September Larry Cox

Larry Cox acquired his first orchid, a cattleya, almost forty years ago. His second was a paphiopedilum, Paph. Maudiae ‘Magnificum.’ The cattleya is long gone, but he still has a piece of the paph. When he began with paphs, he com- monly heard, “You can’t grow those in South Florida,” but the first one lived and bloomed, and the paphiopedilum collection continued to grow. In the mid 1980’s most of the other orchids were sold or given away, all for the love of paphs. In 1989 he moved from his South Miami residence to a more spacious property in the farming district of southern Miami-Dade County where he built his dream greenhouse of 3000 square feet. He has suffered setbacks, such as hurricane An- drew in 1992, but with perseverance and with the discovery of new paph spe- cies ,and the consequent new hybrids, Larry’s love of paphiopedilums has been re- newed over and over again. In 1983 Larry won his first AOS award for Paph. Maudiae coloratum ‘Elektra’ AM/AOS. Since then his orchids have earned forty

AOS awards, including four FCC’s.

Six years ago, Larry retired from thirty-seven years as a teacher, the last fif- teen teaching Advanced Placement high school English . He now spends his time reading, traveling, maintaining his property and, of course, growing paphs. Larry has experimented with other orchid genera and has found success with lycastes, phragmipediums, and pescatoreas. He has even rediscovered the wonder of cattleyas, particularly species.