Wild Jersey · 14 places
Eric Young Orchid Foundation
Eric Young (born 1911) began growing orchids as a teenager and lost his first collection during the Second World War.
Featured in: What to do in Jersey when it rains
The story
Eric Young (born 1911) began growing orchids as a teenager and lost his first collection during the Second World War. He rebuilt it after moving to Jersey, and in the early 1980s wrote the guidelines for a foundation to carry the collection on, securing the site in Trinity and beginning construction. Free of commercial pressure, the Foundation breeds its own hybrids and keeps decades of cultivation records. Its orchid exhibit was awarded a Gold Medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2026. Orchid hybrids are registered worldwide through the Royal Horticultural Society, and the advisory group that settles how that registration works held one of its twice-yearly meetings here in December 2015.
