OrchidSafari ARCHIVES*

1. PRE-DISCUSSION MAILOUT

2. TRANSCRIPT

3. PLANT INVENTORY

4. PROLOGUE

PRE-DISCUSSION MAILOUT

TOPIC: Managing a University Greenhouse
Moderator: Richard T. Jennings ("Tom" aka Peeteilis)
WBS, Wed 2 Jun 99

Richard Thomas Jennings, a Kentucky hill person by birth, sixty-five years ago. I began greenhouse work with Blue Grass Orchids, Lexington, while going to college. Learned a lot from Craig Foster, then moved to Miami and worked for Jones and Scully for a few years, and really became interested in breeding orchids. Did some crossing of Broughtonia with C. Little Angel, Broughtonia and a dark lavender; Diacrium with L. flava, trying to get a yellow without the dowiana lip; Diacrium and Schomburgkia crispa.

While teaching at Shawnee University in Portsmouth Ohio, I saw they had a greenhouse, of modest size, but nothing at all was being done in it. It is an "L" shaped Four Seasons lean-to eighteen by forty and eighteen by thirty, attached to the East and South sides of the Administration building. I got permission to try to bring some order to the place, reworked benches, pruned and watered the few plants some Faculty had left for the winter. There was no reason for anyone to go in there, so I brought some of my orchids down and began to show them to students and faculty. Now the house has the beginning of a nice but very eclectic, collection of orchids.

A good greenhouse is the action part of a good Botany department. A greenhouse introduces the chance to study plants in situ, growing naturally. This introduces the system concept, and the need to understand all the elements of the system, micro botany, myco-botany, sterile propagation, use of laminar flow, etc.

I will go into the accommodations one must make with the Academic in the discussion, and try to be kind to hidebound professors. I want to emphasize the difference the orchids have made in the perception of the greenhouse. Now we have quite a following who show up weekly at least to see what is new. some of the students are putting pressure on the department to include the orchids in the classroom material, if not have full classes.

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TRANSCRIPT

Present were 24:
marylois (northwest Louisiana)
Jane5536 (Huntington L.I. N.Y.)
Ellen,Smithtown,New York
Lanceps (Thamina, Manhattan Beach CA)
ldysilver ((Kaya from South Louisiana))
BTague (Barbara, N. CA):
zeynep3 (from Wilmington,NC)
ChitChat2 (Joyce - Walterboro SC)
poln8r (Robert from Long Beach, MS)
AORCHID (art, simpsonville sc)
peeteilis (Tom - Algonquin Island KY)
OrchidMagic (Glen, in Gulfport, MS)
djanvrin (David - Anderson SC)
fancyfarmer (Mary Lou - FL)
JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
apr9 (Abrao - Sao Paulo Brazil)
reparata (agnes in australia)
Fleur (Tasmania)
Clare in LA (Los Angeles CA)
gaillevy (Boca Raton FL)
CarolHoldren (Boca Raton FL)
pokey60 (need name, net name, location)
55SS (James in Fresno)
MiamiBert

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PROLOGUE

The Dean has finally organized a committee, I may get a chance to preserve the GH as is, and protected! Wish me luck. Tom

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peeteilis
Anyone interested in the vastly interesting subject of the Academic Greenhouse? I have worked in the GH system at University of Kentucky (UK), a large land grant university. I found at UK that though they had greenhouses in the dozens, none of them were open to students just for enjoyment. We stood with our noses pushed against the glass. I left UK, took up another charitable occupation: I taught. Now I am retired and have the responsibility for the GH at Shawnee University, a small school.

poln8r (Robert from Long Beach, MS)
Seems like a public school should provide something for the public, huh?

fancyfarmer
There is a greenhouse at FIU here in Miami where the Master Gardeners raise their plants. A real community effort, but we are really into plants here in Paradise.

peeteilis
This is the specialty of one professor - corn. The other is... trees.

