Bungalow Productions: Research, Writing & Design

Orchid owner honors loved ones
From Discover Putnam County

Some people honor loved ones by naming children after them. Dick Wells names orchids.

Co-owner of Hilltop Orchids along with his wife, Sandy, Wells propagates more than 90,000 in his 11,000 square foot greenhouse in rural Cloverdale. Many of the hybrids he’s developed pay tribute to his wife, sons and their families.

There’s the Sandy Wells with its moth-shaped white petals and lemony crowns. Darrin’s Ruby, a mottled crimson and yellow variety. And for his future daughter-in-law, a deep burgundy orchid that’s intensely fragrant at night, Allyson’s Wine.

Will Allyson be carrying orchids down the aisle? “You betcha she will be,” enthuses Wells, grinning.

Wells’ passion for orchids began in 1954 at the ripe young age of 17, when most young men’s interest in flowers is limited to the petals gracing a prom date’s wrist. But just two weeks after
viewing an ROTC buddy’s collection, he bought his first orchid plant for the then-sizable sum of $40.

By the time he’d graduated from college six years later, his
collection had blossomed to 700 plants. That gave him plenty to choose from when courting his future wife.

“We didn’t have anything else,” says Sandy Wells, laughing. “But we had the orchids.”

After marriage and three kids, however, money became pretty tight. Wells parted with his dear collection, using the profits to help pay bills.

Sandy Wells never forgot the look on her husband’s face that day. Once their financial picture brightened in the mid-1970s, she bought him two orchid plants and started the collection anew.

Soon, Wells’s hobby had outgrown the dining room and he decided to turn the expensive avocation into a profitable venture. In 1994, he took an early retirement from his insurance career to run the business full-time.

These days, Wells keeps busy breeding new hybrids, judging orchid contests, and conducting tours of his greenhouse for retiree, church and master gardener groups.

It’s a vocation that keeps him tickled pink. “I have one of those jobs that people talk about but seldom get to do,” Wells says. “It is so enjoyable to go out there [to the greenhouse] every day.” Why not, when he’s got all those namesakes to keep him company? back