Great Grandpa Charles Green and the Orchid Plant

          Back in 1896 my Great Grandfather bought the greenhouse that had been built at 14th and Pebble streets here in Fremont.  I sort of remember my Grandpa Joe Green telling me the story of Charles coming to Fremont on the train and then riding the trolley line as far as he could… Maybe at the corner of Linden and Platte, is where the trolley line ended – I’ll have to check on that.
            Anyway, he walked the rest of the way to the greenhouse and began his life as a business ​owner, grower and florist.  In 1897 he married Katie Rogers, and they started their family and together they ran the business for over three decades until his death in February of1932.
            I have heard stories about my great grandfather from various family members and I’ve enjoyed pouring over the picture albums and scrapbooks to get a better idea of his early years, the happenings of the day, his many accomplishments, and the numerous adventures he undertook during his life.
            I found an article that was printed in the “Herald” on March 4, 1926.  There is a picture of my Great Grandfather in the article.  I will include the picture of Charles Green but the original article, is hard to read, sooo… I will type it out for you – just as it was written and punctuated!

Charles H. Green
Fremont, florist, who is just back from a two months’ sojourn in Florida, and comes laden with reports of that wondrous land, which rival one’s wildest dreams.
 

FREMONT FLORIST BACK FROM SOJOURN IN SUNNY FLORIDA
                                                  ​_____________________
 
       Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Green of Green’s Greenhouse, and their daughter, Miss Rose, are back in Fremont following a two months’ winter sojourn in Florida, and they come laden with reports of conditions of that wondrous land which rival the climaxes of youth’s fondest dreams or most daring of romances.
       In the first place, Mr. Green tells the Herald that on the southeast coast of the peninsula they’ve fairly gone crazy over real estate sales and prices.  He declares that one can buy lots in the business sections of New York or Chicago—“right on State Street, Chicago” are his very words – for less than one can buy a lot in Palm Beach or Miami.  Mr. Green incidentally suggested that the time is not far distant when that part of Florida will experience something such as this middlewest farming section went through following the inflated war-time prices on farmland – only perhaps a great deal worse.
       Mr. Green’s twenty acres of Florida land lie just south of Lake Okeechobee.  It is improved land, with a house on it and all under cultivation, thought it represents an investment on his part of not over a hundred dollars an acre.  He left her about the first of January, he said, with the full intention of selling that land, if he could get $250 an acre for it, for it was his and Mrs. Green’s desire to acquire a home on the coast instead.
       When he arrived there, he was offered $300 an acre for his land.  He hesitated.  Then the offer was raised, until finally $600 an acre was named.  By this time, the Fremont florist had got quite out of the notion of selling, so he came back still owner of his Florida tract.
     Mr. Green favors the west coast of Florida.  The section lying between Bonita Springs and Tampa, he declares, is far ahead of the southeastern section which has been undergoing such exploitation of late.  The soil is much better, he says, and it is his intention to buy acreage some where there within the near future, likely at Bonita Springs.
       It was while on a trip from their farm in the center of the lower peninsula westward that Mr. and Mrs. Green and their daughter fell in with a former Fremonter.   At first Mr. Green says he did not recognize his former townsman.  He says he knew the man very much resembled Mr. W.W. Lee, at one time a few years ago proprietor of a ladies’ ready-to-wear clothing and millinery business in the Lee-Haven block, on East Sixth.
 
