Botanical Garden orchid rescue (April 29, 2022)

Next Spring, I'm going to try growing tulips in pots for our deck. The bulbs I planted in the flower bed come up every year but only bloomed that first year, 11 years ago, in March, when Fox was a newborn. 

The Haupt Conservatory at the Botanical Gardens is a giant greenhouse filled with room after room of orchids and other plants. 

Did you know orchids are an endangered species, no thanks to destruction of the orchids' natural habitat and overcollection by orchid hunters? Illegally imported orchids are confiscated when possible and sent to Plant Rescue Centers such as the Haupt Conservatory. The New York Botanical Garden, a Plant Rescue Center since 1990, has rescued thousands of plants.

I had never before seen aqua-blue orchids. Are they originally from Australia? India? I couldn't find them on the internet. 

I believe these are lady slipper orchids.  The pouch traps insects so they are forced to climb up past the staminode, behind which they collect or deposit pollen, fertilizing the flower.