Selby Gardens' orchid show to feature indoor botanical art

The 1930s-era Payne Mansion, which houses the Richard and Ellen Sandor Museum of Botany & the Arts, is located among the scenery of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. 

However, nature has also thoroughly made its way inside the building with The Orchid Show 2025: Rebecca Louise Law, which opens Oct. 11.

The artist from Wales, who has frequently exhibited internationally, created the installation featuring preserved flowers, leaves, and other plant parts suspended from the ceiling.

Accompanying the installation is a presentation of living orchids and other plants in the new Display Conservatory.

Law says she hopes as people enter the quiet of the museum, they will enjoy their own individual experience, and says the sights and smells of the display offer a spiritual feeling. 

"It's a feeling that we have once you've been in the space, and I hope that it will allow people to observe what the earth gives us, and just to see what we have today, and hopefully give energy to be able to continue to look after what we do have on this earth," she said.

Law uses her growing collection of more than two million preserved plants to create her installations, while the show also includes plants from both campuses of Selby Gardens gathered with the help of volunteers.

"Rebecca’s breathtaking installation invites our visitors into a space where art and nature are not just in dialogue—they are one and the same," said Jennifer Rominiecki, president and CEO of Selby Gardens, in a media release. "It’s an honor to showcase her work alongside our living orchid displays, which together create a truly immersive experience like no other.”