Orchid show vendor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Members of the Windsor Orchid Society are trying to make anyone with a green thumb aware there is

more to orchids than the ones you buy at the big box stores.

 

One way they do this is through their annual orchid show and sale which took place Oct. 24 and 25 at

the South Windsor Knights of Columbus Hall.

 

“We’re just trying to increase people’s interest in orchids,” said Ed Cott, vice-president of WOS and

chairman of the show. “The more they like it, the more likely they will become involved.”

 

The WOS also gets its vendors involved.

 

“My wife is an orchid judge around the world,” said Douglas Kennedy of Orchids in Our Tropics, who

sells their orchids at every show they attend.

 

Kennedy’s wife Terry is a member of the American Orchid Society and has judged shows ranging from

the world’s largest at the Tokyo Dome to very small ones like the WOS orchid show. She judges 20

shows a year while Kennedy is a vendor at 12 Canadian shows.

 

Orchids in Our Tropics, located in Gomley, Ont. caters to the hobbyist who enters orchid contests.

 

“We are selling dreams so to speak,” said Kennedy.

 

Orchids in Our Tropics is selling every variety of orchid from A (Angraecum) to Z (Zootropheon).

Kennedy also sells orchids that are 16 feet tall like the Renanthera Storei – and orchids like the

Mystacidium Caffrum, which is as small as a fingernail.

 

The Orchids in Our Tropics tagline is “Our Hobby’s Gone Wild.”

 

The Kennedys started with one orchid in 1973. In 1976 they added a greenhouse and by 1994,

the greenhouse, as well as their home, was full of award-winning orchids.

 

“Orchids were coming out of our ears,” said Kennedy. “We had to sell.”

 

After the Kennedys sold their house, they moved to Gormley to start Orchids in Our Tropics, a small and

profitable operation which required a lot of hard work.

 

“There are a huge amount of expenditures, shipping costs and the greenhouse isn’t cheap,” said

Kennedy. Terry interrupts, “It’s the challenge of growing orchids.”

 

Different types of orchids have special needs.

 

“If you grow one thing like a cash crop, then it’s easy,” said Kennedy. “Some will thrive, others won’t.” 

 

Euagenera Orchids of Ecuador, a very large family-owned business run by Ivan Portilla, was another

vendor at the WOS orchid show.

 

“Conditions in the jungle are different from the greenhouses,” said Portilla. “So we have to adjust.”

 

That’s why Eugenara operates three massive greenhouses: one near the Pacific Ocean where it’s warm,

another in the Andes Mountains where it’s cool, and a third in the Amazon Rain Forest where it is mild

to warm.

 

The Kennedys said they don’t operate a greenhouse just for the money. They do it because they enjoy

everything about orchids which includes travelling to many shows. Coming in February is the

show and sale at the Toronto Botanical Gardens and the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ont.