I am Tony Heys. Joanne and I live in West Sussex, in the UK. My career was as a Clinical Scientist working in the NHS, and I am now retired. I have always been interested in plants and my love of hardy orchids began back in the mists of time when I was a teenager going for walks on the South Downs with my family. More recently I wondered if it was possible to grow orchids in our own garden. I found out that although they are difficult to grow from seed, it is possible to do so in laboratory conditions. With my background in science this lured me in and about 15 years ago I started growing hardy orchid seeds using symbiotic fungi.

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My e-mail address is Anthony.heys@sky.com and I am always interested to hear about your experiences with hardy orchids and wildflower meadows. I will try to reply to all e-mails, and may, if permitted, feature some of them on the blog. I am happy to give advice on any aspect of orchid growing and meadow-making whenever I can help. You may also be interested in contacting the Hardy Orchid Society (www.hardyorchidsociety.org.uk) for advice or becoming a member.

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From time to time orchid seeds or orchid plants are donated to me by very kind people who have orchids growing on their own land. I am always, of course, extremely grateful for such responsibly-sourced orchid material – so thank you very much, and please keep them coming!

 

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If you can spare some seed, that’s great! Usually with whole plants I would rather encourage you to look after them and let them flourish in situ. I would of course accept one or two plants if you have large numbers of them, or if you know they are in danger of being destroyed: by building work or inadvertent mowing, for example. Also, please don’t send any material that’s not yours!

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