Massachusetts Orchid Society

About Us

Peter Breed

Peter was born in the Netherlands and grew up in the flower bulb field. His family has been in the flower bulb business for four generations and currently have the largest bulb collection in the world. His father was just recently knighted by their Queen for his work in saving certain species from extinction.

Peter attended the Horticulture school in Rijnsburg and graduated in 1984. Peter also graduated with a four year horticulture degree from Tuinbouwschool Lisse. Then he moved to Raleigh, NC to join the horticulture faculty at NC State University to conduct a research project on the use of flower bulbs.

Peter was employed by George and Linda Kaufman in 1989 to run their gardens and greenhouse and is still employed there.

He is a Norfolk Master Gardener. Peter also takes pleasure in flower arranging which have been seen at the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk Yacht Club, Botanical Gardens, and the Washington National Gallery of arts

Over time Peter became more interested in orchids and joined Dr. David McDaniel to build Orchid Classics. Orchid Classics is a company that grows, hybridizes, wholesales and does Orchid installation displays with its own laboratory!

He lives in Norfolk, is married and has two sons.

Joe Elder

Joe Elder was born in Cairo W Va. He has spent over 36 years in public safety, first as a paramedic for 12 years at St Josephs hospital in Parkers burg W. Va. In 1988 he joined the city of Norfolk Fire Department where he was assigned to Rescue Company One, which was responsible for fire suppression and technical response including hazardous materials. He also served as an instructor with the state of Virginia Office of Emergency Management. He was also trained in terrorism response. He has enjoyed working with Orchids for the last 10 years, and is a founding member of Orchid Classics.