Orchid growers bask in their Bucks paradise

Just down the road from Lake Nockamixon in rural Upper Bucks County, a meadow blooms in soft yellows and delicate pinks, vibrant fuchsias, burgundies and purples, even on these still-barren March days.

When fields are brown and trees naked, roaming the warm greenhouses of the Parkside Orchid Nursery is "just like being in paradise," said co-owner John Salventi.

For nearly 20 years, Salventi and Tom Purviance, partners in life and in business, have been growing specialty orchids - hundreds of varieties that have captivated aficionados and neophytes alike at local flower exhibitions, on The Martha Stewart Show, and at orchid events across the country, including the current annual extravaganza at the New York Botanical Garden.

This week, the two will be at the International Orchid Show and Sale at Longwood Gardens in Chester County, beginning Friday afternoon and continuing through Sunday.

This, after all, is orchid season. "It's insanity," Purviance said.

The season heats up when the last Christmas poinsettias have been tossed to the curb and lasts until Mother's Day, when springtime coaxes gardeners outside again for another chance to nurture roses, petunias, and bell peppers to perfection. In these few bleak months in between, Salventi said, a glimpse of an orchid - long a symbol of love, beauty, and wealth - is "a warm-weather fix."

The 58-year-old Purviance, a concert pianist, and Salventi, 66, a former hospital executive with a Ph.D in microbiology, started out as hobbyists, drawn by the beauty and challenges of the exotic flower. But after a few years, as they thought about changing careers, they decided that the orchid could play a larger role in their lives.

In 1992, they opened the nursery in Nockamixon Township. It has flourished ever since.

"There's a mythology about orchids," Purviance said. ". . . They just aren't like other flowers."

The modern history of orchids is rooted in England in the 1800s, when they were imported from South America by rich Victorians who collected competitively. Today, they are the most popular flowering houseplant in America, with 25,000 recognized species and more than 100,000 hybrids. "It's pretty extraordinary," Salventi said.

A good-quality orchid plant can be purchased for $20 to $35, Purviance said. If it is tended properly, its life span can be long. At their nursery are plants that are easily 25 to 30 years old. But if you treat them by traditional houseplant rules, he warned, they will die.

Orchids grow naturally around the equator and thrive in trees, where their roots are exposed to air rather than suffocated in soil.

"Orchids are not difficult, but they are fundamentally different," said Purviance, examining a pastel blossom nesting in a piece of tree bark at the nursery. "All these roots need air. . . . They sometimes just won't tolerate the pot."

The correct light depends on the species. For instance, the Cattleya - known as the corsage orchid - likes full sun in the morning, but not in the middle of the day. The Cymbidium, on the other hand, craves bright light.

"There isn't a one-size-fits-all for orchids," Purviance said.

Salventi appreciates the variety. "For me, it's the diversity," he said. "You can't get bored growing orchids."

In addition to selling their orchids at the greenhouses and on the Internet, the two hold classes regularly at the nursery and give talks locally and even abroad. Salventi just returned from lecturing in Taiwan.

However, Purviance is reviving his career as a concert pianist, and Salventi has been focusing increasingly on conservation. Orchids, they say, will remain in their near future, at least.

"You grow tired of the business side of anything," Purviance said. But "I haven't lost my fascination with orchids. There's lots new to see and learn."