Santa Barbara International Orchid Show Assembles Global Experts

Just announced – premier domestic and international growers attending the March event

Santa Barbara, CA.  29th January 2018 – The unmatched collection of rare and alluring orchids at the 73rd Annual Santa Barbara Intl. Orchid Show (www.SBOrchidShow.com) is cause for excitement. Growers from around the globe take the opportunity to gather and exhibit the pride of their world-class specimens, and the public is invited to join in the melding of knowledge, beauty and prestige.

This year’s event from Friday, March 9 to Sunday, March 11 at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in picturesque Santa Barbara doubles as the semi-annual conference of the American Orchid Society (AOS), guaranteeing the best-of-the-best in horticulturists in the field will contribute to the panoply of beauty and wonder. The theme this year’s expo is  “Orchids—The World’s Greatest Show” which explores and celebrates both domestic and international cultivators, combining passionate hobbyists and commercial leaders.

Santa Barbara County has endured devastating natural disasters in the past month that affected so many.  Santa Barbara is a strong community that comes together and persevers in the face of crisis.  The Santa Barbara International Orchid Show will be presented as scheduled and will be better than ever with the enduring support of the community.

Among the groups exhibiting will be premier California growers: Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, CalOrchid, and Huntington Gardens. Throughout the year, these flower and plant experts host visitors to their separate gardens and showrooms, and the SB Intl. Orchid Show joins them to achieve unrivaled variety in a single location.

• Santa Barbara Orchid Estatespecializes in cultivating the healthiest orchids and providing expert advice for the home gardener. This grower of one of the world’s foremost collections of species and hybrids will host an open house at its nearby estate simultaneous to the show.
• Cal-Orchid prides itself in growing hard-to-find species at its Santa Barbara nursery. The family-owned business conducts an active breeding program responsible for an ever-changing and exciting variety of flowers at its greenhouse. CalOrchid is at the cutting edge of the field and is known for their innovative hybrids for indoor, greenhouse, or outdoor growers. They specialize in their in-house bred, and internationally recognized  ‘Pacific’ line of reedstem epidendrums.
• Huntington Gardens is synonymous with horticultural prestige at its opulent Pasadena property, a year-round destination for exotic plant lovers. The talented garden managers will bring a specially cultivated collection to Santa Barbara.

Representing the “international” in the SB Intl. Orchid Show, a representative A-team of world-class cultivators will contribute species and hybrids rarely seen in the U.S.

INTERNATIONAL LINEUP

TAIWAN

• Ching Hua Orchids
• Wilson Orchids
• Water Orchids Nursery

MALAYSIA

• Ooi Leng Sun Orchids

ECUADOR

• Equaflor-a
• Ecuagenera
• Mundiflora Farm

BRAZIL

• Floralia
• Orquidario Paulista

PERU

• Orquideas Amazonicas Peru

COLOMBIA

• Orquideas Katia

Santa Barbara’s Lasting Love for Orchids

Santa Barbara has long been an epicenter of domestic orchid collection. During the 1930s and 1940s, residents with sophisticated tastes imported the exotic plants from England. Indeed, during the war years, many collections were sent to the US from the UK for preservation, infusing many with a fascination and admiration of orchids, particularly among the wealthy who owned large estates and maintained private conservatories. It didn’t take long before enthusiasm spread to the West Coast, finding an especially well suited climate to live in Santa Barbara County, all of which resulted in the launching of the first Santa Barbara Orchid Show in 1945, hosted at the Montecito Grange Hall by the Santa Barbara Horticultural Society. The event grew and moved into venues that gradually increased in size and capacity to meet brimming interest before filling the Earl Warren Showgrounds’ new rotunda building in the early 1960s. Commercial and hobbyist growers eagerly anticipated in the annual event where they exhibited their premier specimens.

It’s fitting that such a world-class Orchid Show is set in Santa Barbara. Over the years the region has boasted the largest pocket of commercial orchid growing in the country. Today, many local greenhouses open their doors and host sales during the weekend event as well as throughout the year, to demonstrate how accessible the once rare flowers have become. A map to local growers open during the Santa Barbara Intl. Orchid Show can be found by searching for The Orchid Trail, Santa Barbara.

In the early days of orchid propagation, stud plants sold for tens of thousands of dollars, and orchids were a luxury for the wealthy. Today, thanks to the advent of laboratory orchid cloning and technological advances in cultivation, while there are still one-of-a-kind collector’s plants offered at lofty prices, scores of orchid varieties have become easily available and affordable.

Santa Barbara International Orchid Show is open Friday, March 9 through Sunday, March 11, 2018, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at Earl Warren Showgrounds, located in Santa Barbara at Highway 101 and Las Positas Road. General admission is $14; seniors, students with ID and advance group sales (minimum 25) are $12; and children 12 and under are free with an adult. Tickets are available in advance at www.SBOrchidShow.com/.