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Orchid Links

Bob Campbell's Orchids

Hi, this is Bob Campbell remembering how I got started growing Orchids...

My wife Ellen and I spent a part of our winters in Hawaii, where I learned to enjoy Orchids, and while there I took an interest in how the nurseries in Hawaii grew and flowered this beautiful flower...

As our 4 children grew, they developed a knowledge and an appreciation for the satisfaction of growing plants and the organization that it took to run a nursery. At one point Ellen and I decided to retire and hand the nursery to the 4 kids... My son, Mike, asked me what I was going to do----and I said that I had grown plants all my life and had no need to quit. I decided to put my efforts into growing orchids...we put the blooming ones in our Garden Center----and found out that customers were interested in something new and exotic--So I increased production in a new greenhouse that the boys built for my orchids and the rest is history...

I started with Phalenopsis orchids, because they will bloom for up to 3 months, and are easy to grow in the house--then I gradually added other varieties--the Cattleya's, which are the large flowered orchids--easy to grow, but bloom for about a month. Then I started Dendrobium, Oncidiums and now the Cybidium orchids and hope to start the Lady slipper orchid. I have spent my time trying to teach customers that they do not have to have a greenhouse to grow orchids in your home. Our daughter and 3 daughter-in-laws keep Phalenopsis orchids in bloom on tables in their family rooms. Here at our garden centers I have trained a number of our employees in the care of orchids. and we are always here to advise you on orchid care...