Grahame Young
Horticultural Manager
Grahame was raised surrounded by the world of agriculture and horticultural. His whole family were farmers and ran mostly agricultural ventures South-West of Newcastle, NSW. Grahame then moved to Newcastle, NSW, to start a family with Lynette. Lynette's cousin Brian and his father Stan were keen orchid enthusiasts, founding the Woolgoolga Orchid Society. It was Brian and Stan that really got Grahame hooked on the good stuff! The first attempt to grow orchids didn’t go to plan. The first greenhouse was built over the top of a septic valve which meant there was a lot of growth and no flowers, so after three or so long years, he shipped the plants back to Brian and Stan and threw in the towel to concentrate on Budgies and Goldfish, that didn’t last too long...
Obviously, what happened next was, Grahame re-built the greenhouse and acquired a few more thousand and flowered them this time! In the early 2000's Grahame then joined several local societies, along with his grandson Callyn Farrell. In 2012 they founded Elermore Orchids together and then in 2015 took over Down Under Native Orchids. Grahame has found his calling in the laboratory, and these days that’s where he catches a ‘break’ from the hard work.