Urban blight.
Devil's night.
Racial tension.
Poverty.
Orchids.
Of all the things that come to mind when one thinks of Detroit, orchids are probably about the last thing that would occur to most people. But Detroit is home to the largest municipally-owned orchid collection in the United States, also one of the largest in the world. How did this come to be? How did a city better-known for cars and crime end up with this botanical treasure?
Anna Scripps-Whitcomb
The orchids were bestowed upon the city by Anna Scripps Whitcomb in 1953. Scripps-Whitcomb was the daughter of Detroit newspaper publisher James Scripps. She was a fanatical orchid grower, who proudly showed her private collection of hundreds of orchids every spring at what was then called the Horticulture House on Belle Isle, in Detroit. She became renowned in the area an an orchid aficionado. During World War II, she was responsible for saving endangered Cypripedium orchids, receiving them from Great Britain to save them from the devastation. She and a small staff of gardeners germinated hundreds of the orchid seeds, including the offspring of the endangered Cypripediums.
Photo by Colleen Vanderlinden.
Revolutionary Orchid Propagation
Propagating those endangered orchids was not exactly a simple proposition. Back in the 1940's, orchid growers could generally expect a propagation rate of only 5% for most orchids. However, researchers at Cornell had recently developed a new method for germinating seeds, using a gelatinous mixture of chemicals, salts, and seaweed extracts. Scripps-Whitcomb and her staff experimented with the method and ended up with a germination rate of nearly 50% -- an astounding increase that resulted in hundreds of orchid seedlings.
Photo by Colleen Vanderlinden.
After her death, the City of Detroit was bequeathed with her vast collection of orchids -- 600 plants in all. Two years later, the city renamed the Horticulture House the "Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory," and undertook a massive renovation. The conservatory houses Mrs. Scripps-Whitcomb's collection to this day.
Detroit may get more press for its cars and its crime, but the orchids are a beautiful reminder of a brighter past -- and a symbol of hope for a brighter future.
Photo courtesy of Angela Anderson-Cobb, Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License.
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