Growing interest

Friday, February 19, 2010

By LORETTA JACKSON

Correspondent

There were chocolate-scented orchids and scores of other specimens from distant, tropical lands in Nashua last weekend.

The blooms drew hundreds of spectators to the 19th annual Rapture of Orchids show and sale, hosted Feb. 12-14 by the Bedford-based New Hampshire Orchid Society, a nonprofit of some 200 orchid enthusiasts.

The show and sale took place at the Radisson Hotel Nashua in Nashua. The brightly lit ballroom made a festive backdrop for more than a thousand brilliantly colored plants. Exhibits featured rare and common orchid plants, grown by members of a dozen or more orchid societies from all parts of New England and beyond.

Plant vendors, crafters, artists and orchid experts were on hand to educate novices and chat with longtime hobbyists. More than a dozen workshops addressed facets of orchid growing and various conservation efforts.

One popular offering, “How Not to Kill an Orchid,” was a lecture about first aid for various orchid varieties.

Contenders in 18 categories vied for honors from the American Orchid Society, an organization founded in Florida some 85 years ago to promote orchid education, conservation and research. In addition, Orchid Digest magazine was on hand with a trophy won by the NHOS for its multiflowered exhibit assembly. Blue, red and gold ribbons from the NHOS went home with other growers.

Bedford resident George Newman has held membership in the NHOS for more than 20 years and the AOS for 35 years. The retired physician’s property near Joppa Hill Road features a greenhouse that shelters some 400 plants. One favorite, a bright yellow, South American orchid, is more than 30 years old. Others in Newman’s collection are carnivorous plants: Venus flytraps, pitcher plants and sundews, whose nutrition comes from trapping and absorbing insects.

Newman said he was 10 years old when he first visited The New York Botanical Garden, an oasis in the Bronx. It was his initial encounter with orchids and other exotic plants. His wife, Sally, supports his avocation, as do his three grown children. Five grandchildren include a baby born in December and another born in January. The newborns are excused, for now, from grandpa’s tales about orchid lore.

“I just enjoy growing anything interesting and unusual,” Newman said. “But orchids are not just for experts. Everyone was an amateur at one time. And some orchids can be grown on windowsills or under lights.”

The NHOS president, Steve Tacopina, greeted Newman as another throng of visitors entered. Then, Newman hurried away to give a talk about native orchids of the Northeast. Tacopina credited Newman as being “amazingly knowledgeable” and enthusiastic about growing orchids.

Newman said there are more than 40 species of orchids in New Hampshire. Some are rare or endangered; others are on the watch list. Many natives have root systems that spread out but lie just under the surface of the soil. They are best left undisturbed because relocation tends to be fatal.

“Pink lady slippers are pretty well known,” he said, “but orchids are found all over. You just have to look for them. Look; but don’t pick.”

The New Hampshire Orchid Society meets on the first Saturday of each month from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Bedford Town Hall.