Cox News Service
Nancy Priess wants to convert orchid fanciers into orchid obsessives.
"There are as many ways to grow orchids as there are spaghetti recipes," she tells the 150 or so pupils who attend her orchid classes at Laurel Orchids west of Jupiter, Florida, each year. "We want to share with you the way we do things."
If the statistics are any indication, Priess and others like her are making converts. The orchid holds the nation's No. 2 position in flowering plant sales, after the poinsettia.
"The orchid business has changed in the last few years," said Priess, 64. "It used to be just the hobbyists. Now we have 'coffee table ladies' who use orchids for decorating.
"My job is to take them from being coffee table ladies to being truly dedicated orchid nuts."
Orchids leapt to U.S. $100 million in wholesale sales nationwide last year, from $79 million in 1999, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Florida ranked as the top orchid-growing state, with wholesale sales of $37.1 million to California's $35.9 million.
The average wholesale price for an orchid in Florida rose to $10 from $6.50 in 1999, said Shirley Zonner, statistician at the Florida Agricultural Statistics Service in Orlando. Higher wholesale prices accounted for Florida's sales increasing by $7 million in 2000.
Many of the state's small orchid nurseries aren't included in the statistics, which include only the 43 businesses in Florida reporting $100,000 or more in annual sales. Statewide, 100 to 125 wholesale and retail orchid growers operate, says Andy Easton, education and orchid operations director with the American Orchid Society west of Delray Beach.
"Our weather is perfect. The lighting is good. The temperature is ideal. The land is relatively inexpensive here, compared to Hawaii and California," Easton said.
Wide Array of Colors, Forms
The 50 or so retail and wholesale orchid growers from the Keys to the Treasure Coast make it one of the state's top orchid regions, although no sales figures are available.
More than 300,000 hybrid orchids provide an almost unlimited range of colors and forms, from the classic "corsage" orchid (cattleya) to the oncidiums with their dainty yellow-and-brown or white-and-brown "dancing lady" flowers.
|
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES
|
