Nancy Volpe
Nancy Volpe and her husband, Joe, have been growing orchidsfor 16 years at their home in southern New Jersey.
They met at RCA when she was
an Engineering Support Analyst and he was an executive
with a technical background and a BS in Physics.
Their orchid growing has evolved from “Nancy, the grower,
and Joe, the slave and man behind the scenes, building greenhouses, benches, etc.,
to now, when both Nancy and Joe are growers, and Joe, is still the slave!”
They have both spoken on various orchid topics
to their local societies, at vendor locations
and senior groups to share their experiences and stimulate orchid enthusiasm.
Joe is Chairman of the Philadelphia Flower Show Orchid Division
and has designed a number of greenhouses for their society members.
Their own three greenhouses with a total of 850 sq. ft.,
each environmentally controlled,
are used for different genera.
They are noncommercial hobbyists
who belong to three local societies
and participate in 5 to 6 shows annually in PA, NJ & NY.
To date they have received 28 AOS awards,
including a 99 pt CCM and a Gold Certificate for a 30 plant Phragmipedium exhibit.
Nancy enjoys and strives to grow specimen size CCM plants.
She notes that she has been graciously named “The Phrag Hag,”
compliments of Norito Hasegawa!!
