A flower you will fall in love with

From seeds to blossoms
A short educational trail with pictures and panels right at the entrance to the Orchid World provides some basic information about the history of this flower. The orchid plant family is 70–80 million years old, a fact proven by the existence of orchid pollen found on the back of a bee fossilised in an amber stone. We walk past Dracula orchids and tree fern to a large glass window that grants us a peek at the many rows of orchids produced at the park. “We have more than 500 different orchids and 6,000 plants in total”, Raffeiner says proudly. A couple metres on, visitors can explore the world of insects. A narrow tunnel leads us into a room painted all in yellow.

“Try to imagine how insects make their way through the blossom, all the way down to the pollen”, the Orchid World manager tells us while walking through the imaginary flower. Bright orange, dark yellow and mixes of violet and green – the range of colours of the flowers in the glass house is vast. “For plants, it’s important to look beautiful – not to impress us human beings, but to make insects notice them so as to get pollinated”, Raffeiner says, explaining
the extraordinary beauty of the blossoms.

For that very purpose, some orchids even drop all their leaves while in bloom, just like a rose-coloured hanging orchid we see here. Valtl Raffeiner removes some of the dried-up blossoms. For five years now, the orchid enthusiast has been collecting specimens from all around the world to test them for durability and marketability in the park’s own lab. “That’s my daughter Barbara’s job. She studied genetics and now runs our own lab”, the proud dad tells us. That is where Raffeiner’s orchids are cultivated as well. “From the seed to the first blossoms takes about five years”, he explains.

Past banana trees and across a suspension bridge we go, ending up in front of a head-high map of the world. It serves to give you some orientation, Valtl Ra≠einer says. “Most orchids are found near the equator in Asia, Central and South America”, he explains, pointing to the regions on the map. Whenever Raffeiner is not working at the park, he spends time with his family or travels the world. Strolling along the orchid path, he tells us about his adventures in the “real jungle”. In spite of being in charge of such a large business, he doesn’t seem stressed out at all. “You need to take the time to have a life”, he says. “That’s really important”.