The following information was written by OrchidBoard user estacion seca from a talk by Mr. Tam at the DVOS September meeting. None of the information was written by me, I'm just passing it on. - CambriaWhat
Paphiopedilums the Huntington Way
Brandon Tam - Huntington Botanical Gardens
Presented to the Desert Valley Orchid Society September 21, 2017
Originally posted at http://www.orchidboard.com/communit...brandon-tam-huntington-dvos-2017-09-21-a.html by estacion seca
Brandon Tam is the orchid curator at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, part of metro Los Angeles. He gave some of the history of orchids at the Huntington, and spoke on how he grows Paphiopedilums. He also mentioned Phragmipedium, and, briefly, Mexipedium and Selenipedium.
Most of what I write below is directly from Brandon. [I have added a few things] to the history he gave, because his talk was focused on Paphs, and not the history of the Huntington. I have presented the material mostly in the same chronological order Brandon used, but have moved a few things around for greater clarity. Any mistakes will be mine.
History of the Huntington and its orchids
The Huntington is the former estate of Henry and Arabella Huntington. They were members of a family that established railroads in southern California during the initial expansion of Los Angeles. The Huntington has the 5th largest endowment of museums in the US. Arabella was an orchid fancier, among other flowers.
Arabella was first married to railroad magnate Collis Huntington. [She had great taste in art, and collected old masters, medieval and Renaissance works, and French decorative arts.]
After his death she married Collis' nephew Henry, who was also a railroad entrepreneur. Henry collected old manuscripts, including a Gutenberg bible and a first edition of the collected works of Shakespeare. [When he began building his estate in San Marino, the first building was the library. It is still there on the grounds.]
[Henry was fascinated by plants. He established world-class collections of cacti, palms and succulents, which are still on display.] The glass conservatory now on the grounds has the exact footprint of their tropical lath house.
They both loved art, and collected extensively. Henry especially enjoyed English portraitists, and the art collection is rich in oil paintings from this period.
Arabella wore only mourning clothes after the death of her first husband. She established an orchid collection, but only wanted white flowers. Her collection grew to some 20,000 plants. Her favorite flowers, though, were her roses.
Arabella died in 1924. [Henry purchased some of Arabella's art after her death; many other works passed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and others were auctioned. A few art works formerly in her possession are still in the Huntington's collection.]
Henry died in 1927. He left his estate in trust to establish the museum it is today. Arabella and Henry are buried in the mausoleum on the Huntington estate. The design of this mausoleum was the inspiration for the Jefferson Memorial in Wasington, DC.
The market crash of 1929 caused financial difficulties even for a museum with a huge endowment. Arabella's orchid collection was sold to a family in France. The Huntington had no orchids for some 50 years, but the remaining gardens have been world famous since their establishment.
The current director of the Huntington Botanical Gardens, Jim Folsom, got his PhD studying orchids. In 2000 he began rebuilding the orchid collection. Eight years ago he hired then-16-year-old Brandon Tam to become curator of a new orchid collection. In 2010 the Paphiopedilum collection of Robert Weltz of Montecito, California, was donated to the Huntington by Weltz' daughers after his death. Weltz was a master grower; among his achievements was a 100-point FCC for Paphiopedilum dollgoldi 'Laurie Susan Weltz'. Mr. Weltz kept extensive and detailed hand-written records on file cards on each plant, including people who had come to see the plant, and where he had sent pollen, and the judging history of each plant.
The Huntington collection now consists of 10,000+ orchids species and hybrid orchids, acquired through donation and purchase. Brandon's plants have earned more than 100 AOS awards in the last three years, including 5 FCC and three CCE. The Huntington received the 2015 AOS Merritt Huntington award for the Most Outstanding Orchid, Paphiopedilum micranthum 'Huntington’s Perfection' FCC/AOS.
Growing Paphiopedilums the Huntington way
[The photos Brandon showed of the Paphs are nothing short of amazing. The plants are enormous.] Brandon does not divide plants unless they fall apart. As a result, many plants are enormous, needing the full strength of 1 or 2 very strong people to lift. [He showed numerous photos of multiflorals with over a dozen bloom spikes and over 100 flowers per plant. He showed a volunteer holding a multifloral plant with leaves reaching almost to the ground; the plant span was at least equal to her height. Many of his multiflorals have leaves at least as long as those of the common California garden plant from South Africa, Agapanthus.]
