Orchid Fever A Dazzling Collection Donated to Brooklyn Botanical Garden

Reprinted with permission from Brooklyn Botanic Garden Newsletter.  For information about membership please call (718) 623-7210

There is a new display at Brooklyn Botanic Garden that's sure to thrill lovers of Orchidaceae, one of the largest plant families Last fall, the Garden received a gift of 800 orchids from Dr. Benjamin Berliner and his wife Skippy. The Berliners owned one of the most prominent private collections of orchids in the United States, and their gift has created an enormous buzz at the Garden, among staff and visitors alike.

"It's outstanding," says Mark Fisher, foreman of the Steinhardt Conservatory where the orchids are housed. "This collection is so diverse that it will provide year-round interest. There are 398 species of orchid altogether, ranging, from familiar Cattleya and Phalaenopsis to newly popular Phragmipedium and Laelia."

Dr. Berliner, a retired Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut, is a familiar name to many in the orchid world. A member of the New York Hortus Club, he has also been a judge for the American Orchid Society for over 35 years and has written extensively on these fabulous flowers. His interest in orchids began in his twenties, when he and his wife received a few plants as an unexpected gift from a grateful patient 'Of course, we were a bit worried at first he recalls, "because we had heard of the difficulty of raising orchids. But when the plants flowered the next year--after we hadn't done a thing to help--we caught orchid fever."

Over the next 50 years, the Berliners assembled a spectacular array of orchids in their private greenhouse, Willow Pond Orchids. Many of the plants were gathered from the tropics, while a number of them were new hybrids that the Berliners developed themselves.

Their decision to donate to the Garden was made because of an early friendship with Dr. Carl Withner, former caretaker of BBG's orchid collection. "This was back when Skippy and I first started collecting them," says Dr. Berliner. "We were so enchanted by BBG that we decided if we ever gave the orchids away, the Garden would be the best place to receive them."

All the plants that BBG received are tropical and sub-tropical in nature. To prepare for their arrival, the Garden cleared a large space in the Conservatory's propagation greenhouse and renovated its orchid display case, which was originally designed for cold-season plants. In general, the new orchids need high humidity, bright light, and a day-to-evening fluctuation in temperature of about 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit.

The orchid display case is located in the Robert W. Wilson Aquatic House. There may be 25 to 30 plants on display at any given time, and these will be rotated as new plants come into flower. Recent stars have been the fragrant Brassolaeliocattleya 'Orange Nugget' x 'Maleworth', some species of bamboo-like Dendrobium, and Angraecum distichum, which has flowers the size of a penny.

"We are honored to receive this generous gift," said BBG President it Judith Zuk. "And we are delighted that generations of horticulturists, scientists, and Garden visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy the product of the Berliner's great passion for orchids."