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What floral display could possibly capture the euphoric, indulgent, ephemeral spirit of Mardi Gras? Glad you asked. Orchids. Lots and lots and lots of orchids.
Starting around Mardi Gras, 2027, Bellingrath Gardens is going all out orchid crazy. The admissions building will welcome you properly with a massive orchid centerpiece. The conservatory will be to be packed to the panes with orchids. The café will be serving delicious orchid vignettes. The Bellingrath Home will be as alive and priceless as ever, but overflowing with orchid arrangements like never before. And we will even be displaying orchids outside…fully prepared to bring them inside anytime it gets too cold. Also, the Atrium, the gift shop, the Boehm Gallery, the Bellingrath Courtyard—we are going to cram orchids into places you didn’t know orchids would fit. If you tell us you find our orchid displays excessive, we will be sure to thank you for the compliment! If you think I’m using “orchids” too many times in this article, then I have only one thing to say to you…OMG!
This is a really big deal! We’ve been planning and preparing for OMG! since last August. Late last summer, while we were mapping out our operational spending for this year, we doubled our plant budget to make room for buying in so many orchids. Yes, you read that correctly, and yes, it’s worth repeating…Bellingrath doubled its plant budget just to buy tons of orchids. OMG! Soooo…how much will we raise the ticket price to see the orchids? Glad you asked. We invite you to experience “Orchids and Mardi Gras” for the price of general admission to the Gardens and general admission to the Home. Are you a member? Friends of Bellingrath members get into the Gardens for free. OMG!
Now that I’ve spilled the beans (I guess…uhhh…Vanilla beans?), there’s no going back! In the next eleven months, we are going to be building set pieces, drawing designs, ordering orchids, and finally installing orchids. Please don’t ask me to record how many hours we are going to be stuck in orchid show planning sessions. But already, we’ve visited other orchid show host venues, and recently returned from the international 2026 Tamiami orchid festival. Hear what our Nursery Manager, Tom Papp, has to say about the trade show:
“The country’s largest orchid festival is not for the faint of heart. From the moment you rush across the threshold mingled with thousands of fellow orchid-lovers into the towering Miami Dade Expo Center, the unending sights, sounds, and scents of thousands of orchids are nearly overwhelming. With almost two hundred vendors from around the world and three days to take it all in, visitors are greeted with every color of flower (and flowers in colors they hadn’t even imagined yet), shapes they didn’t know plants came in, and fragrances on par with the most expensive perfumes of every culture and continent. Some plants were as tall as a person, and others could fit entirely in the palm of your hand with room to spare; here you’d see a table with showy flowers fit for a Victorian estate, and at the booth just next door, some alien and seemingly impossible plants. It truly is a sensory tsunami of proportions appropriate for what is likely the largest family of flowering plants on Earth, but even the most delicate flower, shrinking violet, or shy wallflower will find themselves eventually drawn in by the menagerie of award-winning display specimens and exotic plants available for purchase. If the magnetic pull of hitherto-unheard-of orchids just waiting for a new home somehow wasn’t enough, the world-class lecture series presented by some of the biggest growers and research institutions in the orchid world would seal the deal. It’s a phenomenal experience for anyone, from total novices to botanical experts, and we were honored to represent Bellingrath Gardens and Home and bring back some incredible specimens to display in our always-growing orchid collection.”
Ok, you may have gathered that Tom is an orchid lover if ever anyone loved orchids. Back in his greenhouse lair, Tom is working to retrofit one of our oldest greenhouses to serve as an orchid collection house, giving us the opportunity to maintain, grow, and cycle into display a permanent orchid collection. 2027 will be Bellingrath’s inaugural OMG!, but the conversion of an 80 year old glasshouse will establish Bellingrath as a legitimate orchid collection holder, where 10% of the orchid budget will be spent on adding new accessions. So, each year, OMG! will showcase new displays, new combinations, and crazy new ideas. Simultaneously, our permanent collection will increasingly support the seasonal orchid display in ways that may inspire you to talk about orchids with the same involuntary exuberance as Tom. These things happen. And we hope you are willing to take that risk.
Orchids and Mardi Gras!” kicks off at Bellingrath Gardens and Home in 2027. So, if you were in Mobile in 1703 to attend the inaugural Mardi Gras Festival, and you felt the show was missing something, we believe you’ll be telling your friends “Orchids and Mardi Gras…it was worth the wait.”
