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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Before we get to our last segment of the show today I want to remind everybody that we have an invitation for nominations for this year's Lehrer Prize for Community Well-being. It's in a particular category. Heads up if you think this applies to you or anyone you know. We are going to honor people who work in and around schools making an impact on the social and emotional well-being of children in our area.

You know that social and emotional well-being has become such an important service that schools provide, especially since the height of the pandemic. There's been so much need for that kind of thing and there are so many people doing heroic work in and around schools, and we're looking for some of them to feature in this year's Lehrer Awards broadcast, which we'll announce the data of as soon as we know it.

If you know somebody who's been working on the social and emotional well-being of children in our area and wants to nominate them as one of the winners of this year's Lehrer Prize for Community Well-being, go to our website, wnyc.org. Go to the page called Lehrer Awards 2023. It's wnyc.org/lehrerawards2023, wnyc.org/lehrerawards2023, to nominate somebody in the area of emotional and social well-being of children.

Now, New York Botanical Gardens' Annual Orchid Show is back for its 20th year. The exhibition titled "The Orchid Show Natural Heritage" is curated this year by the Chinese American landscape artist, Lily Kwong. Orchids are having a moment despite being notoriously hard to maintain in recent years. Apparently, the orchid has surpassed the poinsettia to become the world's most cultivated flower. Joining us to talk about the New York Botanical Gardens' Orchid Show and offer some advice to all your orchid lovers out there is Marc Hachadourian, the New York Botanical Gardens Director of glasshouse horticulture and curator of orchids. Hi, Marc. Welcome to WNYC.

Marc Hachadourian: Hello. How are you? It's a pleasure to be here on this beautiful spring day.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, we know that there are a lot of orchid owners out there, so what have you always wanted to ask an orchid expert, but never had one over to dinner? Now's your chance to have one almost over to lunch. 212-433 WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @BrianLehrer. Listeners, since this orchid show draws a lot of inspiration from Chinese culture, in particular, we invite any listeners of Chinese descent to call in and share anything you'd like to say about the cultural significance of orchids; any memories you want to share from childhood, art featuring orchids that you grew up with, or stories that were passed down to you. Anybody have any of those? 212-433 WNYC, 433-9692.

Marc, let's start there because I see that when visitors first enter the exhibition, they're met with a tribute to traditional Chinese landscape painting. Talk about what people can expect to see.

Marc Hachadourian: Well, of course. Coming to the botanical garden in spring, and especially for the orchid show, you're greeted with thousands of plants in bloom. A huge diversity of plants, both from our botanical collections and plants that have been brought here specifically to enhance the displays, both with their floral beauty, but also to talk about the incredible diversity that exists in this celebrated plant family.

With orchids in their incredible diversity found throughout the world with nearly 30,000 naturally occurring species, and they're found in every continent of the world except Antarctica, this year's theme does touch on the fact that almost every culture around the world has some experience in interaction with orchids. Essentially, wherever plants can be found growing, orchids can also be found.

Throughout the exhibition, there are plants on display, both from our extensive botanical collections and then in the areas designed by Lily Kwong, drawing from an inspiration of a landscape painting that was handed down for multi-generations in her family, using that as an imaginative framework, and then painting and recreating an experience in which visitors can travel through, everything from these mountainous recreations painted with orchids to a meditative walkway that also features and celebrates the use of traditional orchids and medicinal orchids in Chinese traditional medicine.

There is a little bit of everything, whether you're looking for beauty or information in this year's 20th annual orchid exhibition.

Brian Lehrer: Great. Now, listeners may be wondering, "Why are they talking about orchids of all things on the Brian Lehrer Show?" One of the reasons is because we see a change in their place in society that orchids have become more ubiquitous over the years. It used to be that orchids were considered a luxury, thinking of the book and the movie with Meryl Streep, The Orchid Thief, where collectors built special hot houses to cultivate orchids, but now anyone can walk into Home Depot or Trader Joe's and buy orchids. What happened?

Marc Hachadourian: It's incredible to see how the orchid is transformed, even in my career here at the Garden, to something that, as you said, was once something that was seen as unattainable and then a luxury item. Now as we have figured out and learned not only how to grow these plants perfectly, but how to propagate them rapidly, the orchid has now become a very common fixture in horticulture whether you're using them to as just display plants or as growing as the plants and celebrating them in terms of a hobby.

What we've learned over time is despite the orchids' reputation of being difficult, they actually do very well in the same conditions we enjoy in our home. When treated well, the flowers can last an incredibly long time. We've shattered the myth and mystery that surrounds these plants, but still, today, as you mentioned, they're some of the most celebrated flowers in the world.

Brian Lehrer: They're also notoriously hard to take care of, at least by reputation. Are these grocery store orchids, if I can call them that, really easier to take care of?

Marc Hachadourian: They're no more difficult than any other house plant. We just have to think about how orchids grow in nature. They grow very different than other plants where their roots are in the soil. Orchids naturally grow as epiphytes attached to the branches of trees. That's what makes them a bit of a challenge, is their requirements are slightly different than most of our usual house plants, but with a little bit of information and understanding about these plants, they're actually really durable.

Where orchids are found in nature are, in some ways, very extreme environments. Orchids are survivors and they are very adaptive and actually very forgiving. I think most orchids are killed with kindness rather than neglect. With a little bit of understanding about how these plants grow in nature and some modification of our behavior in terms of how we water them in our homes and where we grow them in terms of temperature, they actually can be really easy to grow, long-lived and forgiving house plants

Brian Lehrer: In fact, one of our callers, but who couldn't stay on the line, but I'm going to pass along their question said, A, they loved the show, [chuckles] that this year's orchid show at the New York Botanical Garden was the best yet. You've got a fan.