The Huntington Paphiopedilum greenhouse is over 300 feet long (almost 100 meters) and about 30 feet wide. The floor is concrete. At one end is a wet wall, with exhaust fans on the other. Circulating fans on one long side of the greenhouse are pointed at the wet wall, and on the other long side pointed at the exhaust fans. This maintains constant air movement in the greenhouse.
The Paphs sit in pots on benches. Other kinds of orchids hang from the rafters over the Paph benches to provide shading. The Amorphophallus titanum collection is kept in large pots standing on the floor along the walkways. Their enormous umbrella leaves also provide shading for the Paphs. Brandon has planted some Chinese paphs in moss cusions on flat limestone rocks outdoors in the Chinese garden. They grow well there, and sometimes bloom before they are stolen by visitors.
There are overhead foggers throughout the greenhouse. These are computer controlled to maintain 60% relative humidity.
Temperature is computer controlled at 80 F / 26.5C maximum during the day and 68 F / 20C minimum at night. Cooler growing plants are placed closer to the wet wall, where it will substantially cooler than the rest of the house. Most of the year relative humidity at the Huntington is quite low, and evaporative cooling is very effective.
Misters run along the long sides of the greenhouse. They are on a timer to spray several times per day. Wet-loving plants like Phrags are under these misters.
The Huntington has 3 wells on the property. The well water has from 200-800 parts per million total dissolved solids. Brandon uses this water for the entire slipper orchid collection, including Phragmipedium. [I forgot to ask about Mexipedium.] He does not know what is the pH nor mineral composition of his well water. He does not use reverse osmosis water on the slipper orchids. Brandon recognizes the TDS in his water is far higher than usually recommended for slipper orchids. Most authorities recommend no more than 50 ppm TDS for slipper orchids, including fertilizer, but his plants clearly grow amazingly well. Volunteers regularly clean calcium deposits from pots and leaves.
City tap water was never used until the recent severe drought, when all three wells went dry, and they had to buy city water.
Paphiopedilums the Huntington Way
Brandon Tam - Huntington Botanical Gardens
Presented to the Desert Valley Orchid Society September 21, 2017
Originally posted at http://www.orchidboard.com/communit...brandon-tam-huntington-dvos-2017-09-21-a.html by estacion seca
Brandon Tam is the orchid curator at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, part of metro Los Angeles. He gave some of the history of orchids at the Huntington, and spoke on how he grows Paphiopedilums. He also mentioned Phragmipedium, and, briefly, Mexipedium and Selenipedium.
Most of what I write below is directly from Brandon. [I have added a few things] to the history he gave, because his talk was focused on Paphs, and not the history of the Huntington. I have presented the material mostly in the same chronological order Brandon used, but have moved a few things around for greater clarity. Any mistakes will be mine.
History of the Huntington and its orchids
The Huntington is the former estate of Henry and Arabella Huntington. They were members of a family that established railroads in southern California during the initial expansion of Los Angeles. The Huntington has the 5th largest endowment of museums in the US. Arabella was an orchid fancier, among other flowers.
Arabella was first married to railroad magnate Collis Huntington. [She had great taste in art, and collected old masters, medieval and Renaissance works, and French decorative arts.]
After his death she married Collis' nephew Henry, who was also a railroad entrepreneur. Henry collected old manuscripts, including a Gutenberg bible and a first edition of the collected works of Shakespeare. [When he began building his estate in San Marino, the first building was the library. It is still there on the grounds.]
[Henry was fascinated by plants. He established world-class collections of cacti, palms and succulents, which are still on display.] The glass conservatory now on the grounds has the exact footprint of their tropical lath house.
They both loved art, and collected extensively. Henry especially enjoyed English portraitists, and the art collection is rich in oil paintings from this period.
Arabella wore only mourning clothes after the death of her first husband. She established an orchid collection, but only wanted white flowers. Her collection grew to some 20,000 plants. Her favorite flowers, though, were her roses.
