Latest news with #OrchidConservationChelsea
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong display strikes gold at Chelsea Flower Show with rare orchids
The Chelsea Flower Show, held in London every summer for more than a century, is a British institution drawing around 150,000 gardening enthusiasts to enjoy spectacular floral displays. Advertisement This year, there was an exhibit with a difference, featuring rare orchids from Hong Kong and other parts of Asia and the Pacific. The vibrant display, with orchids from Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in the New Territories, won a coveted gold medal and was visited by Queen Camilla. It also sent a powerful message about the need to protect the ecologically significant but endangered plants. 'We have got 150,000 bees in to look at the orchids,' said John Parke Wright IV, chairman of Orchid Conservation Chelsea, referring to the show's visitors. 'They are being pollinated with ideas about conservation and why it is important.' The Hong Kong section at the Chelsea Flower Show. Photo: Cliff Buddle Wright, who knows China well having worked for Jardine Matheson in the 1970s, was instrumental in forming the orchid group, comprising 25 institutions globally.
Independent Singapore
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Independent Singapore
A floral journey across the Pacific at Chelsea Flower Show 2025
LONDON, UK: Once again, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025 is set to blow away visitors with its highly anticipated return exhibit, 'Orchids in the Wild: The Orchids of Hong Kong, Australia, Asia & The Pacific Islands,' facilitated by the Orchid Conservation Chelsea team. Exhibited from May 20-24 2025, this amazing show intermingles botanic gems from four diverse regions, one-in-a-million orchids, innovative preservation approaches, and remarkable habitat restorations, all in one extraordinary show. With more than 31,000 identified varieties, orchids are the most diverse family of vascular flora on Earth, and among the most endangered. The 2025 show, led by JP Wright & Company and Grow Tropicals and cooperating with 25 esteemed global organisations, highlights the dynamic role orchids play in ecosystem health and biodiversity all over the world. The show presents four region-specific districts, each showing importance to natural orchids, protection and management advancements, and the committed organisations working to preserve them: South China & Hong Kong: In cooperation with Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, this section highlights orchids like the Long-Eared Dog Orchid ( Bulbophyllum bicolor ) and Chinese Philodota (Philodota chinensis ), symbolic of the area's vibrant biodiversity. Singapore: The Singapore Botanic Gardens gives life to a freshwater marsh forest, displaying fruitful restorations of native orchids like Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi together with traditional hybrids such as Ridleyara Fascad. Hawaii: With only three native orchid species, Hawaii's segment highlights pressing conservation initiatives for species in danger of extinction, like the Peristylus holochila , of which fewer than 30 pieces remain in the wild. Australia: A theatrical restoration of bushland showcasing flamboyant native orchids such as the striking Blue Sun Orchids and comical Donkey Orchids, presented for the first time at Chelsea, with know-how from the University of Western Australia. An unprecedented collaboration of global experts This immense botanical initiative merges over 25 eminent organisations across four continents—from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Chicago Botanic Garden, to academic frontrunners such as the University of Florida and Writhlington School, UK. Guests and tourists can interact and network with 46 globally known orchid mavens at the Genius Bar, where environmentalists and preservationists share ideas and information about orchid propagation, habitat rebuilding, and their functions as environmental indicators. These 'canaries in the coal mine' provide crucial warnings about the effects of smog, garbage, and contamination, environmental waste and devastation, and climate change. Allied organisations such as the American Orchid Society, North American Orchid Conservation Centre, and Essex Wildlife Trust play indispensable roles in making this dream to reality. A floral legacy at RHS Chelsea Capitalising on its valued heritage, featuring RHS Chelsea Gold and Silver Gilt honours, the 2025 Orchid Conservation Chelsea presentation continues its mission of merging education, public engagement, and science. Each plant, narrative, and display component functions as an urgent call to action for international ecological stewardship.
