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Orchid May Be Named For Princess Anne


Matthew S. Gunby photo

An orchid is shown at the U.S. Orchid Laboratory Nursery. An orchid may be named for Princess Anne.

By Deborah Gates
Daily Times Staff Writer
PRINCESS ANNE -- A scented flower fit for royalty -- Princess Anne -- could sprout from a proposal to cultivate an orchid named for the Somerset County town that also could bind nations, cultures and economic development.

Daniel S. Kuennen, director of the UMES Rural Development Center, wants to localize the operation and help bond the community and the orchid producer based at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, U.S. Orchid Laboratory and Nursery, the North American headquarters for Beijing's Jet Green.

He smelled an opportunity in the product.

"The company was put here to enter the U.S. marketplace. What better way to market them is to tissue-culture a new variety named for the town in which they're located," Kuennen said. "I think that goes a long way."

As special assistant to the president for University Outreach and Community Engagement, Kuennen was instrumental in attracting the Asian producer to the campus with an objective to introduce, within five years, local growers to the orchid process as an alternative agribusiness opportunity.


Matthew S. Gunby photo

Paulo Liu waters orchids, which are in their pre-bloom stage, at the U.S. Orchid Laboratory Nursery in Princess Anne on Tuesday.
After three years, Kuennen says the lab and nursery housed in a 2.5-acre greenhouse on the campus is nearly positioned to recruit growers.

"The company had to overcome obstacles; there is the bare-root shipping process and customs inspections," he said. "They just completed $1 million in improvement to the greenhouses to get them up to standard."

Kuennen said to give marketing efforts a nudge, he introduced the concept of an orchid named for Princess Anne to the president at Jet Green, John Hou.

"I discussed the idea and he liked it. We will meet soon and discuss it some more," Kuennen said.

The process to create a new variety of the flower would involve a cultivation process of tissue that is complex, he said. "There could be more. I'm thinking about an orchid named 'the Somerset,' after Somerset County."

Currently, 20,000 orchid bare-root systems are shipped at a time to the U.S. Orchid greenhouse outside Princess Anne. The company receives an estimated six shipments annually for a total of about 120,000 flower starters, Kuennen said.

Prospective orchid growers interested in learning more about the U.S. Orchid Laboratory and Nursery can visit: www.jetgreen.com/doce/docc/tissue.asp

Contact Deborah Gates - Daily Times Staff Writer:
dgates@dmg.gannett.com
410-845-4641

Originally published March 28, 2007

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