For most of the year, the Garden’s permanent orchid collection lives in greenhouses, where they are cared for by horticulture staff. The annual Orchid Show is your once-a-year opportunity to see hundreds of these blooming plants on public display. 

The Garden's vast orchid collection includes well over 5,000 individual plants representing nearly 700 unique kinds of orchids. Nearly one in ten orchids in the collection is threatened or endangered. Different species bloom at different times, so the Orchid Show is constantly changing as new orchids come into bloom and are brought out on display.

While viewing the Orchid Show, you can also enjoy the new, permanent living collections that surround the orchids in the new Emerson Conservatory. These plantings include species from Mediterranean climates around the world, such as California, South Africa, Western Australia, Chile, and the Mediterranean itself.