The outbreak of the First World War interrupted the blossoming new science of hybridization because changes to the social order greatly affected the advancement of orchid cultivation. Many of the estates that had been holders of the large private collections had to be run down because their labour force was called to enlist, many never to return.

The birthplace of orchid hybrids was the nursery of James Veitch and Sons in Exeter, Devon.

With the relatively low cost of air travel, global events attract registrants from around the world. Interest is perhaps keenest in Japan, where orchid exhibitions are attended by hundreds of thousands of orchid fanciers and where prizes for the best plants start with a car.

Europe joined in this new orchid bonanza, and commercial nurseries appeared in Germany, Holland, Belgium and Denmark.

The oldest journal in the world is the Orchid Review, started in 1893, which is published six times a year by the Royal Horticultural Society in London. Further information is available on the Internet, where individual websites can be visited and ideas exchanged on a global basis.

Today, hybridizing has come a long way from the tentative steps taken by John Dominy in Veitch’s nursery. The Royal Horticultural Society in London is the world authority for the registration of orchid hybrids, where over 100,000 have been entered. This astounding figure continues to rise by over 3,000 per year, testimony to an insatiable appetite for better plants. The majority of these new varieties are produced for the pot-plant trade, which demands a supply of cheaply produced, easily grown orchids.

Amateur societies dedicated to the advance of orchid cultivation started up, and in the United States the American Orchid Society was founded in 1921. This organization grew from small beginnings to a worldwide network, becoming the largest orchid society in the world.

Twenty years after the First World War, the orchid industry was again flourishing when the Second World War began, dashing all hopes of further progress. There was difficulty in obtaining fuel for amateur greenhouses, while commercial nurseries had to be used for the production of food crops. The lack of skilled growers saw the demise of the last remaining large collections.

Methods of raising orchids have improved so much that it is now possible to bloom seedlings within three to four years from the flasks, whereas previously this had taken up to seven years.