Stewart Orchids/Armacost & Royston

[MrCym]

last week I had an interesting conversation about these two great orchid nurseries and with a little free time on this holiday weekend, I decided to write a little story about them.

Armacost & Royston predated Stewart Orchids, they were the company that employed Knudsen to teach them aseptic orchid propagation (flasking). The first effort was a dismal failure but that is another story.

Fred Stewart was a wealthy and successful home builder operating in the boom years after World War Two. His wife was Lillian Stewart. They had no children but adopted a son, Bill Stewart. Fred Stewart was a smart businessman, he hired Ernest Hetherington, fresh from the military and the rest is orchid history. Fred Stewart Orchids prospered in the Golden Age of Orchids, both at the home nursery in San Gabriel and the offshoot commercial nursery in Santa Barbara. Ernest made the famous Cym hybrid, Lillian Stewart and also pioneered American Cym color lines as well as a new compact Cym line known as "decorator types". Ably aided by his late wife Elsie, Ernest produced fabulous catalogs too, a literal mine of information for hobbyists and enthusiastic hybridizers alike.

Across town, Armacost & Royston was also forging a great reputation for their Cattleyas and Cyms. Initially Ben Bracey was the Manager but when he left to start his own business, Leo Holguin was chosen to lead the company forward. They made a very wise choice. Like Ernest, Leo loved Cattleyas but he followed more traditional commercial cut flower lines in the main. If Ernest will always be remembered for strokes of genius like Lc Puppy Love 'True Beauty', Leo is remembered for his Spring mossiae-derived lines like Califlora, Irene Holguin and superb semi-albas like Lc Persepolis.

Time passed and in the late 1960's A & R was bought by my first employer, Clarence Chase of Chase Gardens in Eugene, Oregon. The property in West Los Angeles was too valuable for greenhouses so it was sold and new greenhouses were erected in Carpinteria, just south of Santa Barbara and close by Gallup and Stribliing. The orchids thrived there away from the smog and heat of LA.

Chase Gardens decided to compress their huge rose and orchid operation in 1977 so A & R was put on the market. Gallup and Stribling were interested in buying but wisely, Ernest and Bill Stewart who had taken over as Chairman of Stewarts upon the death of his father, decided to buy A & R and keep Leo Holguin on as manager. I had met Bill Stewart but only socially so did not really know him in 1977. But I kept seeing Cyms at the Lab of A & R (very ably run by Irene Holguin) with tags on them saying 'Clone". Most were God-awful and I asked Leo why anyone would select such plants. Leo would smile in his quiet way and say: 'the big boss", meaning of course Bill Stewart.

As I got to know Bill Stewart I realized he was in a different intelligence league to mere mortals. He was your typical Mensa Society type and had worked for the Rand Corporation, doing military contracts. I was at the time learning to fly and had some degree of difficulty learning power on stall correction. I met him for lunch one day, fresh from a frustrating flight lesson and mentioned my problem. He remarked that one of the projects he had headed was to develop a system of teaching the technique to prospective Air Force pilots. A few minutes later I knew exactly how to handle my problem and next flying lesson I had mastered the issue. Needless to say I saw Bill in a very different light from then on. But we agreed to disagree on what constituted a viable commercial Cym!

The combined company prospered and Ned Nash became Leo's right hand man. Bill Stewart's only son Ian also worked in management in the company. Bill had two daughters, one, Arabella Stewart whom I never met. The other, Michael Stewart, was one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. A model figure, classic English complexion (from her mother) and a bright personality. She ended up marrying Robert Mitchum's son and he became Governor of Alaska while Michael was the Alaskan first lady. Much more polished than that other crass and well-known Alaskan woman! However they divorced and sadly Michael died of an awful stomach cancer at quite a young age. Without knowing all the details, I suspect the Stewart children were haunted by that familiar problem of growing up with excessive wealth.

Eventually both the San Gabriel property was sold for development and then as Leo retired, Ernest retired, Ned Nash departed for greener pastures and Stewart Orchids moved from Carpinteria to Mississippi, this wonderful orchid legacy business wound down and ceased operation. I still miss these two companies, both of which were all that a real orchid nursery should be. Now Ernest is fortunately still alive at 99 not out. He wrote copiously and it is a tragedy that loss of sight meant that he could not write his much-awaited treatise on the Cattleya Alliance. We will not see his like again I fear.

[richardb]

Absolutely wonderful that Mr Cym is taking time to commit so much knowledge to posterity. There are several names in this latest piece which I know well from my readings (Ned Nash, Ernest Hetherington).
Keep it up, Mr Cym. It is all fascinating.

