently then the airport. The Bronx, where the New York Botanical Garden is located.
The Orchid Show: Chandeliers is the pride and joy of the NYBG. It’s a joy to any spring-starved New Yorker. For the cost of an Imax movie, you get the full sensatory experience of a simulated spring. The smell of the flowers hovers in the air, color bursts from every corner, sun streams in the glass ceilings, and the temperature inside the Haupt Conservatory is best described as balmy.
Cold, dead winter on the outside.
Explosion of all things bright and beautiful on the inside!
Sunshine in actual and flower form.
I’d gotten some bad news earlier that morning. My steady acting gig was over. The business shutting its doors abruptly and permanently. Needless to say I was crushed. Surrounding myself with flowers was the best antidote.
Seriously the best. It was impossible not to look on the bright side while walking among the orchids. In fact I felt like I’d entered the physical incarnation of the bright side.
The Orchid Show: as beautiful as winter is long. You can totally steal that from me, NYBG. It’s the perfect slogan for this year.
It was a Sunday, probably the busiest day of the week. There were a ton of old couples, families with kids, crowds every where. Usually I hate crowds, but not on this visit. Everyone seemed in a good mood, it was tangible. I swear it made strangers more courteous than usual.
Sometimes I’d look up and feel like I was in Harry Potter’s Herbology class. Magical, I tell ya.
They say everything you could ever need is right here in New York City. Even that tropical vacation you couldn’t afford this winter.
Complete with selfies and flower crowns. Hey, I gotta be cliché about it.
If you’ve been battling seasonal depression, if your feel like winter will never end, if your world has felt black and white recently, if you’re searching for creative inspiration, or obviously, if you love flowers I strongly recommend this orchid show. It gave me the strength I needed to stay sane until spring actually arrives. Any day now….right? Right??
The Orchid Show runs through April 19th and is $20 for adults on weekdays, $25 on weekends. Orchid Evenings are a fun option too, featuring a cocktail viewing of the show on Saturday nights. Further info about this and upcoming exhibits at nybg.org