       That’s it – a little article – a smidgeon of documentation.  The article certainly makes it seem that this is a return trip to Florida, so I am not sure what year he actually bought the property.  I’m guessing it was a year or two before the trip down there in January of 1926.  I’m also not sure when Grandpa Charles brought two Florida alligators up to the Greenhouse.  And I’m also not sure how long those two alligators lasted being caged up under the benches in the greenhouse… I just know as a child playing in the greenhouse, I always kept an eye out for anything lurking in the darkness under the benches.  My cousin Cindy and I would scare ourselves silly imagining a gator grabbing at our ankles as we ran the aisles.   It was great fun.
       Anyway – at some point Grandpa Charles did bring a few tropical plants up from Florida and that made more sense.  He experimented with raising those plants in the greenhouse.  I think the plants fared better than the alligators, but it took a while for them to adjust to greenhouse living.   
        One particular plant he brought back to Fremont was a Cattleya Orchid.  Now this is one of those times when I don’t think I am lying… I think I am telling the truth!! It is my understanding that the orchid plant hadn’t bloomed before Great Grandpa Charles died, from pneumonia, in 1932.  My Grandpa “Carnation” Joe did however nurture the orchid plant and keep it alive.  He hoped that the plant would bloom one day...
       On my parents wedding day, Grandpa Joe found that after patiently waiting decades, the orchid plant had finally bloomed.  Grandpa Joe plucked that beautiful flower for my mom.  Mom’s wedding bouquet contained the very first bloom from the orchid plant that my Great Grandfather had brought from Florida all those many years before. 
       Great Grandpa Charles had died, never having seen the blooms of this particular plant, but he had hopes that the flowers would one day be enjoyed by family and customers!  He was a businessman after all.
       The blooming of the orchid plant on January 14th, was an auspicious event for my mom, her father Joe and for her Grandmother Katie.  I’m sure they all felt the presence of Grandpa Charles that day.  It was a very special blessing for the celebration of their union as man and wife.
       That orchid plant continued to thrive and bloom.  I’m not sure how many times it was divided… lots of times!  Every January there were beautiful purple orchids lovingly arranged in vases, sitting on Mom's kitchen table and on the coffee table in the living room.  Those blooms brightened the dark cold days of winter and warmed our spirits - you just couldn't help but be happy with a big purple orchid staring at you in the face... those blooms are magic mood changers. 
       When Mom died on January 6th of 2009, the orchid plant was blooming.  I brought Dad into the greenhouse so we could order the flowers.  He stood at the counter and looked at Jessie and said, “I don’t care what other flowers you use, but you must have an orchid in the casket spray”.  He wiped at his eye and said, “She has to have an orchid”.
       Oh - there were orchids.  The flowers at her funeral were beautiful, absolutely stunning, and many arrangements included the massive cattleya purple orchids.  The orchids held a special significance in my mom and dad’s hearts. The whole family felt that significance and that connection… this particular flower was there at the very start of my family.  That orchid plant was probably in the greenhouse before my mom was ever born.  That orchid plant was part of my great grandparent’s adventure, my grandparents adventure, my mom and dad's adventure, my brother Stacy’s adventure and my son Evan’s adventure.  
       When the greenhouses were torn down, the orchid plants were brought into the conservatory.  When the conservatory was to be dismantled, the orchids were sold, and several were given to family members.  My brother Stacy took one to Houston and my son took one to Dallas.  When my brother moved to Bonaire, he gave the Cattleya plant to a friend for safe keeping.  Whenever the plant blooms, his friend sends him a picture and my brother shares the photo with me.
       My oldest daughter Sara gave me an orchid plant for Mother’s Day, 2022.  The gift warmed my heart – it was beautiful… and a tad scary.  I managed to keep the plant alive and recently that little plant bloomed.  It isn’t a cattleya orchid, but it is purple!  The plant bloomed this last week…  On the anniversary of mom’s death, January 6th, there were two blooms, one for Mom and one for Dad.  My little orchid plant bloomed in January… just as Great Grandpa Charles’s Orchid Plant bloomed in January for decades - that was significant… that was special… it warmed my heart.
 
Special Note: The purple orchid is a symbol of seeking spiritual enlightenment and attempting to understand the deeper meaning behind the universe. If you feel a particularly strong sense of connection or affinity for the purple orchid, it could signify that you are internally seeking a spiritual guide or lesson.  (Well, ya - always)



A little family photo slide show... a Green past... enjoy!

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