Tony Madafferi had never seen an orchid before he was invited to a friend’s house to look at them many years ago.
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That was in the 1970s, and since that day Mr Madafferi has been a fan of the plants.
If you look at his Orrvale property now, he has a massive amount of orchids growing, and was instrumental in starting a local orchid club.
He even does his own hybridising of different orchids, making whole new varieties.
Just recently he registered one of them — which he named Running Wild Jungle Cat — with the Royal Horticultural Society in London.
The society keeps a register of orchid hybrids, dating back to at least the 1800s.
His orchid received an award of distinction for colour from the Orchid Council of Victoria recently.
Making an orchid hybrid is not a quick thing to do — and can take up to seven years to go from a seed to flowering.
The shortest time would be about four years.
Mr Madafferi has bred three or four generations of hybrid orchids, and is currently on the last of them.
From now on he plans to get new plants by dividing the ones he already has.
Mr Madafferi’s love of the plants started with humble beginnings after he first spotted orchids at his friend’s house many years ago.
“I didn’t know what an orchid was before then,” he said.
He then bought some at markets and started to grow his own.
He then discovered orchid magazines and started ordering through growers who advertised there, and his collection began to blossom.
In the mid-1970s Mr Madafferi met another orchid hobbyist, Joan Branston, and together they decided to form the Goulburn Valley Orchid Club.
“My story is typical. Most hobby growers start with a gift plant — for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or a birthday — and then in five years’ time they have a backyard full of them,” he said.
Mr Madafferi’s interest in growing hybrid orchids started in the 1980s and he has not looked back.
“I got a bit tired of looking at ordinary flowers and I wanted to recreate a heritage-style orchid,” he said.
“To me they have character and tend to have more perfume.”
Nowadays he has a massive collection of orchids in all sorts of colours that he grows in a shade house in summer and a protected area in winter.
According to Mr Madafferi, orchids are wonderful plants to have.
They flower perfectly for six to eight weeks, but the flowers can last as long as three months.
“They are the best value for money,” he said.
“Provided the plant gets attention, it could go on forever.”
He said Shepparton was “full of orchids”.
If people provide protection from the worst of the summer heat, as well as from the frosts in winter, orchids can thrive.
“They are the perfect patio or fernery subject for this area,” he said.
For Mr Madafferi there are several great things about orchids, such as the beauty of their flowers, and the rewards after the effort that is put in to grow them.
The best thing, however, is the friendships that are formed over them.
“They bring together people of all walks of life who otherwise would not meet,” Mr Madafferi said.
The Orchid Spectacular, run by the Goulburn Valley Orchid Club, will be held on Saturday, September 24 and Sunday, September 25 at Kialla Paceway.
Senior Journalist