Claude Hamilton to Speak at August 4 Meeting
At our August 4 meeting, Claude Hamilton will speak to the Houston Orchid Society about Cuban Encyclias.
Claude has been growing orchids for more than 50 years. He and his wife, Elizabeth, founded Hamlyn Orchids in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1983, where he has become a well-known hybridizer of orchids. Perhaps best known as a breeder of Broughtonia, Encyclia, Myrmecophila, Laelia and their hybrids, he has also bred award-winning Oncidinae, Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis, and Vanda. Most of the orchids grown at Hamlyn Orchids are propagated from seed in their facilities in Kingston, and his plants have been exported around the world.
Hundreds of plants produced at Hamlyn Orchids have won quality or botanical awards from the American Orchid Society as well as other orchid societies around the world, and in May 2017, Claude was presented with an award by the American Orchid Society for excellence in hybridizing.
Claude is a former president of the Jamaica Orchid Society and a life member of the Jamaica Horticultural Society. He is an accredited judge of the Jamaica Orchid Society (since 1986) and of the American Orchid Society (since 2000). He is affiliated with the Florida Caribbean Judging Center of the American Orchid Society in Miami, and he has judged and lectured in more than 34 countries. Claude has for many years served as the chair of judging at the Jamaica Orchid Society and at other orchid shows in Jamaica.
One of Claude’s hobbies is photography, and he serves in an honorary role as awards photographer at all six American Orchid Society judged events in Jamaica.