Marble Branch Farms is the dream of two lifelong horticulturists, Gary Alan Collier and Mark Alan Reinke, who share a mutual passion for unique and unusual plants. Our goal as orchid hybridizers has been to produce something a little different from the same old hybrids that everyone seems to sell these days. We have looked at the current trends in compact Cattleya breeding and have noticed several voids between breeding lines being developed in places like Hawaii, the Caribbean and elsewhere that we hope to fill with new, beautiful and more temperature tolerant hybrids. We also have an eye for something unique, charming, and a little different. To this end we offer the results of our breeding program in the tradition of cutting edge hybridizers of the past such as W.G.G. Moir, whose wonderful creations using Encyclia, "Schomburgkia," and other less known members of the Cattleya alliance were somewhat ahead of their time. We believe that you, the orchid hobbyists of today, are ready for what we have to offer. So, with this in mind, we ask you to enter our world, and fall in love with orchids all over again!
We are located on a private road in a remote area at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where we receive abundant winter sunshine owing to the ‘downslope’ effect of the winter winds off the high mountains behind us. We find this extra light in winter highly beneficial to the orchid plants we grow, keeping them in top condition for our customers.
We regret that our growing area and propagation laboratory are not open to any walk-in business due to the private and difficult access to our farm. In addition to mail order, we sell our plants through a number of orchid shows we attend throughout the region each year, at speaking engagements with orchid societies and at the TD Saturday Market in downtown Greenville, SC during the season it is open. If we are participating in something close to you and have requests to specific plants, please eamil us at: info@marblebranchfarms.com.