Cattleya Albert Hollingsworth x Ctna. Keith Roth

[Roy]

Obtained this from a very good friend who has unfortunately lost his battle with 'C' 3 weeks ago. He was one of the best Catt growers around & a great club member, President, Bulletin editor etc in one of the local clubs since inception. I was honoured to be asked to select a quantity of his plants so they would continue. His wife didn't want them being commercialised of lost because people couldn't grow them. I had help selecting & the ute/truck was overflowing as is the Orchid house & new extension now ! Ahhhhh help.

[Chris in Hamilton]

Fabulous Cattleya X! How honored you must feel. Time to get out the drafting board, what's another greenhouse or two!

[Dorsetman]

A quality plant - a quality result from your culture. But how nice to have a memory of your friend, every time you look and see.

I had a friend, passed away some 10 years or more now, grew the most wonderful plants in a very limited range of genera - Vandas, Psychopsis, Catasetum...his wife never came to shows, meetings or events ; when I heard he had passed away I enquired what had happened to his collection and found that a week after his death she had called in a demolition firm to bulldoze the greenhouse and contents, load it all into skips, and take it away for landfill ... "she was always jealous of the time he spent on his orchids" ... wanted no reminder... So sad.

Since I am now well advanced in my 9th decade ( 87th year) I don't expect to be still here growing orchids for ever , I have left clear instructions with my executors. When I am dead, call in the 3 Orchid Societies of which I am member, give them a free hand to help themselves (i.e. their members) to my best plants, and in return, kindly help the executors to clear the greenhouse ready for the house to be sold . ( My wife, who is older than me and frail, cannot live without a lot of help, and will probably go into a care home , or will have pre-deceased me anyway). And moreover do it quick - the best plants in the world will not be of much value if left unattended for 6 months whilst all the rest of the estate , probate etc is looked after.
Best to be practical I think. And if I want to be sentimental, then I think of all my friends and acquaintances who will have a nice reminder of me, every time their new acquisitions flower.

[Azizan]

A quality plant - a quality result from your culture. But how nice to have a memory of your friend, every time you look and see.

I had a friend, passed away some 10 years or more now, grew the most wonderful plants in a very limited range of genera - Vandas, Psychopsis, Catasetum...his wife never came to shows, meetings or events ; when I heard he had passed away I enquired what had happened to his collection and found that a week after his death she had called in a demolition firm to bulldoze the greenhouse and contents, load it all into skips, and take it away for landfill ... "she was always jealous of the time he spent on his orchids" ... wanted no reminder... So sad.
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Very sad in deed. Maybe we should come clean with our significant others if they are displeased with our orchid obsession. And perhaps everyone should have a will for their orchids. I have heard stories of people that I know, they throw away a deceased family member's things like clothes, furniture or whatever. But to bulldoze a greenhouse is overly dramatic. The wife could have just sell the orchids and make money from it isn't it?

[JDT]

Very sad in deed. Maybe we should come clean with our significant others if they are displeased with our orchid obsession. And perhaps everyone should have a will for their orchids. I have heard stories of people that I know, they throw away a deceased family member's things like clothes, furniture or whatever. But to bulldoze a greenhouse is overly dramatic. The wife could have just sell the orchids and make money from it isn't it?

I already have someone who will take all of mine, what he will do with them all is a question, I will not ever get an answer for that but at least I know they will be going to another addict so the odds are good!

[JDT]

Good one to have!

[Dorsetman]

If you live in a temperate climate, as I do, then heated enclosure - like a greenhouse is needed. If you have a large collection, as I do ( somewhere between one and two thousand plants , then it is certain that no -one growing orchids as an amateur is going to have room for more than a few of them. So what happens then ? I wish I knew !
My instructions to my executors ( you have to think seriously about these things when you are wondering how far in advance to start to plan for your 90th birthday ! ) is to deal with the orchids first. Tell the Secretarys of the the two Societies where I attend regularly , and invite them to collect and choose enough to give every member a few each, and take them away, and then - please ! - call the one or two dealers who may be interested to take all the rest for a nominal fee or nothing at all.... so as to empty the greenhouse, and enable all services to be shut off, etc etc....
Incidentally, we have a National organisation , started to deal with this problem and also that of complete gardens, established and built up over a lifetime perhaps, and how to prevent them all being lost at the end of the gardeners life - called NCCPG - National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens ( which "trades" under the name Plant Heritage. My Dendrobiums are a National Collection in this scheme. But they have not actually solved the problem......

[Roy]

My daughter has been instructed on what to do with my plants. Some folk are banned from even getting in the gate. She hasn't been involved with the plants for a long time but still knows what to do & handle their dispersal. The collection has taken too long to assemble & the good ones noted, not going to let someone get them who will kill them or pay a small price & make heaps out of them.

[Chris in Hamilton]

I bought a lot of plants from the son of a grower a few years ago. I don't grow them and didn't have space for them but there were 2-300 Paph., a huge vanilla, and many other mature but in rough shape orchids and other plants. The property had been sold and the bulldozers arrived the next day to knock down the existing house and greenhouse. The 1st anyone knew about the demolition was only a few days before it happened.