Trip to Chadwick & Son - Page 2 - Orchid Board

Leafmite · #11 06-06-2020, 12:28 AM

They should have a facebook and website and probably on these, you can find a contact for the Orchid Society. Orchid Societies are non-profit organizations that exist to educate and help so they usually allow you to attend a few meetings without joining. They might be having Zoom meetings (our society is). Go ahead and contact them.

JScott · #12 06-06-2020, 12:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leafmite

They should have a facebook and website and probably on these, you can find a contact for the Orchid Society. Orchid Societies are non-profit organizations that exist to educate and help so they usually allow you to attend a few meetings without joining. They might be having Zoom meetings (our society is). Go ahead and contact them.

I did send a message through the contact form on their website and introduced myself and said I might be interested in attending meetings once they start up again, and such, so I'll probably hear from somebody soon.

Subrosa · #13 06-06-2020, 07:11 AM

I'd be totally down for that road trip, but I'd need to get some rest after the drive from PA to TX!

JScott · #14 06-06-2020, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Subrosa

I'd be totally down for that road trip, but I'd need to get some rest after the drive from PA to TX!

LOL, well you are certainly welcome to recuperate here at my house for a day or two before we set out for Richmond. What is the drive from you to me? About 24 hours? Are you one of those people who can drive straight through without stopping? I cannot if I'm alone. If I had a friend, we could take turns driving and sleeping and make the drive straight through without stopping except for gas and food, but if I go alone, I'll probably drive 10 hours the first day, stop at a hotel, and drive 10 hours the second day. That adds up to quite a few days, which is fine for me because I'm a teacher on summer break. A lot of people wouldn't be able to take off that much work (which is one of the reasons I'm having a hard finding somebody to go with me). I'd rather not go alone, but if I end up with no other choice, I think a solo road trip might be a fun, relaxing experience. I could do whatever I want without having to worry about anybody else.

JScott · #15 06-06-2020, 11:15 PM

I think I've decided I'm just going to go for it myself. It might be fun and relaxing to take a solo road trip. I get back from Cancun on July 19. I go back to school on AUgust 5 for professional development before the students start later in the month. So I think I've decided that I'll leave for Richmond on July 24th.

That is a Friday. I'll drive ten hours a day for two days and arrive in Richmond on the evening of Saturday the 26, unless I find some things along the way I want to stop and see, in which case I will arrive later. If I arrive on the 26th, I'll take Sunday to relax and get to know the city a little, and then go visit Art on Monday the 27th. I might spend two days at the nursery. I want to see the retail store, and I also want a guided tour of the production greenhouses.

Once I've seen everything there is to see, I want to come back the next day and make my final purchases after I've had a night to sleep on it and think about what I really want and what i can really afford/accommodate (I'll be drawn to huge standard sized Catts, but I am limited in space, so I'd better not buy more than one or two of those haha). Then I guess I'll head back on Wednesday the 29th, once again driving ten hour one day and ten hours the next, and arrive home on the 31st, and still have a few days to relax before I go back to work for the fall semester, which is going to be crazy with all this Covid stuff going on. I don't know how they are going to handle that. But it is really starting to seem like a really cool, unique, memorable thing to do. I can't wait.

estación seca · #16 06-07-2020, 08:06 PM

You can rent refrigerated trailers.

My Green Pets · #17 06-07-2020, 10:10 PM

Carter and Holmes in Newberry, South Carolina would be worth a stop. And Orchid Trail in North Carolina.

SouthPark · #18 06-07-2020, 10:36 PM

That's awesome JS. Great to hear you're really doing the trip soon. This sounds like one of the best trips I've ever heard of.

Leafmite · #19 06-07-2020, 10:40 PM

Have a fun trip! Do let us know how it all goes afterwards and let us see what all you bought!

JScott · #20 06-08-2020, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

Carter and Holmes in Newberry, South Carolina would be worth a stop. And Orchid Trail in North Carolina.

Both of those places are almost exactly on the way to Richmond. That would only add an hour and 21 minutes to my driving time. Of course I'd have to take time to stop and look and shop, so two more stops might extend the total trip by a couple days or so, but that's fine. I have time. Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely add those to my itinerary. If anybody else thinks of something that is at least sort of on the way, let me know. Thanks!

---------- Post added at 08:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:42 AM ----------

And you want to know a funny thing? I've always wanted to visit Chadwick and Son because it looks like such a great nursery, but it's so far away, and I don't have any business in Richmond, so I didn't figure I'd ever go, but the thing that made my decide that I'm actually going to do it was just a note. I bought a plant a few weeks ago from them, and in the box, there was a handwritten note, written by Art Chadwick himself, thanking me for my purchase (it was Rechingerara Honky Tonk Woman that I bought) and telling me what a fine plant that is (it is one of his own hybrids) and telling me that he knows I'm going to love it and get many years of enjoyment out of it. I was really impressed by that. Art Chadwick is one of the most famous orchid guys in the country, and I'm sure he has a million things to do every day, but he still took the time to sit down with a pencil and a piece of paper and write a note thanking me for my purchase and telling me how much he thinks I"m going to love this plant. It was at that moment when I thought, "This is an incredible man. I have got to meet this man," and that is when the idea was born. All because of that little note he put in the box with my plant. That tells me that he's a really stand up guy who really cares about his customers, not just the money that his customers spend at his nursery.