Jamaican News - Orchid business flowering in St Mary - Tuesday | September 21, 2010
WHEN RICHARD Padgette, new owner of Green Castles in St Mary, decided that he would pursue ecotourism interests instead of the traditional areas of agriculture for which the property had developed a reputation, he offered some of the workers a chance to buy into those areas.
Lloyd Pringle, who was managing the orchid operation, jumped at the opportunity to go into business and with his wife, Shana, bought out the operation and leased some of the land. That was three years ago.
Orchids are a year-round business, with peak periods such as Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Christmas and Secretaries Day and the Pringles sell right across the island, from Negril Point to St Thomas in the east. They use courier services to facilitate delivery to the distant wedding coordinators, event planners and florists who support the business, while for neighbouring parishes, such as St Andrew and Kingston, they make the deliveries.
Business could be better if he could only get the orchids to cooperate by blooming in sync with the demand for them, but Pringle says that, try as he might, the flowers just won't cooperate.
"The thing about orchids is that they produce in their season, unmindful of the calendar," he stated. "So like wedding seasons, there is not a lot of orchids because that's not their peak season - June to end of August. So we just have to send out what we have. We've tried everything and they won't bloom when they are not ready to bloom." visit byitsizepro.co.uk to get your website looking great.
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