Our Story
From a tender age growing up in bustling Cape Town, I was fascinated by my dad’s bonsais. I admired their beauty and the finesse it took to carefully groom and prune them. The end result was always worth the meticulous work and patience, bringing an endless amount of happiness
I have always loved orchids and like most people I started off owning a few phalaenopsis (moth orchids), a species that floods grocery stores and florists around the world.
My initial reaction was, why are these plants so expensive and they’re just going to die in a couple of weeks?
Well, I was surprisingly mistaken… the flowers showed off their beauty for 6 months! And to add to my excitement, new buds began to shoot after 3 months!
I don’t think I’d ever been more content to be wrong before.
I bought these career starting orchids in 2010 and to this day, I still have them, and they still flower every year.
The most common of orchids are seen all over the world and I witnessed this first hand as I travelled many parts of the world.
The surprise truly came about when I visited Thailand and Bali! The most exceptionally breath taking plants that I had never seen before! To my amazement, they were indeed orchids; Vanda’s with cascading roots, hanging over 1.5 meters with gorgeous blue-hue flowers. Cattleya’s with flowers bigger than my open palms with the most beautiful scent. The list goes on; Dendrobiums, Slipper Orchids, Bulbophyllum’s… and that was me… I was hooked, fixated on each ones differences…and I had to have them all! And thus begun my new love and driving passion to share these beauties with the rest of South Africa
Once I had returned from my travels, my dad and I excitedly began growing new orchids as a hobby. A couple of years later, we decided to venture onwards and turn our passion into a career. Aspiring to fulfil the time old tale, “those who are passionate about what they do, will never work a day in their life”
Our first big-business-baby-step was starting off at Shongweni Farmers Market in Durban. With one collapsible table and a 3mx3m stall with a few orchids to sell, I was elated!
One year later, OrchidLove had a permanent greenhouse built at the entrance of the market. Kitted out to welcome visitors in to a serene nature filled environment, where we sold over 100 orchids each weekend.
Through life’s ups and downs, I moved my business to Cape Town for a few months and then to Pretoria. Perhaps it was my passion for what I do that took me back to where I grew up, went to school, where my family live.
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In 2021, we moved the business to Durban where the plants thrive in the humid climate. We now offer our local customers to visit our greenhouse at our home by appointment, to experience the beauty first hand. Having an online store now means, these magnificent plants can be accessible to anyone throughout our country.
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Daniel Coetzee
Co-Founder OrchidLoveSA
