Art Chadwick and first lady Jill Biden pose at the White House with Brassolaeliocattleya Jill Biden. (Photo by Erin Scott, Official White House Photographer)
First lady Jill Biden received her namesake orchid in a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, July 19. Grower Art Chadwick of Chadwick & Son Orchids presented two examples of the Biden orchid cultivated in his Powhatan greenhouse. The hybrid, which blooms each year in July with large yellow-green flowers, is officially registered with the Royal Horticultural Society.
“We are thrilled to personally present the first lady with her namesake orchid. The Biden hybrid is unique in both its color and blooming time,” Chadwick says. The botanical name of the orchid is Brassolaeliocattleya Jill Biden (Goldenzelle x Sea Swirl) and is of the corsage type that was popular from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Dr. Biden was wearing a blue floral dress and yellow heels — the colors of Ukraine — having just come from a meeting with Olena Zelenska, the Ukrainian first lady.
The presentation took place in the Vermeil Room of the East Wing and was arranged by Virginia Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger. Portraits of former first ladies Lady Bird Johnson, Jacqueline Kennedy, Pat Nixon, Mamie Eisenhower and Lou Hoover adorned the walls and provided the backdrop for the presentation.
White House Chief Floral Designer Hedieh “Roshan” Ghaffarian, who uses orchids regularly throughout the executive mansion, was also in attendance.
Following the presentation, Dr. Biden requested that one of the plants sit on her desk and the other sit on her husband’s desk in the Oval Office.
Dr. Biden is the 19th consecutive U.S. first lady to have a namesake cattleya orchid. The tradition dates back to Woodrow Wilson’s wife, Edith, and the entire orchid collection resides at the Smithsonian Gardens in Washington, D.C.
