Flower Power

The Cleveland Botanical Garden’s Orchid Mania: At Home With Orchids features more than 200 colorful displays. And designers (both interior and floral) will be on hand to show visitors how they can achieve the same results at home, albeit on a smaller scale. “You don’t need a greenhouse,” says Cynthia Druckenbrod, the venue’s director of horticulture. “Start with an orchid or two on your kitchen window.”

While the flowers’ flamboyant colors and tempestuous shapes make them a ballsy choice to brighten a room, enthusiasts insist there’s no flora more fab. “They celebrate diversity,” says Druckenbrod. Plato, Georgia O’Keefe, and Susan Orlean have all paid philosophical or artistic tribute to the orchid. And for the next month, local designers get in on the action -- decorating display rooms at the Botanical Garden using the plants as their focal points.

Experts will also lead programs that recommend what type of orchid best suits visitors’ personalities<\!s>.<\!s>.<\!s>. and the relative greenness of their thumbs. User-friendly varieties -- like phalaenopsis -- stay in bloom for months indoors, while more dramatic buds -- like the lime-green cymbidium -- thrive in cooler temperatures. “These orchids are for homes in Ohio,” says Druckenbrod. “Not someplace in Hawaii or a tropical environment.”
Sundays, 12-5 p.m.; Tuesdays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Starts: Feb. 25. Continues through March 25