js has been been growing and collecting orchids since 1973, when he first fell in

jen by desire

for orchids is an addiction

of

ol-

said the lessons they offer about the
natural world make the obsession
valuable as well.

“T call it my benign addiction,”
said Shields, who has been growing
orchids for 22 years.

“IT call it benign because it is
highly educational, it’s very inter-
esting, it’s not physically or psycho-
logically addictive in any way."

Orchids are the largest flower-
ing plant family in the world, with
over 30,000 species, and more than
70,000 hybrids or cultivars. They
grow on every continent except for
Antarctica, and thrive in almost any
habitat, from deserts to swamps,
underground or in trees, and ac-
cording to Shields an average of
100 new species of orchid are dis-
covered each year.

But Shields pointed out that
while this vast family of plants have
a great deal they can teach people,

they are also simply gorgeous to
behold.

"Orchid flowers are spectacularly
beautiful,” Shields said.

“They are symmetrical, and they
come in an incredible variety of co-
lours."

Diana Walker, educator for the
Master Gardeners Association of
B.C., said if people spend time with
plants, especially beautiful ones, it’s
easy to fall in love with caring for
them.

Walker said that getting to know
orchids can reveal the complexity
of the underground world of fungi
that collaborate with the flowers
in a symbiotic relationship that
nourishes both organisms, but said
it was important to champion any
plant that made people passionate
about nature.

“We need so many more people
in horticulture,” Walker said.

Wayne Rigg's homemade greenhouse attaches to the side of his residence, and
gives shelter to some of the 300+ orchids in his collection.

Orchids
speak
for their
habitat

Invisible
environmental
changes can
have visible ef-
fects on orchids

ue to their extreme sen-
sitivity, orchids can serve
as an indicator of how

healthy their surrounding environ-
ments are.

Tom Shields, an orchid conser-
vationist and member of the Ca-
nadian Orchid Congress, said there
is a direct correlation between the
orchid population and the health of
the environment.

“(Orchids are] very much consid-
ered the plant equivalent of the ca-
nary in the coal mine,” said Shields.

“If orchids in a habitat are in
trouble, it’s likely that the entire
habitat is in trouble."

‘There are 40 orchid species na-
tive to B.C., including the threat-
ened phantom orchid, found in the
southern parts of the province.

Master gardener Brian Minter
said observing how orchid colonies
respond to changes in their native
habitat sends very clear messages
about how those changes will af-
fect the larger environment in the
longer term.

"Are they increasing in terms of
numbers, are they decreasing or are
they fairly stabler” Minter said.

“That's the indicator whether the
environment is suitable for them.”

Minter said that although aver-
age temperatures in British Colum-
bia have been increasing, it doesn't
appear to be a problem for native
species of orchids growing in the
Lower Mainland.

Wayne Riggs holds up one of his award-winning orchids. This particular plant is known as an epiphyte, meaning it grows

on another plant -- in this case, the bark of a tree.