Marie Selby Botanical Gardens has opened The Orchid Show 2026: Christian Sampson, and it’s the kind of exhibition that rewards a slow walk. Rare orchids and epiphytes fill the Display Conservatory alongside site-specific installations of glass, acrylic, and dichroic film, all of it designed to catch the natural Florida sunlight and throw shifting color across the garden pathways. Stop by at different times of day and the show literally changes.
The artist behind it is a local story worth telling. Sampson grew up in Bradenton and studied at Ringling College before earning his MFA at Hunter College, with work exhibited from Paris to the Sarasota Art Museum. The show marks a homecoming, and additional pieces inside the Richard and Ellen Sandor Museum of Botany & the Arts draw on Selby’s orchid collection, a scientific resource that keeps the gardens relevant far beyond tourism.
The show runs through December 6, 2026, which leaves plenty of weekends for a bayfront outing, whether you’re a year-round local or hosting snowbirds who’ve never seen the gardens in person. Have you been through the Orchid Show yet, and what time of day did the light look best?
