Home > About First Rays > History
| I've been growing orchids since 1973, having been given a cattleya by a grower at the public greenhouses in Atlanta's Piedmont Park (now the Atlanta Botanical Gardens) while in grad school at Georgia Tech. Over the years I expanded my collection through purchases, trades, and the collection of plants in South America, southeast Asia and China while on business trips. As I was relocated (Atlanta GA, Louisville KY, LaGrange KY, Georgetown SC, Jackson NJ, Doylestown PA) I dragged the ever-growing collection all over the country, ending up in eastern Pennsylvania (my eighteenth place of residence) in late 1989. In January of 1994, I experienced a total loss due to a heater AND alarm failure on a seven-degree night. After that devastating "winter of the ice," I bought a new heater and alarm system, followed by a few plants. After dividing them some time later, it occurred to me that by selling the divisions to other hobby growers, I could get some cash to buy more plants, and selling divisions of those would lead to more, and so on. So, I posted a text-only list on the web, and mentioned it on the rec.gardens.orchids newsgroup. Within three hours I had two orders, and that was the beginning! |
Home > About First Rays > History