AORCHID (art, simpsonville sc)
Had 7 or 8 greenhouses at Clemson in early 70s only 1 had plants in them. Did have an orchid collection in back half of one, where I first became interested in orchids. Before the green revolution.

djanvrin
Art, I think several of the Greenhouses at Clemson you're thinking of are permanently closed due to an experiment booboo. From what I've been told they can't even tear them down and no one's supposed to go into the first three glass houses at all.

zeynep3 (Dept. Bio/UNCW)
I was there lately, and they have started taking them down. When I was there the orchids were already removed out of it.

AORCHID (art, simpsonville sc)
Orchids were in last house on left. Thought I had seen where they were going to build some new houses.

djanvrin
Orchid group of FRIENDS has been building a war chest so they can build a permanent home and display conservatory for the real orchid collection. Most of it is housed over by Haden House in the Botanical Garden but not accessible unless you know someone. All I really know is that they used to do a lot of turf grass experiments in those houses.

poln8r (Robert from Long Beach, MS)
Tom, What's the status of your efforts to use UK greenhouses to raise orchids? Can the public tour the GH?

peeteilis
I am now at Shawnee University, where the school had built a Four Seasons lean-to, and no one was doing anything with it. I stepped in. I spent a couple of months getting set up, and now it has orchids, plus so many different kinds of plants that I have the profs up a tree!

fancyfarmer
I can imagine there must be a real concern over security if there is a nice bunch of orchids in a campus greenhouse! Is that a problem?

peeteilis
No security problem.

AORCHID (art, simpsonville sc)
A lot of times professors teach what they know about, had one who loved carnations so we learned about carnations.

zeynep3 (Dept. Bio/UNCW)
Tom, other then orchids, are you growing ferns?

peeteilis
That red is a flared from Blue Grass, years ago. This is my blooming bench. I have to explain to the students what an orchid is!

poln8r (Robert from Long Beach, MS)
Tom, does the dark brick wall behind the orchids get hot? Seems like it would.

zeynep3 (Dept. Bio/UNCW)
Tom, I am getting very popular on campus, I take orchids all over and beg $$s to buy more, but I still did not see $$s.

peeteilis
Zeynep, do as I do, keep an orchid on the desk of the Secretary to the Dean. The President is begging the Professor. to write a budget, but he has been reluctant.

Clare in LA
Considering how promiscuous orchids can be, it seems you could convince some budding geneticist. Or check in with Koopowitz on virology.

peeteilis
I have proposed that the GH be used to house a definitive collection of Phaius, doable and affordable, but the tree man and the grass man don't see it that way. How do you get students to come in and see a 'Five Grasses of the Ohio Valley'?

poln8r (Robert from Long Beach, MS)
Just put the word out to the student body that some prof is growing GRASS in the greenhouse. If you grow it they will come.

peeteilis
That white is so prolific that I have had eleven flowers from the one in the pot. MY hanging one had sixteen!

AORCHID (art, simpsonville sc)
Since you started using greenhouse Tom have professors decided they want to use now?

Clare in LA
Tom, what you need is a hook. You just have to test the waters and find one. Interest need not be curatorial. If the 'regulars' come in, the curatorial will follow the audience.

peeteilis
Reed-stem epidendrum.
A photographer from Columbus came and photographed the orchids, while I was in Vancouver. He thought they were ok.

zeynep3 (Dept. Bio/UNCW)
Tom, I got HPS light to grow corn for research. As soon as some students noticed it they came in to visit me at the GH.

peeteilis
White phalaenopsis
Art, they want control, but they don't know what to do with the house. I have a great student following now, daily and almost hourly. But the profs ignore the Hook. They consider the flowers only a sideshow.

AORCHID (art, simpsonville sc)
I would think as a genetics student it would be real neat to see seeing variation from seedpod or something like that.

Fleur
Peet, just how many orchids are there in the GH?

peeteilis
If I put HPS lights in, the Police would come to see me. I have a pretty good house, the bricks hold heat in the winter, and I will have better heating. But I have to leave it.

zeynep3 (Dept. Bio/UNCW)
I get questions, even by some botany prof. "Why is the light on???"

