Kaleidoscope Orchid Show 2022 Stuns and Delights in New York

Sometimes, you just need to be startled by something really beautiful. Surrounded by color and light. And adrift in a garden where there’s time and space to observe and reflect. We’re sharing our best photos from our recent visit to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) Kaleidoscope Orchid Show 2022, which stuns and delights and runs through the end of April this year in NYC.

kaleidoscope orchid show 2022 stuns and delights in nyc

The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) Orchid Show is an annual must-see event in the city. And a sure sign that spring is nearly upon us. Now in its 19th year, the grand displays in the Enid Haupt Conservatory are always breathtaking. The perfect remedy for the winter blues in every way.

We almost never miss it – but thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine that took hold in NYC in March 2020, we missed the show that year. And we were particularly disappointed, because we had heard so many things about “Kaleidoscope” and the incredible color play at work.

a 2020 display returns in 2022

Fast forward to 2022, and the great news is that the Kaleidoscope orchid show is back! For all of us who missed in 202o, we get a second chance. Having seen it this week, we highly recommend that you don’t let this one slip away a second time without seeing it.

Orchid shows can feel kitschy and cliched when not done well. Focusing on a specific country, for example, can be a revelation. But can also feel like a presentation from the national tourism bureau. Happily, this show is free of any hype or enticements to visit foreign lands. It’s a statement about color, connection, delight and surprise. Of full immersion in orchids – from above, around and even below you. It’s gorgeous. And optimistic. It might even help you twist your own perspective on life and the world just a bit.

We were fortunate enough to get a behind-the-scenes tour as the staff of the NYBG was preparing for this show. The logistics of mounting such a show are  far more complex than most people realize. Mostly because each orchid must be in optimal bloom during the show. That takes multiple greenhouses. And deep expertise. Which is one of the reasons the NYBG orchid show is arguably always the best one in America.

jeff leatham, floral artist behind the 2022 Orchid Show

Jeff Leatham is the artistic director of one of the most beautiful hotels in world: the Four Seasons George V in Paris. He’s also a floral designer to the stars.

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transform the garden’s conservatory into a tunnel of hypnotic floral designs reminiscent of a look through a kaleidoscope.

“I am thrilled to bring Kaleidoscope back to the New York Botanical Garden in 2022—much like when you look into a kaleidoscope, the view is never the same,” Leatham says. “My reinvention of Kaleidoscope will be totally different installations than two years ago. Every turn will display a new vision while maintaining the thematic element of every gallery focusing on a different color experience. With this design, visitors will appreciate the beauty of orchids and see NYBG’s Conservatory in exciting new ways.”

1. The palm court

The iconic installation of this year’s show is the first one visitors see when they enter the Conservatory: the eponymous Kaleidoscope.

It’s a sculpture of fragmented mirrors, designed by Leatham, that resembles the inside of a kaleidoscope.

Sprays of orange, yellow, pink and red orchids are on display inside the multifaceted work, and also surround it.

Gorgeous, vibrant orchid towers hover over and around the sculpture, their reflections vivid in the pool below.

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Its stunning on its own and actually more fun to observe as the exhibit becomes more crowded, and people begin to randomly reflect in the mirrors along with the flowers.

Its oddly affecting to feel connected to a stranger just because you can see their joy and wonder reflecting back at you in this fantastical way.

2. the interior fountain and ornamental pool

A second high point of the show is the always-lovely ornamental pool.

For this show, orchids are suspended from the ceiling. Water lilies float peacefully in the pool itself, a promise of beauty still to come in the summer and early autumn.

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3. a winding pathway through rainforest and desert (and a rainbow tunnel!)

As always, from there visitors follow a winding path, which options to detour off and explore the rainforest plants or the desert succulents. In between, the lighted tunnel that connects the two has been transformed for this show.

Instead of the usual white lights, now the tunnel is illuminated in every color of the rainbow. This highly Instagrammable “Rainbow Tunnel” mimics the turn of a kaleidoscope, with changing lights that glow and immerse a traveler in a dazzling array of colors.

It’s a quieter joy – but a meaningful one – to be reminded that orchids are remarkably agile and resilient. They grow on every continent and in every conceivable climate. We may think of them as delicate hothouse flowers – but they’re a lot tougher than they appear.

4. Orchid plumes

The penultimate display is one of the most dramatic in this year’s orchid show. When visiting a Botanical Garden greenhouse like this one, visitors are accustomed to being surrounded at eye level by gorgeous blooms.

However, as at last year’s slimmed down orchid show, this time in this showstopping view, the plants tower overhead. This is a much larger display than the 2021 “spotlight on orchids,” and the array of colors, the size of the blooms and the sheer scale of the exhibit are breathtaking.

It’s a display that begs to be seen from every possible angle, so don’t forget to glance over your shoulder as you move through and away from this gallery of blooms.

There’s a different, more dynamic and immersive feeling that comes from walking beneath this canopy of orchids. As when solving a puzzle, sometimes the best insights come when you invert the pieces and look at the usual shapes from a completely new angle. This feels like that.

And for infrequent visitors to Manhattan, it may also feel the way it does to walk through Midtown, especially Times Square, craning your neck and peering at the marvels high above your head.

Meanwhile, in the beds at ground level, there’s a curated selection of orchids in pink, white, yellow and purple.

5. the grand journey concludes with a cloud of white

After such an explosion of color, it feels right that the last gallery of orchids features only white blooms.

It’s a dreamy, austere landscape that evokes the spiritual. Some comment that white is the sum of all colors, and a fitting end to being immersed in a rainbow.

We experienced it more as a palette cleanser. And an invitation to reflect.

All of the vignettes in this show are special – for us, this one was the most memorable of all.

As we exited the Haupt Conservatory and made our way back out into the bright shiny midwinter day of our visit, we took a final moment to appreciate the beauty and hardiness of the orchid. May we all find it in ourselves – no matter how delicate and fragile we may be – to become surprisingly capable and resilient in the face of adversity. And may we become expert at tending to others so that they, too, can bloom beautifully, even in the dead of winter.

kaleidoscope orchid show 2022 stuns and delights in new york

Those are some of our best photos from the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) Kaleidoscope Orchid Show 2022, which will continue to stun and delight in NYC through the end of April. Don’t miss it, dear reader!

Know Before You Visit the NYC Orchid Show:

Orchid Show runs February 26 through May 1, 2022. New York Botanical Garden (2900 Southern Blvd, Bronx) inside the Enid A. Haupt Observatory. Tickets ($23 on weekdays, $30 on weekends).

For date night, consider a pair of tickets to NYBG’s Orchid Evenings on select Fridays and Saturdays in March and April for those 21 and older. You can experience the exhibition at night with music, a cash bar and food.

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For access to insider ideas and information on the world of luxury, sign up for our Dandelion Chandelier Newsletter here. And see luxury in a new light.

Pamela Thomas-Graham is the Founder & CEO of Dandelion Chandelier. A Detroit native, she has 3 Harvard degrees and has written 3 mystery novels published by Simon & Schuster. After serving as a senior corporate executive, CEO of CNBC and partner at McKinsey, she now serves on the boards of several tech companies. She loves fashion, Paris, New York, books, contemporary art, running, skiing, coffee, Corgis and violets.