Martin R. Motes, Ph.D.
Martin Motes is a second generation orchidistwho has been growing orchids for 40 years.
With a Masters degree from the University of Miami
he went to Miami University of Ohio
where he earned a Ph.D. in 20th century English poetry.
He remained in Ohio for 6 years as an assistant professor of English at Wright State University,
director of horticultural therapy at Grant General Hospital,
and consultant to the Hospital Corporation of America.
Following this he spent 2 years in Yugoslavia as a Fulbright lecturer.
Returning to Florida, where he has lived most of his life,
he started Motes Orchids, and has become a major breeder
of Vandas and Ascocendas, producing hundreds of new hybrids,
for which he has received scores of AOS awards.
He is an accredited AOS judge, and has traveled extensively
observing orchids in Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands,
the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Belize, Mexico, Guatemala, Thailand, and Australia.
His hobbies include writing poetry, tending his vegetable garden, and fishing.
Martin's Vandas: Their Botany, History and Culture, Timber Press, 1997,
is a great addition for any orchid library.
His wife, Mary, for whom many orchids have been named,
has also just published a book, Kosovo, Prelude To War 1966-1999,
Redland Press, 1998.