Clare in LA
So, Tom, what else have you tried and what are you thinking of next? Have you gotten articles in the school paper. BTW, what the pop at the school?

peeteilis
I worry that the GH, like so much in a university is vulnerable to power. The Foundation that controls the house won't let us sell anything, so we have 'surplus' days, and I give plants away. Night Blooming cereus, orchids, begonias, geraniums, etc.

poln8r (Robert from Long Beach, MS)
Tom, if you could get some plants awarded and name them after the University, or maybe the Dean's wife...?

JanetteH (Pilot Mtn., NC)
Unfortunately that is true, Tom. The faculty will ignore it and not support it while it is around. But if something happens and it is no longer there, they can't understand what happened.

ChitChat2
If you can't sell, can you accept donations? Seems that people could see and have a plant and make a donation.

Clare in LA
I'd like to hear more about this foundation and it's relationship to the school, and it's 'pull' if any.

Fleur
Do you get to keep any for yourself?

zeynep3 (Dept. Bio/UNCW)
UNCW accepts donations. That is the only way I can get new plants.

reparata
Peet, can you not have sponsors for the GH, say like some kind souls from the local orchid society? Maybe you can have a well advertised open house day for your GH and sell some of the plants make it a sort of non-stock non profit but income generating thing so you have $ for maintenance and new stock.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
Tom, if you can't sell how about swap.

Fleur (A cool Tasmania 6C)
Donations of cash or orchids?

peeteilis
Pink phalaenopsis
Clare, some prof decided that he needed a GH. He organized a drive, got close to a quarter of a mil I think. They built the house, put benches in it, had a grand opening, shook hands and drank. Then they left and locked the door. Seriously!

JanetteH (Pilot Mtn., NC)
Apparently this prof didn't have enough foresight to see that you almost have to have an endowment to keep a project like this one going.

peeteilis
Right now I accept donations. Carter and Holmes did. I swap for more plants. Today I swapped a piece of that white for Slc. Trick or Treat, swapped an Lc. Mini Purple for a C. skinneri. NO one cared, until 18 months ago when I stepped in. I am no miracle worker, and no saint, I really needed a place for my orchids. *G* I want groups, secretaries, sororities, etc., to sponsor plants. But the profs say no more orchids if I am going to leave.

Clare in LA
Now before I ask my next question, I will apologize for not reading up on the discussion tonight. But, Tom are you a prof there or a grad student?

peeteilis
Dendrobium
Clare, I am retired English prof. No, not in typing. *G* I have a student who is interested, I may get her on permanently.

marylois (TOPIC: Operating a University Greenhouse)
You planning to leave?

peeteilis
marylois, my wife and I have been building a log house on Red River. I am looking for a good lean-to GH for the farm. It has to be very well insulated. Any recommendations?

poln8r (Robert from Long Beach, MS)
Tom, use the dual wall polycarbonate (I think). It really holds the heat.

marylois (TOPIC: Operating a University Greenhouse)
Where on the Red River? Oklahoma?

peeteilis
Red River, in Kentucky. Rather out in the woods.

marylois (TOPIC: Operating a University Greenhouse)
Yes insulate. *G*

peeteilis
Marylois, we see twenty below there on the odd winter, say every twenty years or so. I can't insulate for that. I will bring the plants in the house.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
How many plants (orchids only) do you have in that GH?

peeteilis
Barb, I would say about two hundred, counting pieces of the same thing. I have ten pieces, of various sizes, of D. Gatton Sunray , eight or ten of the white cattleya. Half dozen of schomburgkia. I did an orchid census, three pages, double-spaced as a list of different kinds.

