Tuesday, October 18, 2016 OSMT Meeting

7 pm Presentation: “Growing Complex Paphiopedilums” (refreshments at 6:30 pm)

6:15 pm Return of Orchids 101: Basics of Paphiopedilum culture (before the meeting)

Location: Cheekwood Botanical Gardens – directions, 1200 Forrest Park Drive Nashville Tennessee 37205

Hadley Cash – Grower and speaker, Marriott Orchids, Kernersville, NC

**Please note: Orchids 101 is back – MORE below **

**Hadley will be bringing plants for sale in shoot or spike to bloom over the  holidays to the meeting so Orders must be placed by Thursday, October 14 to insure you get the plants you want**

Breeding and growing Paphiopedilums – Hadley’s Way!

Hadley Cash began growing orchids over thirty years ago, and formed Marriott Orchids in 1985. By this time, he had begun growing Paphiopedilums almost exclusively. In the early 1990’s, he built his first greenhouse, of 2,500 square feet. Shortly after, he started a breeding program focused on producing Paphiopedilums of the highest quality.

Marriott Orchids is located in Oak Ridge, North Carolina, nestled between Winston-Salem and Greensboro.  Hadley Cash, who is the affable proprietor of Marriott Orchids, smiled broadly when asked about how he chose the name for his orchid enterprise.  He insisted that he had no relationship with hotels that share the name.  The name “Marriott” was his mother’s maiden name.  Since there were no surviving male heirs to carry on that family name, Cash decided that a nice way honor the name was to use it for his business venture.  Unfortunately, a problem with the name is the all too frequent telephone calls for room reservations.  It seems that directory assistance occasionally gives his phone number to those inquiring about the hotel.

Cash is a familiar person at many of the orchid events the eastern United States and in great demand for his outstanding talks. He is soon to be one of the featured speakers at the Fall 2016 AOS Meeting at the Huntington Botanical Garden in Pasadena three days after his appearance in Nashville!   His early interest in Paphiopedilums, particularly “complex Paphs”, is an interesting tale which he’ll discuss at during his presentation.

As the breeding program at Marriott Orchids continues to progress, there will be something other than buyers’ tastes, fashions, and current award winners that will point the directions to be taken.  Cash feels that while meeting a demand in the orchid market place is necessary, his motivation will be new looks in his complex Paph seedlings.  He stated, “While size is an important factor in judging Paphs, I find that the fore front of what I’m trying to create is new and different looks.” He continued, “When I see things that pop up in my offspring that have unique qualities, even though they may not have award quality form, I then often try to move in that direction in order to create a population that has that rare characteristic of either color or markings.”

Initially, his mainstay was pink/white crosses, and these have given the most success so far.  However, over the past several years, he has made a lot more crosses with complex greens, golds, reds and reds with spotted dorsal sepals.  Over the next several years, Cash anticipates that the white/pink complex Paphs will be more in balance with the other color forms.

While tastes of slipper orchid growers will continue to change, the factors that will be influencing that change will include the imagination and creativity of Hadley Cash.
He has also written a number of published articles on the genus Paphiopedilum in Orchid Digest and Orchid magazine and its hybrids. Two of his articles, “Paphiopedilum White Legacy…The Adventure Begins!” and “The Road Less Traveled – Complex Pink/White“ can be read by clicking on the link above and on Marriott Orchid’s web site: marriottorchids.com.

Pre-Orders are highly recommended if you are interested in specific plants: Orders must be placed by Thursday, October 14, 2016 to insure that the plants you want are brought with Hadley to the meeting. Please visit his extensive website marriottorchids.com for descriptions and photographs of the plants available, or contact Hadley directly: marriottorchids@triad.rr.com

Please be sure to tell him you are with the Orchid Society of Middle Tennessee so he will bring your plants to the meeting.

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Return of Orchids 101: Basics of Paphiopedilum culture
6:15 pm Tuesday Oct 18, 2016 before the meeting

Rick Lockwood, our own slipper orchid expert will be doing a Orchids 101 this month. He will focus on the basics of care, culture and sustainability of Paphiopedilums or slipper orchids. He will conduct a hands on demonstration. Please come early to the OSMT meeting and learn the secrets from one of the most experienced and knowledgeable growers in the OSMT about this wonderful and beautiful orchid genus.