The New York Botanical Garden’s annual Orchid Dinner Wednesday night at the Rainbow Room raised money for research on the exotic blooms.

The event drew support from garden benefactors and corporate sponsors, namely the editor in chief of House & Garden, Dominique Browning, and the president and executive creative director of Coach, Reed Krakoff, who served as chairmen.

Beautiful people were everywhere but were far outnumbered by beautiful flowers. There were corsage orchids, cane orchids, and reed orchids, as well as the fabulous American moth orchids, which grow in the mountain forests of Central and South America.

All were on display at cocktails during a plant sale organized by the garden’s director of glasshouse collections, Darrin Duling. At dinner, tables were graced by tall, whimsical, modern, and simply pretty centerpieces created by more than 30 designers under the guidance of the decorations chairwoman, the garden editor of House & Garden magazine, Charlotte Frieze.

“I like the floral diversity [of orchids],” Mr. Duling, said. “Flowers come in all shapes sizes and colors … that’s probably the reason why most people are fascinated by them. And the flowers are just spectacular,” he added.

While Mr. Duling looked relaxed at the dinner, he’s been working overtime to prepare for the garden’s Orchid Show, which opens February 26.

He began ordering plants in November, carefully selecting them based on when they will be flowering. Shipments are coming in every day, and will continue to do so until the show starts. Although orchids grow all over the world – from the tropics to the Arctic Circle – the plants on display at the show are generally from balmy climates.

“People are hungry for warm weather and color. We can give them the impression they’ve taken a short trip to the tropics,” Mr. Duling said.

The show is a crowd-pleaser. But it also has a strong educational component as well. “The point of the show,” Mr. Duling said, “is to give people a complete overview of orchids, how they work, where they come from, how to grow them at home.” He’s recording an Acousti-guide describing the displays.

Like the guests at the Orchid Dinner, many visitors to the show want to take an orchid home. So during the show, the garden’s shop sells them. Mr. Duling’s “bottom-line advice” on their care: “Treat your orchid just like every other house plant – do a little homework to find out what each individual type of orchid requires.”

Mr. Duling remembers his first orchids – a colony of pink lady’s slippers he found growing in the woods of Virginia when he was 10. “I was just completely astounded – they were so beautiful and exotic-looking,” he said.

Another fan of orchids at the garden is Ken Cameron, an expert on vanilla orchids. Mr. Cameron’s DNA-based research has led to a new classification system for the entire orchid family – just one discovery that helps make the garden one of the pre-eminent institutions in the world for orchid research.

The garden also has one of the world’s leading collection of orchids, with more than 6,500 plants. Some are more than 100 years old.