Grower Spotlight: Claire Garrett —Some of My Best Friends Are Orchids
Claire Garrett with a Merititous Culture award from the Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society for her rare Aganisia cyanea orchid
How Claire started growing orchids
“My veterinarian moved to Seattle and wanted to give me some of her warm growing orchids that would not thrive there. Although I told her I was not into growing orchids, one day on her way out of town, she dropped off several in front of my door when I was at work, so I felt obligated to try to keep them alive. Then a friend at work kept giving me divisions and encouraging me to join him at meetings of the Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society, where I learned the skills necessary to become a good grower. Once I began submitting my orchids for judging and brought home ribbons, trophies and AOS awards, I was hooked on the hobby of orchid growing.”
Claire’s relationship with orchids
“Some of my best friends are orchids.”
The orchid behind the art
“Besides Aganisia cyanea’s incredible beauty and rare bluish coloration, the setting in which I first laid eyes on this orchid species growing in the wild will forever be fixed in my memory. It was during an Orchid Conservation Alliance tour onboard the riverboat Otter on the Rio Negro river in the Brazilian Amazon that we went ashore in a remote part of the Jau National Park. That is where we observed these rare orchids growing on trees and also in leaf litter on the spongy ground. I was fortunate to acquire two of these orchids from a Brazilian nursery, and when they bloom for me, it takes me back to that quiet special place in the rainforest.”
What is something that growing orchids has taught you?
Orchids have opened up a window on the world to me, giving me a reason and a purpose to travel to remote places like the Amazon, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand to observe them growing in their natural habitat. The bonus of these international orchid tours is that it opens my eyes to other people and cultures that I would not otherwise have experienced.
A daily ritual
“Every morning at first light I rush outside to visit with my orchids and see what new surprise they have for me.”
What did you learn about orchids the hard way?
“Cool growing orchids do not thrive in South Florida. I save the name tags of all the orchids that did not survive for me here.”
How do you see beauty differently now?
“Over the years, I have developed a greater knowledge of the immense diversity of orchids, and have enjoyed trying to grow some of the less common orchid genera and species that do not look like “typical” orchids.”
Claire Garrett has been a Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society member since 2011, and has received several awards from the American Orchid Society. She has been published in American Orchid Society magazine which focused on fragrant orchids.
