Gazing at sex organs
... orchidelirium is a thing in the Bronx.
I attended the New York Botanical Garden’s Mexican Orchid Show with friends visiting NYC this weekend. One of the best things about living near a tourist destination is that your out-of-town peeps will get you to do this stuff.
It was in the conservatory, as one might expect, and walking in from the still stubbornly cold and dreary NYC spring is quite a shock. Just as you enter, the temperature and humidity jump to a balmy 75-ish (24 C) degrees and 60% humidity. It was about 45 degrees outside, and damp, so the “feels like” temperature was below 40. Once you entered, EVERYONE was carrying a coat.
The focus on “Mexican Modernism” was fun and extremely well done. NYBG has a very talented Art department. They had a jazzy cool Spotify playlist going in the background, in several rooms were cultural touchstones for Mexican Modernism, something I know from my travel history. I have been watching Mexican Modernism in food, visual Art, music, and poetry since I was a young child. Turns out, you can lead this horse to water and watch me drink. This was a thoughtful homage to this important, vital, and much-ignored culture.
As is so much the case these days, the only downside was the people. Outside the entrance was a line of about fifty to sixty temporarily-abandoned strollers. They weren’t allowed in. That was wise policy, but it freed a significant number of bored and restless children from their rolling restraints in the midst of colorful and unique things they were not supposed to touch. Fun.
The real problem with this was the darting parents having their Instagram moments interrupted. These sudden “no no no no no’s” made strolling through the displays an exercise of constantly having to dodge and step out of the way of people not walking in the direction they are looking.
Sex organs are very distracting, as you can see.
If you aren’t an orchid person, I understand. They are difficult to cultivate. They are unforgiving of neglect and mild fluctuations of care routines. It ain’t easy.
You might note that some of these orchids pictured have structures at the center which vaguely resemble bees, specifically fertile female bees. These elaborate scams attract horny male bees like erotic ads outside a strip club. They come for the sex, they leave with the pollen.
Some orchids live to be over 100 years old, and some bloom for six months at a time. Vanilla is actually an orchid; vanilla flavoring comes from the cured seed pods of the Vanilla planifolia orchid. Like Blanch DuBois, many orchid seeds don't contain any food reserves for germination and must form a relationship with a specific fungus to grow, relying on the kindness of strangers.
If you’re wondering why geeks like me are into orchids, this is just the beginning. They are endlessly complex and various.
I can’t recommend going out and looking at flowers enough as a balm for these times. I have a lot of unpleasantness in my life at the moment owing to a collision of unrelated turns of fortune, some of which are personal, but most of which we all share. Let’s take a break from all that.
Peeping at sex organs cleared my head. I recommend it.