Vanda Trifecta: How to Grow Vandas in Any Climate Tom Coffey, Naples, Florida

摘要

TOM COFFEY DIDN'T START OUT growing orchids. Instead, he grew roses. When he lived in North Carolina, he had rose blossoms in the house from May to November. Then he bought a cattleya as a gift for his wife, Lutu. Soon he received a couple of phalenopsis ... well, you know what happened then. When Coffey moved to Naples, Florida, he found the hot, humid conditions were not optimal for growing roses, but they were terrific for orchids. He started growing orchids seriously in 1980. In 2009, at the 63rdannual Miami International Orchid show, he won the Grand Champion Award for his Phragmipedium Noirmont 'Danny', AM/AOS (Memoria Dick Clements x longifolium). He also has three-ring notebooks with award certificates given to more than 100 of his orchids.Coffey regularly travels around the state to submit plants for judging, naming many of the award winners after his wife, daughters, friends and family. When he purchases orchids, he selects new hybrid seedlings, blooms them out, then selects the best ones for exhibiting. He especially enjoys receiving cultural awards — Certificate of Cultural Merit and Certificate of Cultural Excellence — because those give recognition to the grower of the plant rather than the orchid itself. Coffey also enjoys breeding to create beautiful new hybrids and has several crosses in process.