Two shows open January 18, 2020, at the Phipps Conservatory, One Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Orchid and Tropical Bonsai Show: Out of This World will showcase hundreds of “otherworldly” orchids plus a “cosmic” collection of tropical bonsai.

The adventure begins in the Palm Court of the Victorian glasshouse, where a planetary topiary sphere hangs above a sky of dark foliage and yellow, star-shaped orchids. Bromeliads make up the mass of the sphere while Phalaenopsis orchids and bromeliads create the ring around the planet.

In the side beds, a shower of stars cascades from the sky, each made of nine yellow kokedama, or orchids grown in a ball of moss wrapped in string. Also on display, selections from the Barbara Tisherman Slipper Orchid Collection, curated in collaboration with the Orchid Society of Western Pennsylvania. (Yes: pictured below are Fräbel glass longfellows.)

The next destination on this mission is in the Serpentine Room, where guests can enter the orbit of the tropical bonsai collection. Specimens that have been in training for decades are on display, including a select few with traditional white backdrops to emphasize their unique root and trunk formations. Plus, take a closer look at the mystifying world of mosses and ferns in this room at three interactive tables. Road Trips Gardeners can use a magnifying glass to examine plants and peer into their tiny thriving worlds in kusamono-style containers, or miniature potted arrangements of plants.

(Photos courtesy of Phipps Conservatory)