Clare in LA
OK, so far what I've gotten is, that some prof decided he wanted a gazebo and a bit of landscaping and voila you get a gh. Now we have something that we really love in it, trying to get others to see the educational as well as the beauty of the plants, and no one in power seems to care. Is this the major problem that you would like to solve before you leave? Or am I carrying my work home with me tonight? I mean this is getting to be a really sad story. We need a happy ending here. [See Prologue! *S*...RTJ]

peeteilis
Clare, no. I just wanted to present some of the problems an academic GH has, not all of it is growing.

poln8r (Robert from Long Beach, MS)
Unfortunately, Clare, University types are not immune to having their personal agendas. Build a GH, get recognition, take the pretty certificate home and put it on the wall...

peeteilis
Clare, the happiest. People who have never seen an orchid before come in the GH weekly to see and grin, laugh, sniff, weep a bit, and swear to try it. Isn't that a happy ending? Week before last a lady came in, fortyish, to see and admire. I cut the last white and gave it to her. She hugged me. (I like that) and said that was the FIRST orchid anyone had ever give her.

marylois (TOPIC: Operating a University Greenhouse)
Indeed! That's why I break off all blooms following an orchid exhibit (mine, of course) and give them to gawkers...tears come to their eyes!

Fleur
Sounds like a happy ending to me, but do you have someone to take over?

peeteilis
I have one I am training, but I have to make her academic proof. That is hard!

reparata
It's happy for those people to set off on that road to discovery Peet, but still sad for the GH.

AORCHID (art, simpsonville sc)
If some prof thought they could get some grant money for it they would care, but only as long as grant money was around.

jim4eq (moist miami)
Tom, you said something about a foundation, could you stack the board or is it a private foundation??

peeteilis
You wouldn't believe the 'Foundation' NO ONE controls it!!! I thought the Phaius idea would bring in grants. But the profs are afraid of anything new.

JanetteH (Pilot Mtn., NC)
It is really sad though. UNC Charlotte has a wonderful orchid greenhouse with a lot of beautiful specimen plants. The local OS holds their meetings there. The students put exhibits in local orchid shows. Some of the plants are great and is an education for the rest of us orchid growers who don't generally get to see these plants any other place. A greenhouse of this type can really be an asset but you have to have the interest, support and money.

marylois (TOPIC: Operating a University Greenhouse)
I think the BIG problem is getting warm bodies to water/fert/repot!

Clare in LA
So, zey, speaking from the department end, any suggestions?

poln8r (Robert from Long Beach, MS)
Get the botanists to fund a collecting trip to Belize. It's still open to collecting and they're burning the forests for agriculture. Bill it as a ''Save the World'' type thing.

[What a wonderful trip and education in conservation for the students! Collect them and grow them!!!...mlg]

zeynep3 (Dept. Bio/UNCW)
Clare, I am the greenhouse manager, I am in the same boat as our speaker...

jim4eq (moist miami)
I helped set up two nonprofits, that's why I suggest the Board. We stacked the board since we had to include a couple of politicians as quid pro quo. We let them on, but didn't trust them.

JanetteH (Pilot Mtn., NC)
Zeynep, does your funding come from the university?

marylois (TOPIC: Operating a University Greenhouse)
Dallas Judging Center meets at Richland Jr College...they have a going concern there, several greenhouses, bedding plants for the university, big sales to public now and then. The orchids are taken care of, but kinda like stepchildren as they are not a cash crop. Do have some good stuff, from time to time a judge will find something out there and bring it in for judging. They've gotten 34 awards that way.

zeynep3 (Dept. Bio/UNCW)
Janette, yes. UNCW is considered teaching univ, and the greenhouse is used for botany classes.

peeteilis [002 RTJ]
It is just adjusting to becoming a University, to growing, to being wired. I had trouble from some students when I showed Angcm. sesquipedale, the Darwin Orchid.

poln8r (Robert from Long Beach, MS)
Tom, are they still fighting evolution?

peeteilis
Yep, my Dept. Chair said it really wasn't necessary in an English class to mention Evolution or anything so controversial. Much of the collection we inherited Blc.Ports of Paradise, Blc.Toshi Aoki, Empess Bell 'Hauserman', C. dowiana X praetii (?), Den. Gatton Sunray, and several that are orphans. I am anxious to see them flower.

Clare in LA
What does the Foundation tenets say about the "collection that was inherited'?

peeteilis
Clare, nothing. Officially they don't know it is there. Officially they don't know anything is there. I charge one piece for potting and care. *G* Ohio Univ. was offered the plants, but didn't want to take them all. So we got them.

