Summer in bloom: orchid exhibition enchants visitors at Rio's Botanical Garden

Summer brings us beautiful blooms of native and exotic orchid species, as well as hybrids with their distinctive shapes, colors, and scents. Many of these beauties will be on display at the Summer Orchid Show at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, which will take place on February 6, 7, and 8. The program also includes lectures, courses, guided tours, video screenings, a photo exhibition, a plant raffle, and the sale of supplies, books, and orchids.

According to the curator of the Rio Botanical Garden's orchid collection, Delfina de Araujo, there are orchid species that bloom in every season of the year. “Some seasons are more floriferous than others, but there will always be orchids to be seen and admired,” she points out.

Among the highlights of the exhibition are:

- Cattlianthe Chocolate Drop - a hybrid formed by a Brazilian species, Cattleya guttata, and an exotic species native to Mexico and Central America, Guarianthe aurantiaca;
- Rhyncholaeliocattleya Leblon - a hybrid that includes a Brazilian species in its composition, Cattleya tigrina, and registered in honor of the traditional neighborhood in Rio's South Zone;
- Cattleya labiata - known as the “Queen of the Northeast” or “Queen of the Sertão,” it is an epiphytic or rupicolous orchid native to the Northeast Region of Brazil, symbol of the state of Ceará.

The Summer Orchid Show, featuring Orchid Castle (Roland Brooks Cooke) and Valverde Orquídeas nurseries, will take place at the Botanical Garden Orchid House from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Activities are free, with admission charged for the arboretum.

A raffle for a flowering orchid will be held daily at noon among the first 100 visitors in the morning. Registration for activities will take place in the tent located next to the glass greenhouse. Space is limited. Registrants must be at the tent 15 minutes before the scheduled start time of the activities.

Check out the schedule:

Friday, February 6
8 a.m. - Exhibition opening
10 a.m. - Guided tour of the exhibition, led by Delfina de Araujo, curator of the orchid collection at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden
12 p.m. - Orchid raffle
3 p.m. - Cultivation course, taught by Professor Roland Brook Cooke

Saturday, February 7
8 a.m. - Opening
11 a.m. - Cultivation course
12 p.m. - Orchid raffle

Sunday, February 8
9 a.m. – Mini cultivation course
10 a.m. – Guided tour of the exhibition, led by Delfina de Araujo, curator of the orchid collection at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden
12 p.m. – Orchid raffle
5 p.m. – Closing