[MrCym]

Richard, you would have loved Ben Bracey! Very English. Leo told the story how he would say "Hello" every morning when he arrived at work only to get no response. Finally he exploded and told Ben's brother, Sydney Bracey that his brother was a rude SOB. Bracey tended to look down on the Mexican help. Sydney must have read the riot act to his brother because next morning when Leo said "Good morning", Bracey politely responded. In time Bracey realized that Leo was a very smart orchidist. In fact he was more than Bracey's equal, similarly talented and a wonderful human being to boot. As did Alexander, Bracey expected every worker to arrive at work with polished shoes each morning! Those were the days.

[Gary S]

Andy, your knowledge of all things with anything to do with orchids is amazing - keep up the short stories from the past as we can all learn a lot from your writings.

[MrCym]

I'm doing it now before dementia grabs me! Hell, if I get dementia I may think Stephen Thomas is sane.........

[Rodrigo]

MrCym,

A very entertaining piece of Orchid history! Thanks

... Ably aided by his late wife Elsie, Ernest produced fabulous catalogs too, a literal mine of information for hobbyists and enthusiastic hybridizers alike. ...

I wonder is this material still exists and if it could be perpetuated in a digitized form for posterity?

Regards,

[Gary S]

I keep telling Mr Cym he should write a book on all things orchids.

[MrCym]

Books are not the thing anymore. But as real keen orchidists know, old orchid catalogs are gold.

[Gary S]

OK, put together an E book on old orchid catalogues - you must have plenty of them in your cupboards.

[WhittierOne]

Andy, I came across your article while researching the closure of Stewarts and thought I’d add a few things.

I worked at Stewarts from March of ’75 through July of ’81 (first job out of college). I spent most of my time at the San Gabriel (SG) facility, with a bit over a year (06/76 – 07/77) at their cut-flower operation in Santa Barbara (mostly cyms, with some phals and japhet-type catts). Stewart’s acquisition of A&R is what brought me back to L.A. to take over the retail store A&R had established in Culver City to serve their westside L.A. customers after the move to Carpinteria. I think the original A&R location near Olympic and Bundy was still open at the time, but in the last stages of winding down. (The company started there in 1908 when West L.A. was literally out “in the country.”) One of the “internal rumors” was that a mum grower was interested in the Carpinteria property, and the thought of that was one more impetus for Ernest and Bill to pursue the purchase.

I’m pretty sure Leo and Ernest worked together at A&R in the pre-War years (that would be WWII for the younger set), and A&R was the training ground for many others of that generation who went on to fame (even if not necessarily fortune) in the orchid world. I believe it was Ernest who told me the SG property was originally a chrysanthemum nursery and Fred Stewart leased one of the “back greenhouses” to get started. Their first “cash register” was a cigar box. The company eventually acquired the whole corner at Las Tunas and Burton.

I wasn’t aware Bill had been adopted. I’m pretty sure I heard of another son of Fred’s (whose name I don’t remember if I had ever heard it). I think he lived in Texas at the time and I got the impression he wasn’t involved with the orchid business for various reasons (seemingly of a family “political” nature).

Paul Jones was the Asst. Gen. Mgr. at SG and ran the day-to-day operations. He was very thorough and consistent in the way he trained us to work with customers. Many of my contemporaries were still in college (mostly horticulture students at Cal Poly Pomona) and working there part-time, or recent graduates like myself. Paul's “side job” was trying to marry all of us off. He even jokingly (I think; at least I certainly hoped so at the time) offered to set me up with Michael Stewart, since marrying the boss’ daughter would be a “good thing.” The closest I got to being involved with Michael and a wedding was helping place some blooming plants of Cym. Rosemary Upton ‘Amarillo” at the reception site for her wedding in the late spring of ‘77.

I got to interact with Bill Stewart a little bit. Paul Jones had a similar assessment to yours of Bill’s “aptitude” for the orchid business. Paul said words to the effect that Bill used to work at a think tank where they’d sit around all day and think and dream up ideas. Bill would come up with 10 ideas for the nursery, and Paul and Ernest would have to try to talk him out of at least 9 of them. But every now and then, “he had a good one.”

One of my most vivid memories (literally) was the day (1976?) that Rex Van Delden, the lab director, brought in his plant of Paph. callosum ‘Sparkling Burgundy.' You could have mopped the floor of the whole nursery with the drool from those of us gazing upon it. As I recall, he said it was a “stinky” grower, and he almost lost it more than once. He was teaching Joann Brown to take over the paph. and phal. hybridizing (he was retiring soon) and they remade Paph. Maudiae using ‘Sparkling Burgundy.’ They put the unbloomed seedlings in a subsequent catalog and I think I bought a 3” pot for $15.00. That was before they started blooming out. Then, Joann took the first bright shiny red one in to show Ernest. “WHAT is THAT?” he said. When she told him, the cross was suddenly “sold out”, and they flowered out the rest and sold them as “select” varieties (for much more than $15). Mine turned out pretty good, but alas, I no longer have it. Now you can get blooming ‘coloratum’ paphs at Trader Joe’s for $20.

Well, thanks for the memory jogger. Good times working with many good people.