On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 01:50:00 GMT, "J Fortuna"
wrote:

What do you think? I think it's been a while since we have all introduced
ourselves to each other here on rgo.

Dave Gillingham - male - age 62

I started growing orchids living in Townsville (tropical Queensland,
Australia) in my early teens. My collecting was probably prompted by
an older good friend who had also started collecting. In those days,
& at that age, all I could afford was whatever I was able to collect,
swap, or be given through the kindness of older members of the
Townsville Orchid Society. That probably started my abiding interest
in native dendrobes.

I am much clearer on why I *continued* to collect orchids: There was
this girl across the road from my home who also decided to be
interested in them. Assisting her to expand her collection (ie me
scouring the local bush for plants for her collection) was good for
lots of brownie points. Unfortunately, around about the time there
were no new types to collect, a sort of friend of mine became an
apprentice carpenter. He decided it would be a good idea to build her
a shade house with scrap material from his worksites. My brownie
total faded rapidly into insignificance :-(

Family moved south to Brisbane - most of the collection died in the
back of a removal van in the midst of a Queensland summer.
University, work, marriage, kids (3 lovely girls) etc, and, while the
interest remained, the commitment faded. The only plant I still have
from those days is a D. discolor I posted recently on abpo.

After retiring, one of my projects was to construct a rainforest area
beside a gully running through our property. One daughter, knowing of
my interest in orchids, gave me four intending that they be tied to
trees in the rainforest.

It seemed wrong to do that, so I bought a weldmesh shelf, mounted it
on star pickets by the edge of the rainforest with an easterly aspect,
& put the plants there.

Well, there was spare space on the shelf, wasn't there? So I bought a
couple more. Or so. Then I bought another shelf to take the
overflow. Spare space - more plants - overflow - third 2.4 metre
shelf - overflow - replace three 2.4 m x 450 mm (ie 8' x 18") shelves
with three 2.4 m x 600 mm shelves - more plants - new shelf currently
required to help with about 200 plants.

In my current incarnation I've been growing for about two years. I've
joined the local branch of the Australasian Native Orchid Society,
where I feel to be the least knowledgeable of members.
Accomplishments? Not sure there are any of note - I just love growing
them & seeing them thrive.

I think my saga has sort of covered most of Joanna's topics. In a
way, I now have too many plants. With the small collection of my
teens, every plant was an individual. A new root was a matter for
joy, & was monitored closely. A new shoot was cause for celebration -
and for devastation if anything happened to it. Flower spike? Break
out the champagne - weeelll, at that stage, the Coca Cola & celebrate
with the girl across the road. I certainly wouldn't part with any of
my collection, but I do miss those days when I derived such joy from
the performance of individual plants that were almost part of the
family. None ever wore sunglasses though, Reka!
Dave Gillingham
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