Marc Hachadourian: Wonderful.

Brian Lehrer: Plus they asked, what is the best way to keep an orchid alive in a tiny New York apartment?

Marc Hachadourian: Well, in a New York apartment, hopefully, you've got some good sunlight. The first thing is that orchids prefer bright indirect sunlight, at least four to six hours a day, but if you happen to have an apartment where you don't get much natural sunlight, there are wonderful plant lights that you can use, and orchids actually grow very well even under artificial light.

From there, the most important thing is not to over-water your plants. I think that's one of the most common mistakes because orchids grow in environments where they're naturally very well drained and there's a wet and dry cycle. The best thing to do with your plants is to allow them to dry slightly between waterings and not to keep them super saturated or very wet. Those are the two best pieces of advice I could give to succeed with growing these plants in your home.

Brian Lehrer: Naomi in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with Marc Hachadourian from the New York Botanical Garden. Hi, Naomi.

Naomi: Hi. Hi. It's so timely. My orchid was dormant for like two years. I think I bought it two years ago. I couldn't even remember the color of the flower. It was just sticks and the big green leaves. About six months ago, these long dusty, white protrusions started to grow out, and then suddenly there were these blooms, and now I have these huge, at least, six or seven beautiful blooms. I'm wondering why was it dormant for so long and what caused it to bloom? Just so you know, I keep it in the bathroom. I figured it was a nice humid environment.

Marc Hachadourian: Naomi, thank you for that great question. What happened was the plant was actually not dormant and sleeping. It was actively growing and storing up energy to produce that flower spike. In some cases, if the plant doesn't have enough strength, it'll continue to grow rather than bloom.What you noticed about those silvery white protrusions, as you call them, those are new roots. Many Phalaenopsis orchids in particular will put out a flush of roots, and if they go out into the air, it's perfectly fine. It's exactly what that plant wants.

What might have triggered that plant to bloom is that most orchids prefer about a 10-degree drop in temperature between night and day to trigger the plant to produce those flower spikes. Maybe it was just the right amount of care, a little bit of time, and a teeny bit of a chill that triggered that plant to produce those beautiful blooms that you're enjoying right now.

Brian Lehrer: Hope that's helpful, Naomi. Dennis in Seaford, you're on WNYC. Hi, Dennis.

Dennis: Hey, how are you? Question. I got my wife a orchid for Valentine's Day and I think I over-watered it. I may have put a cup full of water into the plant and I noticed that the pedals are starting to fall off. I'm just curious if I did over-water it because then I read you should use three ice cubes per stem to water it once a week. One last question. I have African Violet fertilized food drops. Can I use that on the orchids? Because I hear they have to be fed. That's about it. Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Dennis, thank you. Marc?

Marc Hachadourian: A couple of questions there. About the over-watering, orchid flowers don't last forever. It sounds like what might be happening is the blooms are naturally fading, so I wouldn't worry about that, one, over-watering causing the problems for the plants themselves.

From there, the question you said about using African Violet Food, the African Violet Food is a different formulation that might not be good for the plants themselves. With the orchid, you want to fertilize with a balanced fertilizer one where all the numbers are the same, because you want to make sure you're giving the right balance of nutrients for the plants to produce the right amount of leaves, roots and get the best growth about it.

The last question is actually a really popular question about using ice cubes to water your plants. Personally, the theory behind it is great. The practice, I don't necessarily advise because when you have an ice cube and it melts, it actually doesn't provide that much water. It's best to bring the plants to a sink and allow tepid water to run through that container because watering doesn't just provide hydration. It's also how you get air around the roots of the plants that orchids enjoy.

My recommendation would be to make sure you water those plants and then allow them to approach dryness rather than just placing a few ice cubes, which may not give them enough water to survive depending on your conditions. With just a little bit of modification and the right fertilizer, you're good to go.

Brian Lehrer: All right. I hope that's helpful, Dennis. We just have a couple of minutes left. I want to point out again that you are the Botanical Gardens Director of glasshouse horticulture and you're the curator of orchids but the curator of this year's Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden is Lily Kwong. We saw that W Magazine recently wrote up that she's the first woman to guest-design the Orchid Show. Can you talk a bit about how guest designers are brought on and how they're supported to execute their vision in our last 30 seconds?

Marc Hachadourian: Sure. We worked with a number of really wonderful and very well-known designers over the years in which they bring their particular vision and inspiration of whatever their artistry is, whether they're a botanist, a landscape designer, an artist. We've even worked with Tony Award-winning Broadway set designers, each one of them bringing their own particular vision to this year's Orchid Show. Working with Lily using her inspiration for her natural heritage and drawing from her own love of the natural world has created what I think is one of the most beautiful exhibitions we've had in the past 20 years.

Brian Lehrer: That's great. It's great that you keep doing creative things at the New York Botanical Garden. I was last there to see the Yayoi Kusama Show with Yayoi's art placed among the growing things at the Botanical Garden. That was amazing and wonderful. Now you've got this year's Orchid Show. Thank you so much for joining us.

Marc Hachadourian: You're very welcome. It's been a pleasure to be part of this.

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Brian Lehrer: That's the Brian Lehrer Show for today produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces our Daily Politics Podcast. Our interns this term are Trinity Lopez and Briana Brady. That's Juliana Fonda at the audio controls. I'm Brian Lehrer.

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