Friday, March 11, 2005 | 3:57 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
March 12 - 13, 2005
Those who love orchids speak of the plants in terms of addiction.
"I am a new addict," said Dr. Anna Contomitros in partial seriousness. "I plan no recovery. I wish to further my addiction with people who love similar beautiful things."
Contomitros addressed the Greater Las Vegas Orchid Society with other new members and guests at its most recent meeting. She is a cancer surgeon newly arrived in Las Vegas from Greece. She said a friend gave her an orchid almost three months ago.
"That was it. My house has no more room," she said to the knowing laughs of the crowd.
About 50 society members met Sunday in the garden club building at Lorenzi Park. They meet once a month to catch up, talk and show orchids, hear a guest speaker, and end with dinner.
Society President Carol Siegel presides over the meetings with a comic host's flair. She calls them "dinner and a show."
Siegel is also addicted to orchids, of course. She grows 500 of the plants under lights in her garage.
"There are some people who believe that there must be some sort of opiate or something in them," she said of the plant's appeal. "I don't think it's true."
Siegel said it is true that growing orchids is a great pleasure and not at all impossible in the desert. Some people grow orchids in their bathtubs, others in garages or all through their home.
"Las Vegas is a very challenging environment because our air is very dry, our water is as hard as a rock, our temperatures are sizzling hot," she said.
She recommended treating an orchid as you like to be treated.
"Usually any environment that you like, your orchids will like as well," Siegel said. "They're very human like that."
The guest speaker at Sunday's meeting was Jerry Fischer of Orchids Limited in Minnesota, another challenging environment. He spoke about the orchids of Borneo.
Fischer's slide show was both botany lesson and travelogue. He told of rope bridges, Mafia leaders, pirates and vipers in the dank jungle. "You burn your clothes at the end of these trips," he said.
The photos that most impressed the crowd were of large and beautiful blooming orchids of various colors and designs.
Fischer is an orchid grower and art school graduate. He first saw orchids while working at a greenhouse and couldn't take his eyes off of them, he said.
"They're like living works of art," he said. "That was it."
Fischer said there are 37,000 known species of natural orchids and another 125,000 species of hybrids. Some flowers measure several feet in length, he said, and plants have been known to live more than 1,200 years. The rarest plants can sell for more than $10,000.
And orchids are hardly exclusive to the rainforest. At least a dozen orchid varieties are found in Nevada, mainly in microclimates among springs and mountains, Siegel said.
"People regard orchids as rare and exotic, but they are not," she said.
Orchids lined the walls at the society's meeting. They were striped and speckled in a wide palette and shaped like spiders, tongues, violins, dragons' heads and stars. They lent a perfume to the air.
Among the blooms was a comely hybrid cultivated by Dr. Fred Schechter, a thoracic surgeon. Schechter is a large man. In his boots and jeans he would have looked as appropriate on a motorcycle as at the flower meeting.
Schechter said he fell for orchids years ago upon walking into a greenhouse in New Jersey.
"They're exotic and rare. And up until recently there's always been an air of grandiosity," he said. "There's also a sexuality to it. The fragrances are like an aphrodisiac."
Schechter said he and others are also attracted to the science and challenge of growing orchids. There is an intellectual appeal to the cultivation, he said.
"I've collected stamps. I'm an artist. Nothing's as obsessive as orchids," Schechter said.
Third grade teacher Diana Smith started growing orchids 20 years ago. Seeing a greenhouse full of orchids, she said, "was like a religious experience. It's very hard to explain."
She loves orchids for the same reasons as many of the other members. She also had one more reason for joining the club.
"The club is fantastic," Smith said. "It's the friendliest group of people that I've ever been associated with."
A year membership in the Greater Las Vegas Orchid Society costs $25 each or $35 per couple. The society will next meet April 3 and will participate in flower shows before then.
For more information, call Siegel at 254-4168 or e-mail her at [email protected].
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