Arabella died in 1924. [Henry purchased some of Arabella's art after her death; many other works passed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and others were auctioned. A few art works formerly in her possession are still in the Huntington's collection.]
Henry died in 1927. He left his estate in trust to establish the museum it is today. Arabella and Henry are buried in the mausoleum on the Huntington estate. The design of this mausoleum was the inspiration for the Jefferson Memorial in Wasington, DC.
The market crash of 1929 caused financial difficulties even for a museum with a huge endowment. Arabella's orchid collection was sold to a family in France. The Huntington had no orchids for some 50 years, but the remaining gardens have been world famous since their establishment.
The current director of the Huntington Botanical Gardens, Jim Folsom, got his PhD studying orchids. In 2000 he began rebuilding the orchid collection. Eight years ago he hired then-16-year-old Brandon Tam to become curator of a new orchid collection. In 2010 the Paphiopedilum collection of Robert Weltz of Montecito, California, was donated to the Huntington by Weltz' daughers after his death. Weltz was a master grower; among his achievements was a 100-point FCC for Paphiopedilum dollgoldi 'Laurie Susan Weltz'. Mr. Weltz kept extensive and detailed hand-written records on file cards on each plant, including people who had come to see the plant, and where he had sent pollen, and the judging history of each plant.
The Huntington collection now consists of 10,000+ orchids species and hybrid orchids, acquired through donation and purchase. Brandon's plants have earned more than 100 AOS awards in the last three years, including 5 FCC and three CCE. The Huntington received the 2015 AOS Merritt Huntington award for the Most Outstanding Orchid, Paphiopedilum micranthum 'Huntington’s Perfection' FCC/AOS.
Growing Paphiopedilums the Huntington way
[The photos Brandon showed of the Paphs are nothing short of amazing. The plants are enormous.] Brandon does not divide plants unless they fall apart. As a result, many plants are enormous, needing the full strength of 1 or 2 very strong people to lift. [He showed numerous photos of multiflorals with over a dozen bloom spikes and over 100 flowers per plant. He showed a volunteer holding a multifloral plant with leaves reaching almost to the ground; the plant span was at least equal to her height. Many of his multiflorals have leaves at least as long as those of the common California garden plant from South Africa, Agapanthus.]
The Huntington Paphiopedilum greenhouse is over 300 feet long (almost 100 meters) and about 30 feet wide. The floor is concrete. At one end is a wet wall, with exhaust fans on the other. Circulating fans on one long side of the greenhouse are pointed at the wet wall, and on the other long side pointed at the exhaust fans. This maintains constant air movement in the greenhouse.
The Paphs sit in pots on benches. Other kinds of orchids hang from the rafters over the Paph benches to provide shading. The Amorphophallus titanum collection is kept in large pots standing on the floor along the walkways. Their enormous umbrella leaves also provide shading for the Paphs. Brandon has planted some Chinese paphs in moss cusions on flat limestone rocks outdoors in the Chinese garden. They grow well there, and sometimes bloom before they are stolen by visitors.
There are overhead foggers throughout the greenhouse. These are computer controlled to maintain 60% relative humidity.
Temperature is computer controlled at 80 F / 26.5C maximum during the day and 68 F / 20C minimum at night. Cooler growing plants are placed closer to the wet wall, where it will substantially cooler than the rest of the house. Most of the year relative humidity at the Huntington is quite low, and evaporative cooling is very effective.
Misters run along the long sides of the greenhouse. They are on a timer to spray several times per day. Wet-loving plants like Phrags are under these misters.
The Huntington has 3 wells on the property. The well water has from 200-800 parts per million total dissolved solids. Brandon uses this water for the entire slipper orchid collection, including Phragmipedium. [I forgot to ask about Mexipedium.] He does not know what is the pH nor mineral composition of his well water. He does not use reverse osmosis water on the slipper orchids. Brandon recognizes the TDS in his water is far higher than usually recommended for slipper orchids. Most authorities recommend no more than 50 ppm TDS for slipper orchids, including fertilizer, but his plants clearly grow amazingly well. Volunteers regularly clean calcium deposits from pots and leaves.
City tap water was never used until the recent severe drought, when all three wells went dry, and they had to buy city water.
