“My awareness of orchids dates back to my wife growing cattleyas and local orchids,” shares orchid enthusiast Henry Reid. “We’d also on weekends go into the woods, pick them from the trees, take them home and replant them… Cattleyas, I would soon discover, are pretty much like local orchids because they can grow on bark and wood…”

Reid confides to the Style Observer (SO) that he’s always been a keen gardener. “I love gardening and have always grown vegetables… I love fruit trees around the yard and have bananas, breadfruit, etc, at the back of the yard.”

His preoccupation and indeed shift to orchids, however, commenced in 2012 when he purchased a few plants from orchid expert Opal Wilson.

“I established one bed; it looked good. From there it moved to another, and yet another. Soon I was transforming the landscape adding a few palms here and there. The thing with orchids is that you have to select where you grow them. You have to consider the amount of sun they are exposed to, and there’s also the matter of proper drainage. Thankfully, I’m now semi-retired so I have the time to keep abreast of disease: Fungus and virus… insects might be eating them or laying eggs on them, so spraying becomes an imperative.

“I try not to spray too much [however]. So I don’t have a regime where I spray every two weeks, for example. That’s not me! What I do, instead, is examine the plants and see what requires attention. There’s one plant, for example, whose buds tell me that insects are getting on the petals so I need to spray. But it’s not good to have all of this poison in the atmosphere or in the grounds for that matter. This is my approach”.

There’s more to learn, like preventing disease after heavy rains.

“You have to go and look now for nodes (nodes are important when it comes to fighting off bacteria) or fungus on the plants,” Reid informs. “Once you get to it early, you can just isolate that plant and treat it. We had occasion once, where one in three beds was heavily infected, and so we had to take them all out and sanitise by cutting off the roots. It was very involved work. We pushed through, however, and recovered real quickly and thankfully, didn’t lose much. So that’s it! It’s been a pretty successful journey in what we have achieved as well as the constant improvement made. I like to drive in and see them. They greet you, you are home and you will have to have a very good reason to go back out.”

It’s difficult for SO to leave the tranquil setting where water features add additional Zen. The Reids are, it’s fair to deduce, on constant orchid duty.

“My wife repots every year,” Henry continues. “For the beds, every three years or so, we will either cut them back or remove the medium before repotting. It’s very involved work but I enjoy [it] because I am able to dedicate the requisite time.”

The garden features a wide variety of orchids but the Sun Vandas are, we are told, easier to grow. “If you pay attention to them, you won’t be burdened with any heavy disease infestation. Plus, I find that there’s a lot of available information. The best source of information for me is from the Jamaica Orchid Society. I’m not a member, but I have access to people who are, and who have been growing orchids and know them. I also have access to expert advice from H&L Agro. If I have a problem I can take a picture and take it to them and they’ll tell me what’s wrong and give me something to resolve the issue.”

When pressed to divulge his favourite, Reid confesses that it’s the Cattleya ostensibly because it’s the one “I know most about… and they’re very delicate, the blossoms are delicate and colourful”.

Asked about any significant challenges to caring for his orchids, his response is as thoughtful as his care of his blooms. “I wasn’t impatient with them… you allow them to grow. Some of them take time and you have to exercise due care and do right by them. They are not going to do things for you just so, unless you do things for them. So you have to feed them properly, make sure they get enough water or enough sunlight or whatever it is.”

With those profound words came the end to a blissful morning spent in orchid heaven.