[No one seems to want a collection these days unless accompanied with a grant to care for them...mlg]

Lanceps
Have them offer a plant propagation class for botany students. That's how Univ. of Wash USED to keep their botany greenhouse maintenance down.

Clare in LA
Thamina, great point!

marylois (TOPIC: Operating a University Greenhouse)
Exactly, Thamina. What I meant about how involved in agriculture a college/university is...Richland has GREAT student involvement they have to do it to get a good grade in whatever related class they are in! They have a great referral program for summer work with nurseries and the like and do a lot of job placement after graduation in the field.

peeteilis
That is how we develop material to 'surplus.' I train my assistant to make cuttings, to divide and repot. She has to do SOMETHING with the extras. She learns soils, and plants, and the market.

Clare in LA
Ok, now's here's a thought. You've got this gh with orchids. You don't want to lose them, yet you may be leaving. There is absolutely no reason why you cannot beg. I'm thinking about Cal Poly Pomona, CA, an ag school that also happens to have the Raymond Burr collection. Maybe if you write them to get suggestions, sponsorship, endorsement, or even a grad student to take interest on preserving your collection, that might just pique some interest.

Fleur
Clare, you are a genius.

Lanceps
Had a friend who did Horticulture at Cal Poly Pomona (not an orchid person), they have the Raymond Burr collection.

Clare in LA
That's right, Thamina. Orchids and Arabian horses. Who could ask for more manure?

Lanceps
The Raymond Burr collection is (I'm told) mostly virused, mainly used for breeding. They sell under the name of Sea God Nursery.

marylois (TOPIC: Operating a University Greenhouse)
I think the real need is people to run the activity once it is underway. They don't want a Herculean effort and then have to do any work themselves. Same in ALL greenhouses without megabuck backing. If Tom needs or can have divisions/trades he will make up an item for the newsletter.

peeteilis
Clare, I appreciate your sympathy. But there is not much you, or anyone outside the school, can do. They will have to develop the backbone to do it themselves. I, nor you, can hold their hands forever.

Good night all, thanks for listening.

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PLANT INVENTORY

ORCHIDS AT SHAWNEE

Where more than one plant is listed, I am willing to trade. n Kentucky, if both parties are willing to trade, then it is a trade. Contact me if you are interested.

Calanthe and Phaius

Bletilla striata
Phaius tankervillae

B. digbyana x Bc. Praetii (sp?)
C. skinneri
Blc. Bolton’s Star [not registered]
Blc. Ports of Paradise, “Emerald Isle”
     (Fortune x B. digbyana) (three pieces)
Blc. Toshi Aoki “Robin”
     (Faye Miyamoto x Waianae Flare) (many pieces)
C. Donna Craig’s Bell x Old Whitey “Mt. Empress”
     [No Donna Craig's Bell, and no Donna Craig x Old Whitey registered]
C Princess Bells, “Hauserman”
     (Old Whitey x General Patton)
Many pieces of winter blooming white [C. trianaei hybrid?...RTJ]
Ctna Rosy Jewel, “Maili”
     (bowringiana x Bro. sanguinea)
Ctna. Why Not
     (aurantiaca x Bro. sanguinea)
Diacrium (Caularthron) bicornutum
Iwanagara Appleblossom, “Fangtastic”
     (Dial. Snowflake x Blc. Orange Nuggett)
L. anceps “G” x L rupestris
L. anceps “Guerrero”
Lc. Mini Purple, “Tamami”
     (L. pumila x C. walkeriana)
Lc. Trick or Treat
     (L. Icarus x ChitChat)
Lc. Troug Dretch “Inky”
     [not registered]
Slc. Tiny Titan
     (Precious Stones x Sc. Beaufort)
Schomburgkia, many pieces

Cym. Golden Elf, “Sundust”
     (ensifolium x Enid Haupt)
Cym. Peter Dawson “Grenadier”
     (Lunagrad x Solana Beach) (green white)
Cym. Tan
     [not registered] (semi-dwarf)
Cym. Yowie Flame “Bayswater” x Claude Pepper “Bayswater”
     (Tapestry x Sensation)( dark red)
C8382, Standard yellow, Kroger’s

