If it’s the dead of winter, it must be time for an orchid show. One Midwestern spectacular takes place February 8, 2019, through March 3, 2019, in the Madeline F. Elder Greenhouse at Newfields, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, Indiana. More will be displayed throughout the galleries of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, “designed to be in conversation with the artwork”.

“Showy, fragrant, and rare” orchids from Hawaii, California, and around the world will be on exhibit. As resident orchid specialist, Ian Wilhite, and director of design, Phil Lynam, put it: “Orchids have this exotic fee that, towards the end of a long Indiana winter, people really crave.”

Interested in Japanese orchids? In the greenhouse Road Trips Gardeners will find fukiran, a form of Neofinetia falcta, a native Japanese orchid collected by nobles hundreds of years ago.

Admission to the greenhouse is included with museum admission. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily — except Monday, when Newfields is closed.

Looking for something extra? If you time your visit to central Indiana just right, you can include one of the special events connected with the exhibit. “Edible Orchids” ($75 per person), set for 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. February 23, 2019, adds “tasty treats inspired by the geometry and color of these captivating plants” plus a glass of wine.

Adult classes in “Orchid Basics” ($50 per person) are scheduled February 9 and 14, 2019. An “insider’s look” at the secrets of orchids takes place February 12, 2019. A class on building an orchid terrarium takes place February 16, 2019 ($78 per person).

(Photo courtesy of Newfields)