This is basically a marginally edited version of my post last year. Not much
change since then.

Dave Gillingham - male - age 63

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 (beloved wife & 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
collected from Magnetic Island. (In those days there was no concern about
collecting, and we only ever took one or two plants). Its descendant bulbs are
now growing on a bloodwood in our yard.

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. (That was last
year. It's now four 2.4 m x 600 mm shelves, with one of the old ones pressed
back into service as well, and nearly 300 plants.

In my current incarnation I've been growing for about three 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.

My collection now is at least 10 times the size of the one from my youth, so the
outlook has changed. Some of the "specialness" has disappeared. 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 there was such joy in the performance of individual plants
that were almost part of the family. But they're still fun.

Other interests? Quite a few. I never grew out of the little boy who raced out
into the yard whenever a plane flew over. Airshow photography is a keen
interest, & I learned to fly after retiring. Wish I could afford to do it more.
Dave Gillingham
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