"John Anthony Carbone (18651946) had been growing roses since 1888. Carbone, who would gain fame as the Orchid King of the West, was born in Turin, northern Italy. His father was a gardener, and young Giovanni worked with plants from an early age. In an interview he gave in 1937, Carbone said that he followed his older brotheralso a horticulturistto Chicago in 1883. Soon he was engaged to work on the estate of Lucien Scott in Leavenworth, Kansas. A banking, coal, and railroad tycoon, Scott bought the housenow home of the Leavenworth County Historical Societyin 1882.. turning it into a mansion. When Scott sold the estate in 1887, Carbone... he moved to New York City and worked in Central Park...
Having heard enticing tales of California, Carbone went west and landed in Berkeley... In its early years, the Carbone nursery specialized in roses and chrysanthemums. As carnations became fashionable, Carbone made them his specialty... In a southwestern corner of the nursery, one small greenhouse contained a large heater. This may have been the kernel of what would become the largest orchid nursery on the West Coast. In 1937, Carbone told an interviewer that he had become fascinated with the idea of importing and growing orchids... By then, he was prosperous enough to undertake such an... enterprise... In 1917, he would make news by selling a Brassocattleya he had grown from seed and named Queen of California for the record sum of $2,500... At the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915, the Carbone exhibit, showing off more than 80 orchid varieties, was judged Best in Show. In addition to the gold medal for overall exhibit, Carbone received four first prizes for individual orchid cultivars... John Carbone died at the age of 80... John, Jr. managed the nursery until his retirement in 1959, when the business was taken over by the youngest child, Louise Carbone Colombatto, and Melvins son, Mel Jr. With demand for cut flowers steadily declining, greenhouses showing their age, and heating bills soaring, the family decided to close the nursery... Remaining are the showy cultivar Cattleya J.A. Carbone and numerous hybrids developed from it" URL : http://www.berkeleydaily.org/text/article.cfm?issue=09-21-07&storyID=28061 photo :[caption : John Carbone in the late 1930s] http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/photos/09-21-07/John%2DA%2E%2DCarbone%2Ejpg ************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
