This topic was created to pay homage to the small Brazilian growers, specially those coming from Rio de Janeiro. Besides, we intend to make a repertoire of the cultivation in Rio de Janeiro in a way that, all long the time, we could have an idea who is cultivating what, allowing, in this way, an interchange between the growers.
Since the last issue, we decided to expand our criterions and we present growers from another states and countries, answering, as a result, the increasing request of our readers.





 

Antonio Yoshio Sano

Antonio Yoshio Sano, fond of Cattleya walkeriana, was born in São Paulo city, 48 years ago. Still kid, charmed by the nature he saw sage and colorful, he liked to plant seeds of different grains and wait, with much patience and dedication, the little leaves arose.
The studies and the work kept him away from plants for a while, however the determination and the wish of going on connected with the nature and the beauty remained.
He took a degree in Industrial Design and worked in a department of Commercial and Residential Design Illumination for 17 years, still appreciating art, always connected to movement, luminosity and harmony of the colors.
Nowadays he has a nursery specialized in Cattleya walkeriana and a site in the Internet - Walkeriana Sano - which is a obligatory visit for all who love, in a special way, this species.
Besides, he is owner of a small restaurant.


  ON: Why did you start to cultivate orchids? Which was the magic moment of the attraction?

Sano: The liking for the plants since the childhood guided me to cultivate violets, charmed by their diferent colors and forms.
When I saw my grandmother's small Japanese garden, I started my first contact with her pots of orchids, discovering from this interaction that, her hobby, after a stressing day of work, was the cultivation of orchids.

 
Cattleya walkeriana aquinii 'Sano' 		ON: How long do you cultivate orchids?
Sano: This mania lasts for 20 years, approximately. Little by little, the orchids dominated my life and I started to partake in courses, lectures, shows and getting deep, with strong dedication, to this wonderful world of orchids.


ON: Where do you cultivate them?
Sano: My small nursery has, at about, 11 m2. It is placed next to Congonhas Airport, suffering with the excess of pollution and soot.
The solution for this problem was the utilization of a kind of shading material (Aluminet - sombrite) plus a plastic closing.

 

C. walkeriana concolor 'Herman'
 ON: Which are the climatic conditions in your environment of cultivation?


Sano: The advantage of my nursery is to be well illuminated and ventilated, bring, in this way, to a rather successful cultivation.

C. walkeriana concolor 'Junya'

  ON: There is no need to ask you how is your favorite orchid. You just cultivate Cattleya walkeriana since the beginning?

Sano: At the beginning, the various forms of different species charmed me and I had in my collection Oncidium, Laelia, Cattleya and some others.
Nowadays, I have my collection directed to the wonderful walkerianas.
 
 

C. walkeriana 'LR'
 ON: How many plants do you have nowadays, approximately?

Sano: Nowadays, I have, at about, 200 plants of Cattleya walkeriana and some seedlings. I am much more concerned about valorizing the quality than to increase the quantity.
My cultivation is made of 90% of walkerianas, the others are Cattleyas and Laelias which are in the site.
This direction, practically for only one species, made my cultivation easier and improved the collection.

  ON: How long do you spend taking care of your orchids, daily?

Sano: I visit it, every day, as soon as I wake up and after a crazy and hurry day in São Paulo, considering it as my refuge.

    ON: Which was the determinate fact or person who influenced your attraction for Cattleya walkeriana?

Sano: My preference for this species is due to a visit to a nursery in Japanese colony.


ON: There is an interesting history connected to this visit, could you tell us about it?

Sano: The owner, a very small, thin, aged and white-hairs person refused to sell me a walkeriana answering me in a
  samurai way, in Japanese: "It is too earl to you to cultivate walkeriana, first, learn how to cultivate species more simples".
By this time, I needed much determination and humbleness, I visited him many times, with photos of my cultivated orchids, until to get my first walkeriana.
 

This passion for its form and color fascinate more and more. I am proud of the battle conquered.
Nowadays, this small 90-years-old samurai is a great friend who gave me a wonderful Cattleya walkeriana “Feiticeira”.
I chose walkeriana by the beauty of the flower, by its scent, by the enormous variety (type, alba, semi-alba, coerulea, suavíssimas, flameas, aquinada...) and by the period of blooming, quite long.
This year the blooming started in March and should go on, at about, October.
Last year, with the intense heat of the summer, I had the grateful satisfaction of having blooming until the end of the year, with a Cattleya walkeriana var. coerulea.


C. walkeriana 'Feiticeira'
 
 
C. walkeriana coerulea 'Neon'                                 
C. walkeriana coerulea 'D. Tôme'
 C. walkeriana coerulea 'Gilda Maria'

  ON: This so special predilection Cattleya walkeriana resulted in a site which is an obligatory visit for who loves, in a special way, this species. How did it start?

Sano: In my graduation in industrial design, one of my favorite course was photography which culminated, in this way, with the creation of my first site, in 1999. With the value help of my son, today, we present the third site, totally rebuilt to be visited by many friends I got in those years of dedication and passion for orchids.


ON: Do you have some thing about cultivation to tip off?

Sano: Adopt your own cultivation. Never let the walkeriana as it comes: some in a bark, others in tree fern slab, pinus' bark, coconut fiber, etc. some in plastic pots, other in clay pots, some with rock-crusher drainage, another with shiver of clay pot, some in shallow pots, another in deep pots...
Brief, adopt your own model: kind of pot, kind of drainage and substrate.
It is easier to observe what is going well and what is wrong, the watering and fertilization become better controlled.
I cultivate in sphagnum, with pieces of polystyrene in the bottom of the pot and now, I am trying coconut fiber.
I do not have a secret, however if someone need any information, just keep in touch.

 
 
C. walkeriana type
'Sonho de Outono'
C. walkeriana type
'Princesa Rosa'
C. walkeriana suavíssima
'Princesa'
C. walkeriana tipo
'Suspiro'
  ON: Is there anything also you would like to say?

Sano: It is nice to discover that there are sensitive people who still surrender to the beauty of a flower, in spite of being the the XXI century, with all those technological advances.
This wonderful hobby opened the doors to 90-years-old friends with their experience and young fellows of 15 years old, with their anxiety for learning with the same velocity of their age.
The time has been generous with me. The Nature opened a new horizon to my autumn.

ON: Thank you very much, Sano.
 

C. walkeriana 'Guaxupé'

Visit the site Walkeriana Sano or keep this address to do a visit later:
http://www.angelfire.com/mt/orchids/
  Photos: ©Yoshio Sano


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