D. aggregatum
D. macrophyllum
D. freidricksianum
D. Frosty Dawn
     (Dawn Maree x Lime Frost)
D. Gatton, “Sunray”
     (pulchellum x Illustre) (many pieces)
D. Jaq-Candy “Udom Stripe”
     [not registered]
D. Super Star
     (Malones x Utopia)
D. Waianae Valley “St. Patrick”
     (Alan Umaki x Anching Lubag)
     (yellow-green, white lip- grows down)
D. Tramot-Jaq-Hawaii x Ekapol “Big Panda” white
     [no registration for Tramot or Tramot-Jaq-Hawaii]
D. Yondi x Black Mountain
     [not registered]
D. Yondi x Kingstar
     [not registered]

Oncidiinae

Bllra. Tahoma Glacier
     (Mtssa. Cartagena x Alaskan Sunset)
Brassia Spider’s Feast
     (Chieftain x verrucosum)
Colmanara Wild Cat
     (bictoniense x Parade)
Milt. specatabilis “Moreliana”
Milt. Lorene “Mendenhall”
     (Paula Jean x Andrea Baker)
Milt. Sandy's Cove “Woodlawn”
     (Matto Grosso x Castanea)
Onc. Elegance
     (leucochilum x hastatum)
Onc. Gower Ramsey
     (Goldiana x Guinea Gold)
Onc. Popoki “Mitzi”
     (Puff x Phyllis Hetfield)
Onc. Sweet Sugar
     (Aloha Iwanaga x varicosum)
Odm. Ocean Falls “Sunset Snow” x crispum “Sunset Crystal”
     (not registered)

Paph. Faire-Maude
     (Maudiae x fairrieanum)
Paph. Mitylele [? no registry by this name]
Paph. Quasky
     (Englebert Frackowia x Winston Churchill) (sibling cross)

Angcm. magdalenae
Angcm. sesquipedale
Angcm. Veitchii
     (eburneum x sesquipidale)
Ascocenda - untagged
Doritis pulcherrima
Doritaenopis Fire Cracker
     (Red Coral x pulcherrima)
Neofinetia falcata x falcata
P. Carmela’s Wild Thing x Carmela’s Spots
     [not registered]
P. Eric Hauser v. White Sparkle x self
     [Eric Hauser not registered]
P. Fabulous Pink x Ruth Stout #1 P. Sue’s Red Lip x Dtps. Hamakita Beauty
     [neither parent registered]
Rhynchostylis gigantea
Sarcochilus Heidi
(Fitzhart x hartmannii)

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PROLOGUE

Well, we made it! The Shawnee Greenhouse will remain Pubic oriented. I was (fired up?, inspired? ) by this discussion last week, and wrote an e-mail to the Dean, who is a personal friend, which don't hurt! I explained that The faculty in charge of the GH had refused to make a budget and that I felt a committee was necessary to give authority to someone to run the GH. I recommended a committee, included the Botany Prof, but also the Dean, a friend who grows orchids and is the rep. for the Foundation, (who raised money in the first place) the Chair of the Bio. Sci. dept. He called the interested parties and they agreed on Friday. I went, of course and since I have no official status, was allowed to speak first. I gave my idea of how the GH should be run, as a Public facility, open to all, and maintained as an attractive facility for groups visiting he University. He seconded the speech, which left no room for opposition. He appointed my protege` as GH manager, half time until she graduates, then at least half time as she sets up her business.

I have the unenviable task of writing a set of Operating Principles which are supposed to control what goes on in the GH, who has the say-so. Also I have to write a budget. There isn't much money, not in the operating budget, only the interest from the Foundation assets. But plenty to get the heating updated and purchase supplies. The Dean and the President are sharing the cost of the manager until she graduates. What more could I ask? Well, a new bay perhaps, extend the GH from the current base to the street? *G* Oh, come on!

The "Committee" gave me health, wealth and everlasting youth.

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