Gary of a Thousand Orchids

Gary Gethen  is a plantsman with a passion for orchids. He is the go-to guy in Key West for all things orchid and he never fails to charm with his easy approach to his favorite subject.

Gary & the indispensable Rochelle, an award winning orchidist in her own right can be found most days at MARC house on Seminary Street in Key West.

This year Gary invited Key West Garden Club, the Orchid Society and a random assortment  to his amazing house which reportedly houses over 1000 orchids. He does this on a fairly regular basis and is often featured in local news, has been on “The Garden Room” with Jamie Durie and  holds free orchid culture classes at the MARC House every Autumn.

His yard possesses a thin veneer of landscaping, perhaps a nod to family members or neighbours, but once within the suburban gate the real business of the space reveals itself. After passing the pool and small patio area, the landscaping thins out, and odd apparatus and contraptions reveal themselves.

In an natural entryway from the patio to a side yard, a lacy raceme of shocking orange and purple color vie for attention demanding to be admired. The form, color, and odd angle at which the flowers jut out would never fit into a classical American  landscape mixology. These divas compel you to get up close and personal and experience them on their own terms.

Each orchid is a universe unto itself,  it’s delicate appearance belying a surprising tactile reality; leaves that are rigid and thick and a leathery flower that appears diaphanous  but can be tough as PVC.  They are a study in opposites and you can always spot the orchid novice by the look of reverence and trepidation when confronted with a healthy specimen in full-on bloom regalia. I think that I am a candidate for orcidmania being described by some as fairly obsessive with a tendency to collect odd bits of this and that.  I seem to have a particular attraction to difficult things and like the fact that orchids are bad candidates for landscaping.  In fact, many consider the plants unattractive because of their unwieldy habits. They generally do not produce fluffy foliate forms,  often sporting thick naked stalks which produce a precious flower stalk every six month to a year  which may or may not bloom depending on some mysterious skill of the owner – oops I mean steward of the plant. But like dating an odd looking but interesting man, these plants are so fascinating that the very features considered undesirable form the core of the obsession.  Over time a desire to understand how they function draws us in.  Sometimes the flowers look sinister.   I remember a long whiskered paphiopedilum  that looked like an old fashioned villain from a lost Valentino film.   It was like  drawing close to a charming sociopath. I mean some plants mimic female wasps in heat and draw in one unsuspecting male after another. Their strategies for reproduction make mincemeat of the most accomplished predator serial dater, so they need that charm and by god they have it by the bucketful.

That’s what I’m talking about  . . .

Some orchids have roots that live in air (epiphytes) and many make their homes in trees without being parasitic. They always make their host look good, interesting and accomplished. And once ensconced, they never make unreasonable demands for better food, accommodations or assorted services.  For those of us that live in Key West – the land of revolving guests – we know how rare that trait is!

I killed the first orchid I owned – and the second one  – and it took me a while to try again. But now I have about forty and although I have only been in Key West for a year, my most prized blue Vanda is showing flower stalk for the third time so I feel somewhat vindicated for spending a small fortune on these weird beauties.

Orchid people are sometimes but not always gardeners. I think “plantsman” reflects an attitude to and perhaps even an obsession with plants. A gardener may be a plantsman, but a plantsman is not necessarily a gardener.

Enter Gary . . .

If you want to learn more, consider joining an Orchid Society. Here beginners learn from experienced members and share experiences and plants. Speakers are brought in to discuss a particular species or techniques and often surprise members with new or interesting varieties.

To join the Key West Orchid Society, contact Judy McKemie at (305) 743-0769 or 870 Copa D’Oro, Marathon, FL 33050.

For more information on the American Orchid Society, go to the http://www.aos.org where you will be able to retrieve culture sheets with complete instructions for growing orchids successfully. You don’t have to be a member to get them.