Winter gloom In London lifted by orchids and Chinese artists

To lift the gloom of a grey, damp winter in northern Europe, London's Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew is staging its 30th annual Orchid Festival.

In the warmth of a large glasshouse, a riot of colors reflects the impressive variety of different species of orchids. These flowers are found on every continent, apart from Antartica. China is this year's inspiration, as the Year of the Snake is about to end, and the Year of the Horse about to begin.

"It's one of the largest plant family in the world. There's over 30,000 species within that family that spread across the world," says Solène Dequiret, Kew's Princess of Wales Conservatory Manager. 

She and her team of horticulturists and volunteers have assembled the displays. There are flowers clinging on to installations of a dragon, koi carp, pandas, as well as a snake and a horse.

But it's the different orchids that are the stars of this exhibition, according to Solène Dequiret, who said: "They're really rich in the tropics, rich species level. And they're really one of the first them to be endangered because they are very specific to the growing environment."

China is home to an estimated 10 percent of the planet's biodiversity - with more than 30,000 native plants, of which there are approximately 1,710 known species of orchid plants in China. 

These include Cymbidium and Phalenopsis which are the main varieties used in this year's displays with many shipped in, in full bloom, from the Netherlands.

Aidan Pike is one of Kew's botanical horticulturists and is involved in the care and setting up of the Orchids China festival.

"Orchids are tricky. Any individual orchid is. It's like Marmite. It's going to love you or is going to hate you," Pike said.

"There is an orchid for everyone. The Phalaenopsis is of course the most widely cultivated, so there's a range in terms of flower colors. But if you want to keep a plant healthy and happy, you really need to know your home environment."

Another intriguing aspect to Kew's Royal Botanic Gardens annual orchid festival is the work of visual artist Zheng Bo.

He told CGTN: "These are paintings of five orchids that live in the wild in Hong Kong where I live. Because we live next to the ocean I thought maybe this work is also about the ocean a lot."

With each painting, there's a story. Instead of using traditional brushes, the artist drew and wrote with twigs and vines he collected while out walking looking for orchids near his home.

"Where I live we have wild orchids living next to the waterfall on the rocks. They grow very slowly. They will grow two leaves every year. So when you see a wild orchid with hundreds of leaves that actually means you know they are actually hundreds of years old.

"Chinese artists love painting orchids and they probably spent a lot of time with them so we always knew they're beautiful."

Colorful joy

His five paintings are near the entrance to the glasshouse where the orchids are on show, but Zheng Bo adds, "No matter how much I try to work hard as an artist, I think I can never really compete with the living plants."

Solène Dequiret added: "For me, it's winter and it's really full of joy, with playful displays and really colorful and we can see some of that color."

Some orchids in the wild are now endangered and conservation is another aspect of Kew's scientific work. So what will raise spirits in this year's exhibition?

Dequiret said: "At a time when winter has been a bit too long and we really need some hope and warmth, to come back and the beginning of Spring is really to be announced.

"We have this exhibition within the glasshouse at the time when the garden is not quite awake."