Orchids: A diverse family of plants and people

The orchid family (Orchidaceae) is one of the largest and most diverse plant families on the planet. is diversity extends to the people who study, admire and grow these fascinating plant treasures. Charles Darwin, Carl Linnaeus and William Cattley are names you may recognize, but the history of orchid research and cultivation is far richer than these more familiar names. is year’s Orchid Showcase at the Denver Botanic Gardens shines a spotlight on some lesser-known champions of orchids. eir stories are as diverse as the orchid family itself.

Rebecca Tyson Northern, who lived from 1910-2004, was an orchid advocate with a Colorado connec- ese big homes seem to follow a pattern of complicated roo ines, lots of windows that re ect the light and “ego gates” at the beginning of

High on a mesa where everyone can see it, a trophy house is going up in the northern Colorado valley where I live. Some of my neighbors hear that the house will be as big as 15,000 square feet. Others say it will take three years to complete.

Whether that is valley gossip or truth, the house is now the center of everybody’s attention.

Until this happened, my valley seemed to o er much of the best of what Colorado has to o er, including views of a snow-capped mountain range, and spread out below, irrigated hay elds with black cows on tan rangeland. But now, right in the center of the valley, will be one person acting out a lack of consideration for others.

Gigantic trophy houses seem to signal, “I built here to see, but also to be seen.” It’s a jarring reminder that we in the New West are remaking the Old West in our own image, a job that apparently requires a drastic redoing of topography.

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