Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 30, 1993 TAG: 9304300056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Except when I was a graduate student in art, I have not had such a passion," said the retired university professor, making his debut at the Blue Ridge Orchid Show and Sale.
"It's frightening," he said. "This is as far as I've been in years."
Lowder retired to a Pulaski County farm 10 years ago and said he usually left it only once a month to get his hair cut.
Now he has a state tax number and freshly printed catalogs for his month-old Dowery Orchid Nursery.
Orchids are the sirens of the plant world, to hear Lowder talk. They hook a person with the beauty of their flowers and then the person is driven to create a still more perfect bloom, to be the maker of a hybrid.
Lowder views orchid-growing as an art. He said he started the business only to support his habit, which has grown to three greenhouses holding about 30,000 plants, counting seedlings.
The nursery takes its name from Vinnie's Dowry, the 55-acre Allisonia farm that he owns with a partner. Lowder also grows Dorset sheep, which are breeding stock, but said that business, too, is more hobby than profit.
The show that opened Thursday and continues through Saturday at Valley View Mall in Roanoke attracted a variety of participants. They ranged from pure hobbyists like Norfolk Southern Corp. clerk Jerry Kasey to Rick Hood, from Owens Orchids of Pisgah Forest, N.C.
Kasey, who is show co-chairman, has grown orchids for 25 years. He specializes in miniature orchids, some as small as a half-inch tall, he said.
Hood said he sells and shows Owens plants at a dozen shows a year.
Owens Orchids, which is 32 years old, ships all over the world and runs growing operations in Holland and Hawaii. It also runs distribution routes from Atlanta to Washington and inland to Nashville and Cincinnati.
The greatest demand in orchids is for blooming plants, because orchids grown from seed can take from four to eight years to bloom, the growers said.
Retail prices are based on plant age, but seedlings generally can be bought for from $3 to $10 and blooming-size plants from $20 to $50. Prices for some plants at the show were slightly lower.
The show features many exotic species but also is heavy on phalaenopsis, which "likes home temperatures," said Kasey.
Judging was completed Thursday, winning exhibits are marked with ribbons. The show and sale area is in the lower mall corridor.
by CNB