Orchid Show Opens at Botanic

The Orchid Show at the Chicago Botanic Garden (1000 Lake-Cook road) has opened with a display of 10,000 orchids that goes 10 am-4 pm until Sunday March 16. It's a terrific way to escape the winter blues and surround yourself with warm, moist, bright tropical flowers and foliage.

Tickets are necessary for members (discounted) and nonmembers and can be purchased online at http://www.chicagobotanic.org/orchid

The show consists of two "entry rooms," one with a dark pond in which sits an aluminum bald cypress tree filled with growing orchids. The remainder of the show (and the best part) is in the Botanic's three greenhouses: Semi-tropical, Tropical, and Arid. If you enter the Semi-tropical Greenhouse while it's sunny outside you will be bathed in moist warmth and bright light amid dazzling orchids set deftly among other plants. It's a treat for the psyche. The Arid greenhouse has almost no orchids but it's desert atmosphere is a pleasure.

PARKING: You probably won't find a parking place in Pkg Lot 1 unless you get there early so you'll have to try Pkg Lot 2, where you can find a space at the far end. That's maybe a 250 yard walk to the Garden Entrance, and from there another 3 minute walk to the main building and the show.

AT THE GATE: Members need to have a decal or know their number--if you don't know your number they can look it up with a picture ID, but it takes time. If you're not a member you pay to park.

TICKETS: You can buy tickets without much of a line at the entrance to the show--they allow 100 people every 15 minutes, so your odds are good, except for the last weekend. Tickets are available on line as well.

HANDICAPPED: On a scale of 1 to 10 (best) the handicap situation is FOUR. For some reason you cannot drop anyone off at the Garden entrance--you must go to Pkg Lot 1 (where there are a number of designated parking slots), and wheel in about 50 feet to the entrance, and then another 4 minutes outside to the Handicap Entrance, which isn't much closer than the regular entrance. Within the show's greenhouses aisles are narrow and wheelchairs are somewhat hemmed in. Best to go on a weekday.

FOOD: The main cafeteria is closed for remodeling and the temporary cafeteria in the Orchid Show building is small and the menu is limited. Expect to wait three or four minutes or more to get a table at peak hours.

EXTRAS: On weekends Hawaiian artisans (highly skilled and friendly) give demos on lei making and bamboo stamping and kapu creation--well worth attending.

INFO: For anything about orchids find a tall guy named ARNIE wearing a sign that says ASK--he is extremely knowledgeable and glad to help.

BOTTOM LINE: Most of these orchids are commercial orchids so you won't find many rarities, but you will be enchanted by the variety and superb presentation.