Profile on Robert Palmer
 

My Mother-in-law lives in Arcadia Florida, so I have travelled there semi-regularly for many years. Long before I started growing orchids myself, I would drive past the greenhouses of the Sun Bulb Company and hardly notice them. As I now read so many posts about the Bag Baby treasures people find in their local big box stores, I have had an increasing interest in the company. I have never tried to visit because I know they are not open to the public. However, I did love the story of how DirtyCoconuts talked his way into seeing some of their greenhouses in an old post I read from 2019.

When I was in Arcadia a few weeks ago, I did visit Palmer Orchids, which was a real treat. It is a bit out of the way, but the rural location of the property is a big part of its charm (in addition to the spectacular plants). I had read about Sun Bulb’s head grower on their website and knew his name was Palmer, but somehow never put 2 and 2 together that the Palmers were one and the same until it was suggested by Ben in North FLA in a post yesterday.

This sent me to the internet to see if I could find more information on Robert Palmer. I stumbled across this wonderful profile that was written about a year ago. I enjoyed reading it so much, I thought I would share it with the group.

The Orchid Maker — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

What a great read!
I have always enjoyed reading about the orchid growers. Al of Al's Orchid Greenhouse (now closed) had one of the best bios on his website but there have been many other great ones.

Yeah, the plants are fascinating, and the people behind them are often equally so.

I think one reason the article is so good is that it is not written by an orchid person. It's someone looking in from the outside trying to understand the obsession.

thank you for sharing! love the first-person history, and the photos are stunning....

I came here looking for a bio on the musician.:rofl: