Comments on the NZ Orchid Scene.

[Murph]

It’s proof that if you put temptation in front of people they will inevitably show their true colours. Imagine if you had employed someone like that, how many bulbs would have disappeared and/or pollen.

It’s a reminder of how lucky I was to be in partnership in the cutflower business for 30 years with a wonderful, honest and trustworthy person. We had NO written agreement in all that time. Whenever I tell people about it they are often a little incredulous and get quite wide eyed.

[MrCym]

Well Murph, I always think of John Rowe, the most honest person you could be around and best friend for 49 years. In orchids, the extremes are often pronounced. Hell, in NZ you had the dreaded Arnold Nuyenhuisen (sp) for a time, thoroughly dishonest and he also left a trail of scammed customers in his wake. Dan Collin, dismissed from Gallup and Stribling International for peddling Paphs for cash to Japanese buyers. He got that totally fraudulent Greenhouse Park operation underway and scammed millions of dollars. Hopefully he has gone to his reward by now and that he is in a much hotter environment! As I say regularly these days, there are really only two kinds of people, honest and dishonest, no middle ground.

[MrCym]

I wanted to say a little about Dennis and Nancie Bonham. I know Dennis had a rough patch when one of his juniors got out of line in gynecological research but the Bonhams were lovely people and they made an unequalled contribution to the World Orchid Conference in NZ in 1990. All those monthly meetings hosted at their residence, quick agreement on who should be invited to speak, who should get a Gold Medal etc. I was able to put one across them and both Dennis and Nancie were genuinely surprised when they too received a Gold Medal for their amazing contribution. It was truly well deserved. Both gone now but for those of us at the coalface and still upright, they are never to be forgotten.

[Nigel]

The good ones never are forgotten MrCym. And that is probably why you are still upright and soldiering on. I suspect God hasn't a suitable place for you.
You will just have to wait.

[MrCym]

I'm hoping this suitable place doesn't chuck me out just yet! There's much interesting hybridizing still ahead.

[Nigel]

Your room will take a while yet to prepare. Carry on.

[Murph]

Actually, Mr Cym, a wee bio on Nigel could be a good thing to do for those of us that haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him.

[MrCym]

Well..... Murph, Nigel is already a pseudonym so I will have to check first. I do know he is pretty comfortable as he owns shares in some top thoroughbreds that are winning big races in Australia. Rumor has it that GG gets hot tips and makes a killing on the South Australian tote! I've heard he owns part of an offshore island too, maybe a Casino involved there. Somewhat of a mystery man.....

[MrCym]

I'm deciding whether to tackle the Norm Porter story(ies), possibly before I visit the Summer Hummer but more likely after, It's a sad story from my viewpoint but I did miss some "road signs" so essentially I have only myself to blame.

[MrCym]

Well I've decided to pass on the Norm Porter saga..... why rehash several unhappy incidents. One situation does require some comment however and interestingly, it involves Tethys 'Carrot Top' 4n.

The late, great, Ernest Hetherington contracted with the Company that Don Wimber started in Eugene, OR, to convert the amazing Tethys 'Carrot Top' into a 4n iteration. I was doing business with Stewart Orchids, in particular a deal with my seed of Cattleya Atalanta 'alba form' seed. I asked Ernest if I could have a plant of the 4n Tethys 'Carrot Top' 4n and he agreed, providing I gave my word not to release it until Stewarts had sold their other 99 conversions. I agreed of course. Then after my late wife Carol's cancer diagnosis, we made plans to return to NZ. I made a deal with Norm to deflask many flasks for my planned nursery in Rotorua and also sent down backbulbs from stud plants to be propagated in case the main plant was lost. In the backbulbs were three backbulbs of Tethys 'Carrot Top' 4n plus I took the front of the plant directly to Rotorua in 1985.

Many small plants and sprouted backbulbs were duly delivered back to me in 1986 and I was way too busy to itemize them all. Then around 1989, Norm, on one of our regular long phone conversations, asked me this question: "How do you get Tethys 'Carrot Top' 4n to bloom?" Why do you need to know was my response, thinking I still had all the pieces. Turned out Norm had retained a backbulb propagation that by 1989 was a large mature but non-spiking plant. I was extremely angry and embarrassed that I was in violation of my explicit agreement with Ernest. It was the parting of the ways for Norm and I and I had to front up to Ernest and sort the matter out.

Well Ernest laughed.... he indicated that the 4n's had been a total disappointment and Stewarts had basically written the whole exercise off. So he was very relaxed about the matter. Now, I was given the pick of the group and I certainly picked the clearly best plant! But I have a feeling there could have been a minor chromosomal abnormality in the treated plants and certainly, Tethys 'Carrot Top' 4n did nothing of any great import for Geyserland Orchids. When I returned to the US in 2000, I don't believe I even bothered to bring a piece of the plant with me. May Norm Porter RIP, I'm sad a friendship I had valued since our first meeting in 1961 was irreparably broken by that incident everyone has disappointments in life.