Cuban orchid grower breeds beauty in time of crisis

Outside the home of Lorenzo Suarez in San Miguel de Padron, a rundown neighborhood on the outskirts of Havana, trash piles up on street corners, sidewalks are cracked and paint peels from the facades ‌of storefronts. Inside, a jungle-like beauty pervades. The blossoms of 100 different species and hybrids of orchids, exquisite in their delicate beauty, some yellow, others blue, some spotted, others striped, create a splash of color at each glance, Reuters shares.

“Every flower is different. Their colors, their sizes, the way in which they are cultivated. It drives me wild,” says Suarez, a 50-year-old orchid expert ⁠and agricultural engineer whose large greenhouse is an urban oasis in a country whose economy has been stricken by blackouts and shortages.

Almost anywhere else, an operation the size of Suarez’s would constitute a commercial venture, mass-producing flowering plants for sale to other dealers and consumers. But in Cuba, with little market for orchids and few garden shops, Suarez finds his motivation elsewhere.