Robert Marsh Orchid Bio:
Robert Marsh has over 60 years of experience with growing orchids. He was enticed to start growing orchids in his early teen years by articles in popular magazines and the book "Home Orchid Growing" by Rebecca Northern. With encouragement and advice from Craig Foster of Bluegrass Orchids, which was located near Lexington, Kentucky, and orchid enthusiast Katherine Stewart in his hometown, Winchester, Kentucky, Robert's multigeneric collection quickly grew to fill a greenhouse that he and his grandfather built. For a time, the pursuit of a Ph.D. in molecular biology at Vanderbilt University, followed by several years of post-doctoral research in Germany and at Princeton University, put the orchids on a back burner. But, in the early 1980s, after joining the faculty of the University of Texas at Dallas, Dr. Marsh -- at the naive urging of one of his doctoral students -- returned to the avid pursuit of orchids: first of Oncidium species and then Barkerias, after being introduced to them by Jim Balch of North Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1982 he joined the Greater North Texas Orchid Society. Three years later Dr. Marsh's Oncidium (now Gomesa) forbesii 'Lorenz Marsh' AM/AOS was awarded the AOS Botanical Trophy, called the Nax Trophy at the time. He has written articles and registered a number of Oncidium and Barkeria hybrids, several of which have received AOS quality awards. Following his retirement as Associate Head of the Molecular and Cell Biology Department at UT Dallas, he taught biochemistry as a part-time Senior Lecturer until fall 2020. He continues breeding Barkerias and working to popularize them among orchid hobbyists and establish them as mass-market pot plants. He and Dennis Szeszko, who wrote the recent authoritative work on the orchids of Mexico State, La Orquideoflora Mexiquense, have founded MAS Orchids LLC, which is working with Floricultura B.V. in Holland to commercialize Barkerias.
Dennis Szeszko had what all of you would probably consider your "dream job". He was hired by the Mexican government as a research scientist and was lucky enough to spend five years traveling throughout Mexico looking for orchids. During that time, he was employed by the Ministry of Agriculture and his job was to identify the Mexican wild orchids that could be adapted for use as commercial flowers. His adventures took him through the Mexican states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Campeche, Michoacan and Mexico State looking for the most beautiful clones of many of Mexico's most acclaimed orchid species. He has extensive first-hand knowledge of Mexican orchids, where they can be found, and ex-situ cultivation techniques.
As part of his research objectives, Dennis completed a tour of all of the orchid species that grow in Mexico State. At present, Dennis is probably the expert who has the most knowledge about Mexico State's orchids and where to find them growing in their native habitats. Although Mexico State makes up only 1% Mexico's territory, more than one-fifth of all of Mexico's orchid species grow there in the wild. Dennis is working with the Mexican Commission on Biodiversity (CONABIO) to take the information that he generated from his study and use it to understand the growing ranges of orchids, and the best way to protect them and their habitat.
During the course of his travels, Dennis took many beautiful photographs of orchids in the wild. He has over 25 gigabytes of orchid photographs that formed the basis for a "coffee table" book, La Orquideoflora Mexiquense, which was published by the Mexican government to commemorate the bicentennial of Mexico's independence. The research and writing of the book took over six years and it has been acclaimed as one of the most well-researched books ever written about Mexican orchids. He is also the discoverer of six new species of orchids that he is currently in the process of formally naming and describing.
In addition to his scientific research with orchids, Dennis has a keen interest in the business of orchids. He and his business partner, Robert Marsh founded a company that is breeding and developing new varieties of Mexican orchids that will be sold as pot plants and cut flowers. Dennis is particularly excited about the possibility of using Barkeria species as the cornerstones of this new enterprise.
Dennis currently resides in Dallas, Texas. He holds an undergraduate degree in history from Princeton University and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Robert Marsh has over 60 years of experience with growing orchids. He was enticed to start growing orchids in his early teen years by articles in popular magazines and the book "Home Orchid Growing" by Rebecca Northern. With encouragement and advice from Craig Foster of Bluegrass Orchids, which was located near Lexington, Kentucky, and orchid enthusiast Katherine Stewart in his hometown, Winchester, Kentucky, Robert's multigeneric collection quickly grew to fill a greenhouse that he and his grandfather built. For a time, the pursuit of a Ph.D. in molecular biology at Vanderbilt University, followed by several years of post-doctoral research in Germany and at Princeton University, put the orchids on a back burner. But, in the early 1980s, after joining the faculty of the University of Texas at Dallas, Dr. Marsh -- at the naive urging of one of his doctoral students -- returned to the avid pursuit of orchids: first of Oncidium species and then Barkerias, after being introduced to them by Jim Balch of North Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1982 he joined the Greater North Texas Orchid Society. Three years later Dr. Marsh's Oncidium (now Gomesa) forbesii 'Lorenz Marsh' AM/AOS was awarded the AOS Botanical Trophy, called the Nax Trophy at the time. He has written articles and registered a number of Oncidium and Barkeria hybrids, several of which have received AOS quality awards. Following his retirement as Associate Head of the Molecular and Cell Biology Department at UT Dallas, he taught biochemistry as a part-time Senior Lecturer until fall 2020. He continues breeding Barkerias and working to popularize them among orchid hobbyists and establish them as mass-market pot plants. He and Dennis Szeszko, who wrote the recent authoritative work on the orchids of Mexico State, La Orquideoflora Mexiquense, have founded MAS Orchids LLC, which is working with Floricultura B.V. in Holland to commercialize Barkerias.
Dennis Szeszko had what all of you would probably consider your "dream job". He was hired by the Mexican government as a research scientist and was lucky enough to spend five years traveling throughout Mexico looking for orchids. During that time, he was employed by the Ministry of Agriculture and his job was to identify the Mexican wild orchids that could be adapted for use as commercial flowers. His adventures took him through the Mexican states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Campeche, Michoacan and Mexico State looking for the most beautiful clones of many of Mexico's most acclaimed orchid species. He has extensive first-hand knowledge of Mexican orchids, where they can be found, and ex-situ cultivation techniques.
As part of his research objectives, Dennis completed a tour of all of the orchid species that grow in Mexico State. At present, Dennis is probably the expert who has the most knowledge about Mexico State's orchids and where to find them growing in their native habitats. Although Mexico State makes up only 1% Mexico's territory, more than one-fifth of all of Mexico's orchid species grow there in the wild. Dennis is working with the Mexican Commission on Biodiversity (CONABIO) to take the information that he generated from his study and use it to understand the growing ranges of orchids, and the best way to protect them and their habitat.
During the course of his travels, Dennis took many beautiful photographs of orchids in the wild. He has over 25 gigabytes of orchid photographs that formed the basis for a "coffee table" book, La Orquideoflora Mexiquense, which was published by the Mexican government to commemorate the bicentennial of Mexico's independence. The research and writing of the book took over six years and it has been acclaimed as one of the most well-researched books ever written about Mexican orchids. He is also the discoverer of six new species of orchids that he is currently in the process of formally naming and describing.
In addition to his scientific research with orchids, Dennis has a keen interest in the business of orchids. He and his business partner, Robert Marsh founded a company that is breeding and developing new varieties of Mexican orchids that will be sold as pot plants and cut flowers. Dennis is particularly excited about the possibility of using Barkeria species as the cornerstones of this new enterprise.
Dennis currently resides in Dallas, Texas. He holds an undergraduate degree in history from Princeton University and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.