Carlyle suffers from 'orchid fever'

Carlyle Mc Millan, as a young man, always envisioned recreating an English country garden like the ones he saw in old English textbooks. He had plans for his mother’s backyard in Mt Lambert. He grew up in the old colonial days before Trinidad gained its Independence and “when you open these books it was English this, English that...so I was nurtured in that direction. I had all these tainted qualities if you want to put it like that,” said Carlyle, past student of St Mary’s College and Orchid Society President for the past three years. But a sequence of events needed to occur first, before he could receive a First Class Certificate from the American Orchid Society in 1999, for his hybrid orchid, judged one of 16 from around the world “reaching the pinnacle of floral quality.”

His parents migrated to the United States in 1960, taking their five children along with them. After his brother was drafted into the US Army, 19-year-old Carlyle followed suit. He joined voluntarily. “I had a choice of joining the army and choosing a vocation, profession/trade or an overseas assignment. I wanted the overseas assignment and I signed up for Europe.” He didn’t get to work in the field he wanted, in electronics; “they said something about not being a US citizen, that that would be a security risk so I was assigned to the US Army Medical Corps in France. They said it was the safest place for a foreigner. There was an opening in the dental lab and I had the necessary qualifications (after taking a few tests) and I was made trainee technician.”

In the Medical Corps he learned all aspects of dental laboratory procedures including dental constructions and fabricating caps and crowns. In 1964, when the Vietnam War had begun, “I was asked if I wanted to become a helicopter pilot and I said no, ‘it wasn’t my war’.” After three years in the army, Carlyle left. A job with one of the top labs in the US, Oral Craft Dental Lab of Manhattan, seemed more desirable. He moved from lab technician to lab supervisor and after 15 years with the company, he grew home sick. During that time he met and fell in love with Aster, his wife of 32 years, on a brief visit to Trinidad. Aster is named after a flower, unfortunately “not an orchid,” Carlyle informed. They married and together returned to the US. “In 1979 I came back to Trinidad where I have remained and will remain until I die,” he said. “I opened up my own business. It was called ‘Restor-a-Dent Dental Lab’ and I walked with all my equipment. I was doing the full spectre of lab procedures. Now, I’ve greatly reduced my range of procedures.”

It was also in 1979 and thereafter, when a rose garden and “other ornamentals from neighbours” found their place right in the front yard of his parents’ home, the house in Mt Lambert. “Then one day an old lady from across the road, we called her Nen, Nen Hospedales, introduced me to my first orchid. It was a dendrobium superbum. There were no flowers on the plant. It was an insignificant-looking piece of stem with no leaves. She told me to tie it on a piece of coconut (husk) and wet it now and then.” Carlyle waited a whole year before he could see its first flowers. He did grow impatient and almost threw the stem away after all its leaves dropped off one day. “I thought it had died... When it did blossom I was impressed by the flower, purple in colour, and she (Nen) came across to see it.” Nen gave him the idea, but it was Aster who stirred up the desire in him to start an orchid garden. He said: “One day my wife went to Roundabout Plaza, now Maritime Centre, and saw someone selling orchids. He was C Latchman. She was told about another place in Santa Cruz, called San Antonio that also sold orchids. The very next day I drove up to Santa Cruz. I was amazed at the array of flowers and instantly became a victim of orchid fever — a disease which some people say is incurable. From that day to now it has been the focus of my interest.”

His first purchase were also plants of the dendrobium superbum family. It cost him $30 a pot and every time he accumulated the cash, off to San Antonio he went. The front garden spread to the back of the house. One by one the fruit trees disappeared. “I cut down the coconut tree in the back of the yard to accommodate the plants. The mango Julie was next. I said ‘ah think yuh in meh way’ and down came the mango Julie, then the plum tree, the pommerac tree and the five finger in the corner.” One other five finger and a plum remain the two existing trees in the yard. “The five finger is economically necessary, ‘cause I drink a lot of juices and a tin of juice is so costly these days.” Now he has sufficient space for his “several hundred” orchids which run along the side and back of the house. He has created an open growing area, with some shading. “I’m trying to duplicate a forest growing environment suited for local species. I try to maintain the natural eco-system with other natural epiphytes and plant life.” Oh! and there is sufficient room for the euglossine bees — big black ones that are “stingless”, according to Carlyle. There are also humming birds, false mappapire or garden snakes, tree frogs and lizards. “They are all at home by me.” Just stepping out into his garden acts as his stress relief. He said: “There’s a joy in seeing the results of your efforts and satisfaction in seeing you’re doing something right.” He enjoys caring for each plant, hundreds they may be, without any assistance.

Types of orchids found in his “growing area” include plants from the catasetum family — his first love, cattleya and all native species, and brassias to name a few. Apart from possessing both local and foreign species, he also possesses dozens of his own hybrid orchids, ten of which are registered hybrids, that is, recorded in England. Carlyle performs hybridising right at home. Orchid Society member and hybridiser Sandy Gibson was “helpful in imparting some knowledge.” Occupying a small area of his workroom are flasks upon flasks on shelves, some with orchid seeds as fine as talc powder, and others in more mature stages grown under special grolux lights. “These are artificial lights, a process they go through up to two years before they are potted out. That is called the agar growing medium,” he revealed. Before they can reach that stage, however, Carlyle takes the seeds over to the glove box or flasking case, “creating a sterile environment where the orchid seeds can be introduced to the sterile growing medium. This is done to free the environment of fungal spores. If this isn’t done the fungal spores will suffocate the orchid seeds.”

His most successful hybrid is a result of crossing a local specie of catasetum barbatum  with catasetum expansum from Ecuador to get ‘catasetum Sandy Gibson’. “Actually it was Sandy Gibson who created the hybrid and I named it after him.” His award-winning hybrid was named after his mother. “I crossed catasetum Sandy Gibson with catasetum pileatum ‘shaffina’ AM/AOS (Award of Merit/American Orchid Society) and got catasetum memoria Vera Mc Millian ‘Millennium Queen’ FCC/AOS. The Orchids magazine of June 2000, published by the AOS credited Carlyle, whose hybrid orchid finds its place among 16 others from around the world. The magazine wrote: “Here we share the 16 plants that were distinguished...The diamonds of today that set the standards above which we should look for improvement in the orchids of tomorrow.” Carlyle was extremely proud. Work, however, doesn’t stop there. “As President of the Orchid Society I supervise the management committee made up of 11 members.” Last weekend the Orchid Society hosted its 46th annual show at the Ambassador Hotel, the theme of which was: “Orchids — It’s a Magical Dream.” The Society’s mission remains “to strive for excellence in all aspects of orchid cultivation; to plan an active role in preservation of the environment in order to protect orchid species, their habitat and hosts and; to foster appreciation through research, education and co-operation with relevant and international organisations.” One of their current projects involves working along with various NGOs in devising a plan to manage the Aripo Savannah.