PLEASURES OF LIFE
What’s in a Name?
Stelis hallii ‘Southern Pines Hallmark’ makes its debut
By Jason Harpster
Philadelphia has its cheesesteak and Chicago has its deep-dish pizza. Although people are more familiar with its golf and equestrian heritage, Southern Pines has a rich history with orchids that goes back to the 1920s, when Cattleya orchids were grown for cut flowers and shipped on rail to cities for corsages. Carolina Orchid Growers Inc. started in 1927 in Southern Pines and published its first catalog in 1933. At the height of its popularity, the business had a collection that spanned 17 greenhouses and included over 25,000 plants.
Southern Pines is the place the late Jack Webster chose to call home as he traveled and collected orchids from across the globe. Born in Buenos Aires to English parents in 1926, Webster worked in South America as an advertising executive and chose to relocate his family to Southern Pines in 1982. In addition to starting multiple orchid societies across North Carolina, he amassed a collection of over 2,000 orchids and received a total of 16 American Orchid Society awards over 30 years. He shared his love of orchids with others by organizing shows across the state, including three beloved shows at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities in Southern Pines.
Known for being an artful negotiator, Jack worked with customs and vendors from Brazil, India, Thailand and the Philippines to import plants for local orchid societies. He named all of his awarded plants after his wife, Jean Webster. You can still find divisions of orchids for sale today with her name.
The town of Southern Pines has multiple orchids named after it including, most recently, Stelis hallii ‘Southern Pines Hallmark.’ It was awarded a certificate of horticultural merit on June 15, 2024, at the monthly meeting of the Carolinas Judging Center in Concord, North Carolina. Since this is the first award on record for the species, additional photographs and measurements had to be taken to verify the validity of the species.
When an orchid is awarded by the AOS, a clonal name is recognized to distinguish the plant from others of the same species or grex. ‘Southern Pines Hallmark’ is an aptly chosen name given its showy, distinctive flowers, which are yellow and orbicular. Other species in the genus tend to be less vibrantly colored, with diminutive flowers. Stelis is a genus of over 500 species found in cloud forests in Central and South America. These plants need high humidity, cool to intermediate temperatures and bright indirect light to thrive.
For the botanical enthusiast, the award description is: 58 flowers and 27 buds alternately arranged on 17 basal, sequential inflorescences to 26-centimeters long borne on a 48-centimeters wide by 35-centimeters high plant grown on an 8-centimeters by 14-centimeters wooden mount; leaves oblanceolate, ascending, 2.5-centimeters wide by 11-centimeters long; sepals broadly ovate, light yellow-green, petals and lip darker minute, yellow-green; column and anther cap yellow-green; substance firm; texture matte; recognized for rarity in cultivation and attractive flowers; native to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru; exhibitor noted that longest inflorescences had been in bloom for over one year.
If a town can be called great based on the things named after it, Southern Pines may not taste as good as Philly or Chi-town, but it’s a lot prettier.