It’s a shower of eye candy, an exclusive perfumery full of rare fragrances, an Aladdin’s cave of delicate. fleeting jewels. It’s Orchid Mania, again, (thank goodness!) and my favorite way to capture it before it melts away like a beautiful dream?

Ever since I got a digital camera I’ve been collecting and hoarding orchid images like a magpie, a packrat, a squirrel saving acorns. All through the year I can call them up on screen and revel in the colors, the textures, the marvelous variety of forms. And yes, sometimes even the memory of a luxurious scent will seem to float off the screen.

The anticipation of these things really does enliven the bleak February days. As if that weren’t enough, this year there is even more incentive to bring a camera along to see Orchid Mania 2010. Check out the Garden’s Orchid Mania Photography Contest, as well as the Cleveland Botanical Garden Photography Club, both new this year. And even after the show is over, look forward to a year’s worth of beautiful screensavers!