A strange mix of calm and excitement hangs in the orchid world right now — the kind where growers check buds three times a day even though they know nothing has changed. Yet beyond the benches and grow lights, orchid societies, researchers, and show organizers have been busy, and the last few weeks brought quite a bit of movement. Australia made headlines first. The Woolgoolga District Orchid Society hosted the 23rd Australian Orchid Council International Conference and Show, and the turnout was bigger than anyone expected.

New York always feels like a city where everything is slightly too much — too loud, too fast, too caffeinated — and yet somehow orchids fit into that energy perfectly. They’re delicate and stubborn at the same time, which is probably why orchid lovers tend to feel strangely at home here. If you’re wandering the city with just enough time and curiosity, you can actually build a lovely orchid-themed escape rather than just another day of dodging taxis and tourists.

Wherever you find yourself in 2026 — whether it’s a world-class exhibition hall or a conservatory greenhouse with steamed-up glass and winter light — this orchid event calendar gives you a starting point, a way for growers, travelers, buyers, exhibitors, and the newly curious to plan the year with something to look forward to each month. The rest is simply the adventure of showing up. Happy planning — and even happier blooming.

There’s something quietly poetic about stepping into a greenhouse in late winter, when the city outside is still wrapped in cold stone and soft grey skies. Vienna has its own rhythm that time of year — slow cafés, fog resting low over the Danube, people wrapped in scarves — and then suddenly you walk through the doors of Blumengärten Hirschstetten and it feels like the world has been switched to technicolor.