Next Meeting: Wednesday, April 6 at 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Phillip Hamilton
Topic: “Recent Trends in Phals”
Phillip Hamilton grew up among orchids in his parent’s greenhouses
in Kingston, Jamaica. His father, Claude, is known around the world
for his work in breeding broughtonias, cattleytonias and schom-
burgkias – an orchid hobby that evolved into one of the major orchid
nurseries on the island – Hamlyn Orchids.
Having collected orchids since a young boy, his orchid interest peaked
when he attended his first orchid show away from Jamaica, the 11th World Orchid
Conference in Miami, Florida at the age of eight. That experience inspired him to become
more involved in orchid breeding, growing and exhibition.
In his early teens, he began participating in orchid judging with the Jamaican Orchid
Society and was an accredited judge of that society before graduating from high school. He
headed for college in the U.S. at age 18 and entered the AOS judging training program that
same year.
Phillip has since received his udergraduate and graduate degrees in Environmental
Horticulture from the University of Florida and has been an AOS accredited judge for
almost ten years. Upon graduation, he worked as a grower for a large orchid production
facility and is now managing an orchid production facility for Better-Gro Companies in
Apopka, Florida.
His personal collection consists primarily of Phalaenopsis and more recently, Paphiopedilums. He also enjoys the
challenge of growing large specimen plants, for which he has been recognized with several AOS cultural awards in
recent years. He is the proud papa of three-year-old Xavier.