Growing passion

Managing director Mike Hutter reveals all to Claire Coleman about his exotic pastime

“Orchids are just amazing plants,” enthuses Mike Hutter, managing director of Kall Kwik printers. “For the last 10 years I’ve been cultivating and growing them. I’ve always had an interest in gardening but often you have to put in a lot of effort without getting much out. With orchids, it’s the other way round—minimum effort, maximum pleasure—which suits my lifestyle much better. I probably spend no more than about an hour a week on them.”

Hutter’s passion was sparked on a trip to Fiji, where he visited an orchid farm founded by the actor Raymond Burr of Ironside fame. For Hutter, the almost mythic status of the flowers is one of their attractions. “They look and feel so exotic and their petals seem to reflect light in a very different way. When I’m standing in my conservatory, it doesn’t feel like I’m in the UK. Orchids have a reputation for being a real luxury and incredibly expensive, but I think they’re amazingly good value. You can spend between £20 and £40 on one and it will last for up to five months. I’ve spent over £100 on an individual plant in the past.”

His favourites are the less fussy ones, including Cymbidium, one of the best known varieties, and the moth orchid Phalaenopsis, native to Asia and Australasia—“simple but spectacular.”

Of course, being an orchid enthusiast (or orchidist) is not just about buying beautiful plants. “It’s easy to buy an orchid in flower,” says Hutter. “The challenge is to get it to reflower by separating and repotting it.”

The UK, he maintains, is an ideal place for growing orchids. “People think of them as being exotic but there are several species that are indigenous to this country. Marsh orchids love wet ground and grow very easily over here. Even species that originate in hotter climes often grow in the shade of other plants and so survive happily in conservatories or greenhouses.”

Most of his collection is currently confined to his conservatory, although orchids can be found throughout the house that he shares with his wife in Northwood, Middlesex. “I do have to heat the conservatory in the winter to make sure the plants stay warm enough,” he confesses. And that’s not the only luxury his plants get. “I water or spray them every day with mineral water—Evian or Vittel—as tap water is too hard for them.”

The size of the collection waxes and wanes according to the time of year and how successful his cultivating has been. “At the end of the winter I’m down to about 15 plants, but as it gets to spring and we want to spend more time in the conservatory, I start restocking and can end up with around 30.”

Hutter’s orchids have a wide and varied provenance. “There’s a bloke who sells amazing orchids at my local tube station; I also buy from websites and I’ve been known to drive down to the south coast specially to pick up an orchid.”

When pressed, he’ll admit to having been even further afield. “I wouldn’t say that I plan my holidays around orchid-hunting, but almost wherever I go I’ll take a trip out to see orchid farms and growers. You can only transport plants within the EU, and it can be quite frustrating to see amazing specimens in Australia and Asia and to have to leave them there. But I was recently in Madeira, somewhere that grows and exports a lot of orchids, and I brought back several cuttings and seeds.”

Hutter doesn’t keep his orchids to himself. “I give away cuttings and the plants make wonderful presents. Unfortunately I can’t get away with giving them to my wife any more!”