Florid passions

Coral Wilson

In the past, only royalty could afford to own an orchid. But it

was evident that times have changed on Sunday at South Coast Plaza.

Crowds of visitors left with arms full of shopping bags, cameras and

orchids in all shapes, colors and sizes.

It was the last day of the Fascination of Orchids show, which

featured more than 60 vendors from around the world, 100 related

exhibits, informative seminars and an exotic center display.

“It is undoubtedly the largest orchid show in the country,” show

co-chair Tony Glinskas said.

Orange County has the ideal climate for cymbidium orchids, which

usually bloom in the winter months, Glinskas said. Even in the

indigenous areas of Southeast Asia, the Thai people used to take

their cymbidiums to the mountain peaks bordering China to imitate

temperatures and climate found naturally in Southern California.

The show began by drawing local crowds interested in cymbidiums.

Now people come from all over the world to see the great variety of

orchids.

But the world’s fascination with orchids goes back long before the

23-year-old show.

The new movie “Adaptation” and books “Orchid Fever” and “The

Orchid Thief” are based on the mystique of orchids and the fervor

people have for them.

Great social status used to be associated with orchids. “In the

United Kingdom, there used to be a lot of one-upmanship,” Glinskas

said. “Everyone wanted the latest, the greatest or the best.” So when

a new species of orchid was discovered, expeditions were sent into

the jungles to find it. People were willing to murder, steal, cheat

and risk everything to be the first to posses it or to present it to

the queen.

It could take an orchid four to 10 years to grow from a seed into

a flower. As with siblings, an orchid could come from the same parent

but look completely different. It used to take six years on average

to know what the orchid would look like. This might be fun for the

hobbyist, but a disaster for the commercial grower, Glinskas said.

Then came cloning. A lot of the biotechnology that led to cloning

more complex genetic structures today came from early work by orchid

specialists, said Don Northcott, president of Phytocultures Ltd.

Northcott has developed lab kits that make it easy for people to

raise and clone orchids.

“Starting with one to five, five to 25, 25 to 125, 125 to 625, all

identical,” he said.

This led to a huge drop in the price of orchids, and orchid lovers

around the world focused their attention on producing the perfect

orchid.

It takes American Orchid Society and Cymbidium Society of America

judges seven years to earn judge status. Prize-winning orchids are

evaluated on such criteria as size, flatness, clearness of color,

straight lines and fragrance.

“What might seem perfect to you scientifically might not appeal to

you aesthetically,” Glinskas said.

Other ribbons were awarded by hobbyists based on a more subjective

evaluation. As with everything, beauty is in the eye of the beholder

and the most important is just to enjoy, Glinskas said.

Harry Phillips, vice president of marketing for Orchids on a

Stick, specializes in species orchids, species that occur in nature.

He is more interested in the variety of orchids than in winning

awards. Diversity is important to the survival of any species.

Calling his company the “Noah’s arc of orchids,” he points out the

problem with cloning. “As with any monoculture, a disease can attack

it and wipe it out,” giving the banana as a recent example.

The common banana sold in grocery stores may be gone in 10 to 20

years, he said. A virus has infected the bananas, which cannot fight

it off because they have lost their natural variation through genetic

manipulation.

Phillips’ orchids are the same price, whether they are, for

example, the desired deep red or a lighter shade. He loves orchids

for their uniqueness.

“The diversity of orchids are equaled by the diversity of humans

that collect them,” he said.

Phillips himself is addicted to orchids. Pointing out his latest

purchase, a bright purple orchid in the corner, he described the

nature of an orchid addiction as passer-bys giggled in agreement:

“One day you realize you’ve already got that orchid but you are

buying another,” he said. “Why? Just because you need it, you want

it.”

* CORAL WILSON is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at [email protected].