September 4 Meeting

At our next Houston Orchid Society meeting on Thursday, September 4, Nicholas Rust will give a presentation on “Orchids: The Beautiful, the Unique, and the Weird.” Nicholas is an up-and-coming hybridizer in the orchid community. His orchid passion began in 2015 when a mini-Phalaenopsis was gifted to him. Like a flame to gasoline, this gift quickly pulled him into the diverse world of orchids. Shortly after his interests were formed, he began exploring the culture of several unique genera of terrestrial orchids. He now specializes in Habenaria and other related genera, jewel orchids, Australian terrestrial orchids, and Bulbophyllum. In 2019, this obsession bloomed into a small orchid nursery, RustyExotics Orchids, which he uses to share the wonders and beauty of his work.

Through studying biochemistry and molecular biology during college, Nicholas approaches his orchids with the same scientific perspective he uses while working in a research lab. This led to an interest in the entire growth cycle of orchids and the start of his own hybridization program in 2018, which focuses mostly on terrestrial orchids, especially Habenaria. His aim is to use rarely cultivated species and distinct variations of species to create truly exceptional shapes and colors that will pave new directions for unique hybrids.