By Lorne Swarthout
Today the 8′ floating flower pot that we have been affectionately calling our Orchid Boat was collected by its owners. In a couple of weeks it will be filled with orchids and float on one of the ponds at the Queens Botanical Garden as part of their upcoming “Taiwan: A World of Orchids” exhibit.
Exhibit director Wei Du had the idea for an orchid boat modeled on a Taiwanese fishing craft, and he found us after a short Google search for “boatbuilders.” Andrew and I went out to Flushing to see him. It looked to be a straightforward project, we had time, a price was agreed on, and we got to work. We did our best to imitate a couple of photos of actual Taiwanese fishing boats. The result was a very elementary shape with a very exotic paint pattern.
We hope our Orchid Boat enhances the QBG show (and doesn’t upstage the orchids!) Anyone wishing to see this rare collection should plan to get out to Queens the weekend of August 11, 12 and 13.
The Orchid boat filled with flowers at the Queens Botanical Garden, its final destination
The Orchid boat looks beautiful as a planter