Cuban orchid grower breeds beauty in time of crisis

HAVANA, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Outside the home of Lorenzo Suarez in San Miguel de Padron, a rundown neighborhood on the outskirts of Havana, trash piles ‌up on street corners, sidewalks are cracked and paint peels from the facades ‌of storefronts.

Inside, a jungle-like beauty pervades.

The blossoms of 100 different species and hybrids of orchids, exquisite in their delicate beauty, ​some yellow, others blue, some spotted, others striped, create a splash of color at each glance.

“Every flower is different. Their colors, their sizes, the way in which they are cultivated. It drives me wild,” says Suarez, a 50-year-old orchid expert and agricultural engineer whose large greenhouse ‌is an urban oasis in ⁠a country whose economy has been stricken by blackouts and shortages.

Almost anywhere else, an operation the size of Suarez’s would constitute a commercial ⁠venture, mass-producing flowering plants for sale to other dealers and consumers. But in Cuba — with little market for orchids and few garden shops — Suarez finds his motivation elsewhere.

Originally an agronomist, he ​learned his ​trade while trying to genetically improve tomatoes, rice, ​cassava and taro — items that are ‌popular in Cuban households. His passion was fired by the thrill of creating new varieties.

“The cultivation of orchids was a huge leap,” he said as he tended his orchids, which require very specific light and humidity conditions to thrive.

In 2009, he bred Cuba’s first ornamental hybrid, a pink, yellow and white beauty he called “Bella Lorena.”

He has now turned his ‌attention to combining native Cuban orchids with varieties ​he imports from abroad — in the hope of discouraging ​the harvest of rare wild species ​of Cuban orchids.

His latest hybrids are blends that can adapt to ‌rising temperatures on the island while still ​retaining the exquisite beauty ​of a native.

“I’m obtaining hybrids that are more resistant to current climate conditions, but at the same time more attractive and eye-catching, so that people no longer ​turn to the forest.”

There ‌are approximately 300 native orchid species in Cuba, many of which are endangered ​according to the Cuban Botanical Society.

(Reporting by Anett Rios and Alberto Fajardo; Writing ​by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Paul Simao)