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Massachusetts Orchid Society

Meet Louisiana Orchid Connection


John Nelson

CoFounder of Louisiana Orchid Connection


Begun as a hobby in 2008, Louisiana Orchid Connection is the full time passion of founder Tin-Wein Yu and co-founder John Nelson. The nursery is located on an acre and a third in central Baton Rouge, Louisiana. An original greenhouse re-built from a 100 year old steel frame in the 80’s was augmented with a new 2000 square foot greenhouse built in the spring of 2013 and expanded again in 2014. We have added additional growing capacity each year since. Today we have about 5000 square feet full of orchids in 8 structures of various sizes.

Tin manages the laboratory operations. His expertise is in genetics. Nearly fifteen years of laboratory bench work using the tools of microbiology equip him to manage flasking and plant identification using DNA matching techniques. Tin travels regularly to Taiwan in search of quality plant stocks and to discuss trends in hybridizing in his native country among many experienced growers.

John draws on his experience in supply chain management, business development and general handyman skills to support the business and greenhouse operations.

Louisiana Orchid Connection sells seedlings, plants and flasks on their website laorchid.com as well as their ebay storefront. Check them out!


Hope for Madagascar

John Nelson

The centerpiece of this presentation is a video compilation of still photos taken a few years ago as we took a number of forest walks with local guides to see orchids in situ. We begin the discussion with a description of the island country and the state of the ecology. After the video I will present a number of flower photos organized by genus showing endemic flowers, mostly in the Angrecoid group. We will describe our efforts to conserve orchid species from Madagascar using our laboratory to propagate and distribute these rare species to hobbyists and conservatories.

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