Carter and Holmes offers visitors something that’s hard to resist- some of the most beautiful orchids you’ve ever seen.

It was love at first sight. At Carter and Holmes Orchids in Newberry, South Carolina, rows of Phalaenopsis orchids bloomed with graceful sprays of pink flowers. But how to get one of the fragile-looking beauties home on the plane?

“No problem,” said Mac Holmes, head of one of the largest orchid growers in the country. “Select one with buds, and we’ll pack it for travel just like we do the orchids that we ship to customers all over the world.” Mac is living proof that family roots run deep. Carter and Holmes was started by Mac’s father and uncle more than 50 years ago. “My uncle, Bill Carter, was a high school principal and history teacher who came home to care for a family member and opened a florist shop,” explains Mac. “My father, fresh out of the marines, came home for a visit and stayed to open a gift shop. They combined the two businesses and moved to the family homeplace where they’d grown up together. In the beginning they specialized in cut flowers, but for the last 30 or so years we’ve concentrated on orchid plants for hobby growers.

“This was my summer job when I was growing up. So when my father was going to retire, I moved back to help out.” Mac, who gave up a law practice in Atlanta to return home and run the family business, is guiding the company into the next 50 years. “Orchids make up one of the largest plant families on earth, and they’re also the most varied,” he explains. Carter and Holmes is an internationally recognized orchid hybridizer, known especially for its “art shade” cattleyas. Orchids are produced here from seed and from tissue culture. “We’ve been ‘cloning’ orchids for well over 20 years,” says Mac.

And what about the Phalaenopsis I’d selected? “This is one of the easiest for the beginner to grow,” Mac assures me. “Just remember the four mistakes many people make when growing not only orchids but other plants as well: not giving them enough light; overwatering; overfertilizing (less is more) or not fertilizing at all; and putting them in pots that are too large (orchids like to be tight in the pot).

So how’s my orchid doing? It’s blooming beautifully. Karen Lingo

Carter and Holmes Orchids: 629 Mendenhall Road, Newberry, SC 29108; (803) 2760579. Web site: www.carterandholmes.com. Hours: 9 a.m-4p.m. Monday-Saturday.

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Feb 2000
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