Interview by
Emily Darrell

Before you worked here you were a nurse at MCV. Why did you make the switch from nursing to orchids?
Well, let’s see. I’ve always loved plants; I’ve always been a gardener, out in my yard growing perennials. I was working in home health, which is kind of stressful.  I talked with one of the employees that worked here at the time, who was the daughter of one of my neighbors. She was just talking up this job. I said “Oh, I’d love to do that!” and she said “Why don’t you apply?” Orchids are much less stressful than people.

Orchids have a reputation for being finicky and hard to keep alive. Do you this reputation is a deserved one?
Actually, no.  Because once you know how orchids grow in the wild – and that your goal should be to match those conditions –they become much easier to grow and to re-bloom yourself. Not everybody has greenhouses, but some of the orchids that we carry can be grown successfully by average homeowners. It just takes a little bit of knowledge about what they require.

Have orchids become your favorite flower?
They have! I have probably around 40 at home. I have more here. The real special, more finicky plants I keep here.

I’ve heard that people can get kind of obsessive about their orchids.
They do! They really do. You’ll see customers come in and buy their first and they’re all excited. And then if they’ve grown it successfully, they’ll come back and want another. It just builds from there.

Do you have a favorite variety of orchid?
Kind of – the Lady’s Slipper, or Paphiopedilum. They have mottled leaves, a lot of them, and they just have a lot of personality. When I first came, I really didn’t like them. I thought “Oh, one flower.” (Sighs.) But they just have spoken to me, I guess. (Laughs.)

Last time we spoke you told me that you get all kinds of animals in the greenhouses here.  Tell me about them.
Well, today we had a mouse that Max [a Yellow Lab] was absolutely going nuts over. We’ve had snakes, we’ve had lizards. We had a green anole, which I guess came in from Hawaii. We’ve had all kinds of birds, hummingbirds all the time in the summer, because we open all the vents. We’ve had all different kinds of frogs, toads, moths, butterflies. Wrens, they love it in here; they try to nest in here all the time. Snakes and spiders – black widow spiders we’ve had in here. I’d say the snakes are the most unwelcome.

So why did orchids became your favorite type of flower? They don’t bloom all the time, they can be difficult, when they’re not in bloom they don’t look all that attractive . . .
They’re just . . . they’re not like a pansy. They take some knowledge and expertise to grow them. They’re so different from plants you get in the garden center. They’re just unique plants. They’re fascinating really, how they’re designed to be pollinated, how they’ve evolved.
Here’s an interesting fact: Each orchid is designed in nature to attract a single pollinator – either a wasp or a bee, a fly, a hummingbird, a different type of bird, a moth. Usually that one insect is the pollinator for that particular variety. There may be others that actually pollinate the plant.

So you like plants. Are you an animal person, too?
Yeah, I am. And I love seeing all the little frogs and lizards in here, and the birds. It’s nature, you know?

Sounds fun! You make me want to work here.
Come on, put in an application! On days like today, it’s cold and raw and rainy outside and then you come in here to the bloom and the fragrance. On really hot days when you water, you get that earthy smell. It’s really nice. You take it for granted after awhile. But the customers, they come in and go, “Oh my gosh, this is Paradise!” And you go, “Yeah, it kind of is.”

Know someone you think would make a great interview subject? Contact Staff Writer Emily Darrell at (804) 598-4305 or e-mail her at edarrell@powhatantoday.com.