Chadwick Orchids Spring Newsletter

View as Webpage

In this Month's Newsletter:

Meghan Markle Hybrid
Lady Bird Johnson...Excerpt from Art's Upcoming Book
Bletillas
Native Orchids

Garden Clubs from all over Virginia visit the greenhouses and “make a day of it”.

There are local eateries in Powhatan or we can order box lunches for the farm tour.

Award of Quality given to

Chadwick’s Meghan Markle Hybrid

Photo Credit: Bayard Saraduke

Last month, the American Orchid Society gave their prestigious Award of Quality or AQ/AOS to our group of 12 blooming Meghan Markle seedlings at their Philadelphia judging center. “This award is given to a cross exhibited as a group of 12 different plants in which the overall quality is an improvement over the former type”.

Photo Credit: Bayard Saraduke

The hybrid combines a well known cluster type yellow, Blc Bouton D’Or from 1968 with an albescens form of Cattleya trianaei, the National Flower of Colombia. The seedlings range in color from yellow to pink to blush and last two months in bloom. There were two flower quality awards – ‘Archie’ HCC/AOS and ‘Lilibet’ AM/AOS.

There are some plants still available for sale.

Photo Credit: Bayard Saraduke

Lady Bird Johnson

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” Excerpt from Art’s upcoming book,

“First Ladies and Their Cattleyas:

A Century of Namesake Orchids.”

Cattleya Lady Bird Johnson (David Hill x mossiae) produced many fine varieties including this ‘Select’.

Photo Credit – Arthur E Chadwick

On the centennial anniversary of Lady Bird Johnson’s birth, a special namesake orchid was presented to her oldest daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson Robb. The timing was perfect – Mother’s Day – a fitting tribute to one of the most horticulture-minded of our First Ladies.

Lady Bird Johnson became First Lady just two hours after the death of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 when her husband, Lyndon B. Johnson, became the 36th President of the United States. She was no stranger to politics, as her husband was elected to Congress just three years into their marriage, nearly three decades earlier.

While First Lady, Johnson actively campaigned for the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 that called for control of outdoor advertising and encouraged scenic improvement along the nation’s roadways. She was a lifelong advocate of flowers and at age 70, she co-founded the National Wildflower Research Center (later renamed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, www.wildflower.org) – a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving and reintroducing native plants. Johnson was fond of saying “Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” Today, every state grows wildflowers along its highways and there is no doubt that this effort has preserved more than a few of our native orchids.

There is no greater occasion than two women wearing corsages - the Vice President’s wife, Muriel Humphries, and Lady Bird Johnson.

Courtesy of Alamy.

America’s landscapes are beautiful. The roadsides in the spring are awash with blossoms of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Drivers can often tell what part of the country they are in simply by looking at the flowers along the highway. Lady Bird Johnson grew up in Texas where seemingly endless stretches of barren interstates now greet travelers with fields of bluebonnets

and more.

Cattleyas are ‘wildflowers’ in Central and South America, where they grow on trees. In many cases, they are the National Flowers of their respective countries. The pedigree lineage of this First Lady orchid relies heavily on Cattleya mossiae, the National Flower of Venezuela, which blooms in the spring.

In order to fully appreciate Cattleya Lady Bird Johnson, one has to trace the history back to the early days of breeding. The background of this hybrid includes one of the great cattleya species of all time, a semi-alba variety called C mossiae reineckiana ‘Young’s.’ (The term, reineckiana, harks back to 1871 with the very first FCC/RHS award of a semi-alba mossiae. The grower gave it the variety name, ‘reineckiana’, and over time, the word came to refer, unofficially, to all semialba mossiaes. This is a great example of “cattleya slang.”) C mossiae reineckiana ‘Young’s’ was originally a jungle plant sent by a friend in Venezuela during the 1920’s to cut flower mogul, Thomas Young, of Thomas Young Orchids, in Bound Brook, New Jersey.

Corsage pinning often took a team of experts and spare flowers just in case there were issues. Note the white gloves and pearls.

Courtesy of Alamy.

Mr. Young was very protective of his C mossiae and only gave away only one division - and that was to his good friend Fitz Eugene Dixon, who was the 2nd President of the American Orchid Society. Dixon later sold his collection to his neighbor Wharton Sinkler, who was the 3rd President of the American Orchid Society. The plant was so valuable that Sinkler’s personal orchid grower would trade just the tiny flower pollen in exchange for the latest cattleya hybrids.

Ultimately, Sinkler was forced to sell his entire collection and Thomas Young’s archrival, H. Patterson & Sons of Bergenfield, New Jersey, acquired it. The two cut flower nurseries were only 45 miles apart and each wanted to have the best stud plants. This would be the fourth time that the prized C mossiae had changed hands since being imported into the United States.

Bletillas on Sale Now

All Three Locations

$12 each

Two varieties are available: Bletilla striata 'alba' & Bletilla striata. These are hearty orchids for Zones 6 – 10 and prefer partial shade to full sun. Tubers can be planted now but may need to be protected from a late frost.

Shipping is available.