George Fuller, New Plymouth is one of the fonts of knowledge about orchids in New Zealand. He did his apprenticeship at Kew and was curator of Pukekura Gardens in New Plymouth for many years. Over the past few years he has been keen on remaking Pleione crosses not available in New Zealand as well as making new ones. He has also been looking at some of the received wisdom and experimenting with various cultural techniques.
One of the things he was always telling people was that Pleione roots never branch if they get damaged. At the Taranaki Summer Orchid Show, which is a Disa lovers dream, he had a wee accident with a bowl of Pln. Doris that he was using to demonstrate one of the new bark mixes he has been trialling. Lo and behold a root that had been damaged when he was setting up the display bowl had branched as had an undamaged root on the same bulb.
BTW Pln. Doris is named after his wife.
