"Big Kahuna"

My grandfather, “Big Ed”, was a community pillar, serial entrepreneur, and (especially in his retirement) chock-full of hobbies. I’ve always loved horticulture, but never nurtured that passion until my grandfather passed and left behind a collection of rare orchids and bonsai trees. I found myself inheriting a large stack of tutorial books and one of his orchids, a Dendrobium Lindleyi, a beautiful little thing with cascades of delicate yellow-gold flowers. That orchid sat on my windowsill, the only connection I had left with a man I shared so much in common with but never took enough time to enjoy. In that sadness, I found something special -- and it wasn't just the blooms! In months, I had dozens of houseplants. In a year, hundreds of collectible tropicals and orchids. I found a passion worth sharing, just like his. Bombotany started at home, in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, when my newfound connection with indoor gardening blossomed into a whole greenhouse full of ornamental houseplants.

"Bigger Kahuna"

When I was young I would help my mother, a master of outdoor gardening, plant bulbs and seeds in our garden. She claimed that I knew the names of each one by eighteen months old. Our front yard had tiger lilies, irises, black-eyed-Susans, hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, daisies, zinnias, dogwoods, lily of the valley, and probably a dozen others. When I grew up and started living the apartment life, I ventured more into the world of indoor gardening while visiting some of the country’s best botanical gardens with Grant. Now, our home in Florida is full of Dendrobium, Oncidium, Anthurium, Cattleya, Pilea, Ficus and fruit trees and so much more.