Flowering obsession
Hundreds of orchid enthusiasts visit weekend show and sale
CAMBRIDGE — Nancy Fieder happily owns her orchid obsession.
“I’m sure not everybody in the world loves orchids,” said the president of the Central Ontario Orchid Society on Sunday afternoon as group’s 32nd annual orchid show and sale wound down at Hespeler Arena’s Beehive Hall.
“But it’s very easy to become addicted to them.”
Fieder, with about 60 orchids in her home and greenhouse, is surely smitten. The Puslinch woman adorns her windows with their tropical elegance and delicate charm.
“If you want to decorate your room with plants, there’s a huge variety to choose from,” she explained. “They’re pretty. They’re attractive. They’re different. Some are quite tall. Some are tiny, tiny. They’re really fascinating plants.”
So, how many years has she been intensely enamoured with collection and admiring one of the largest families of flowering plants — with 26,000 species — in the world? “Probably 10,” she admitted. A decade ago, she was given an orchid. Then she saw an ad for the Hespeler Arena orchid show which she now organizes the food and refreshments for. So she went to her first show. The many shades of pink, purple, brown, yellow and green dazzled her.
“And I was just absolutely astounded, just astounded by the colours and the sizes,” she recalled. “I think I ended up buying four or five of them at the show that year.”
This year, she bought four new ones at a show featuring 15 exhibitors and eight orchid vendors. Lots of orchids were sold over Saturday and Sunday. About 600 orchid enthusiasts attended over the weekend, she estimated.
Fieder never once thought of leaving the orchid show emptyhanded. It’s unthinkable. “I will always have new ones,” she said.
The Society covers Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph. It’s a local nonprofit organization of orchid lovers. The annual show and sale helps the 48-member group break even.
And the weekend heat wave may have actually helped drive people into the arena for the annual orchid extravaganza, Fieder figures.
“They came in this weekend to get cool because it’s so hot out.”