Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 25, 1993 TAG: 9307230102
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ALLISONIA LENGTH: Long
Dwayne Lowder fell in love.
It started with a phalaenopsis. It cost $2.50.
The retired art professor remembers how he put the little Asian orchid in his greenhouse:
"The following spring it bloomed," Lowder said. "I thought, `This is kind of wonderful.' I thought, `Well, we might just as well try a little more.' "
The Pulaski County farmer's story unfolds bit by bit, like some painful personal history told to a support group:
"It became an uncontrollable passion," he said. "I think I've got control of it now."
Sultans may have said the same thing once about their harems.
In any case, on touring the North Carolina native's Dowery Orchid Nursery, in a spectacularly peaceful corner of Pulaski County, "moderation" is not the word that comes to mind.
Consider the stark fact there are currently some 30,000 orchids, including seedlings, at Lowder's farm.
Consider the oil-burning furnace that warms them in the winter. The dual fans. The special cloth that diffuses light through the interconnected greenhouses - simulating sunlight through a jungle canopy.
Consider, though it strains credulity, the two hours Lowder spends every day in his three steamy greenhouses, spraying a fine, rain-forest mist on the orchids, one by one.
He also sprays water on the gravel walkways occasionally, so evaporation will help sustain the greenhouse humidity at a steady 60 percent.
An orchid needs 60 percent humidity to be happy.
Lowder, as you might guess, has happy orchids.
A case in point: Most orchids bloom approximately once a year. Very well-adjusted orchids bloom two or three times a year.
Lowder has one delirious phalaenopsis that has been in continuous bloom now for a year and a half.
Orchids may be finicky, but they're hardly rare.
Between 15,000-28,000 species of wild orchids grow throughout the world, experts say.
Many orchids are found in tropical and subtropical climates - the South American rain forest, say, or Madagascar. But others exist in cool damp woodlands, and in swamps.
Orchids even grow in the United States and in Britain, the World Book Encyclopedia says.
Different orchid species have highly specialized blossoms, designed to entice the particular kind of insect upon which the plant depends for cross-pollination.
It was this trait, in part, that conquered Lowder.
"I think it has something to do with the uniqueness - the structure of the plant and the flower," he said, describing the plant's appeal. "There is something of a sculptural quality about it. It comes as close to being a work of art as anything in nature can do."
Lowder also is interested in preserving threatened orchid species in the face of the destruction of their primary habitat, the rain forest.
"It seems increasingly important to continue to propagate them in our environment," he said.
He has some 500 to 600 species of orchids. At a recent Blue Ridge Orchid Society show Lowder's nursery took ribbons for best in show, best in class and best exhibit, among others.
When Lowder, a retired Western Michigan University art professor, moved to a 55-acre Pulaski County farm a decade ago, orchid-raising was not on his mind.
Lowder bought the scenic farm along Big Reed Island Creek known as Vinnie's Dowery in partnership with a former Michigan dentist, Gifford Pletcher.
Together, the two initially set out to raise Dorset sheep.
Lowder also built a studio, where he produced various artworks, including sculpture and stained glass.
Then came the phalaenopsis.
And then. . .
Lowder's day begins at 4:30 a.m.
He is in business - more or less. It is in the pre-dawn hours that he answers letters from orchid lovers scattered around the world, inquiring about his grammataphyllums or dendrobiums.
Lowder himself has imported orchids from China, Brazil, the Philippines and Indonesia.
It is, he said, part of the appeal.
"I don't travel. I hate travel. That may be another reason for this. It's a way of creating romance without having to go anywhere to do it," Lowder said.
Most of his plants range in cost from $8 to $18, although one of Lowder's flowers - a paphiopedilum, or "slipper orchid" - when mature can carry the price tag of a modest European vacation.
His nursery may or may not make money. Lowder isn't sure, and refuses to keep track.
"I can't say I`m particularly high on the business of orchid selling," Lowder said. "Obviously you have to do some selling to support the business of buying.
"I certainly don't want to become large scale," said Lowder, his 30,000 orchids notwithstanding.
"It would scare the hell out of me," he said.
by CNB