Seychelles Orchid Farm

In the Seychelles Islands, it's too hot to grow much more than orchids.

01/28/2002
Seychelles Orchid Farm

In the Seychelle Islands, a little-known paradise in the Indian Ocean seven degrees south of the equator and about a thousand miles off the coast of Madasgar, it's too hot to do much gardening. Besides, who needs to garden? Papaya, mango, banana, and coconut grow like weeds 'wild' everywhere. The aquamarine ocean teams with some of the world's finest fish. The local Indian store has rice and other essentials. Why bother?

Nevertheless, someone enterprising has a thriving orchid farm on the main island of Mahe. The orchids are grown in pots under shadecloth (see overview at left), not to sell as plants, but as cutflowers to supply the tables of the islands' many hotels with beautiful, tropical bouquets.

We drove into the farm one Saturday morning during our holiday vacation there at the end of last year. We had driven by several times on other peregrinations, and this time curiosity got the better of us. Besides, I was feeling guilty for being away from the keyboard for so long and wanted to find something to write to you about from this paradisical trip. While I know I'm stretching things quite a bit to call this a French garden, the Seychelles were a French colony once, and its inhabitants speak Creole French.

We were met by the workers above carrying bouquets of just-cut orchids into the building where they are packed for shipping out. It was fairly cool inside, and quite dark, after the glare of the sun outside. The workers shepherded us into an office where we had to pay a fee in order to walk through the outdoor "greenhouses"! Even the orchid farm had figured out how to profit from the tourists...

But after paying, we were allowed to wander through the shadehouses on our own, snapping photos on a morning that alternated between steamy sunlight and short, hard rain showers. For the Seychelles, this orchid farm was quite an enterprise. It comprised five enormous shade houses plus an outdoor field which we were not allowed to visit. Brilliant red-orange and black birds the size of sparrows flitted among the plants. I watched they were feasting on insects that were attracted to the orchid blossoms.

The plants were arranged in blocks by variety, with colors ranging from chartreuse through all shades of lavender, blue, and white, plus one curious sort of red-brown and green cultivar.

There were some pretty with-it growing techniques being employed. Yellow sticky traps were used for monitoring pests, or perhaps even for reducing insect levels. I was unable to find personnel on a Saturday morning who could answer my question.

The orchids were grown in 6-inch pots filled with a mixture of chunks of coconut husk taking the place of the usual bark used for orchid culture. This was a smart and ecological thing, since coco hulls are an abundant waste product on the island. The pots were topped off by a layer of charcoal chunks. The fact that the charcoal was the top layer made me think that its purpose was to filter water used to irrigate the orchids.

We spent at least an hour wandering among these regal flowers. Unfortunately, little labeling was available to illuminate what varieties were being grown. Identification probably wasn't that important since the orchids are grown simply as cutflowers, and not as plants for selling.

As beautiful as the orchids were, I have to say they are among the lesser splendors you'll enjoy if you ever have the good fortune to visit these superb islands. Situated in a particularly calm and stable part of the Indian Ocean, they never suffer severe storms or earthquakes.

They are famous for the incredible granite boulders--many as big as houses--which are among the oldest stones on earth. They have been sculpted by millenia into fantastic fluted forms, and they add mass and asculptural beauty to the pristine beaches not found in any other tropical islands. Other wonders include fish-rich coral reefs that are fantastic for snorkeling and diving, superb swimming, and several superb wildlife preserves, including the idyllic Aride Island, where the unique and rare birds species have no fear of man.

Unfortunately, the islands are a long haul from the States. You need to fly to Paris, rest for a day or two, if you like, and then fly on to the Seychelles. The flight from Paris takes around 10 hours. This year, I was happy to see the first American tourists there that I'd ever encountered.

Products of Interest:
Hellebore pillow

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