PROFILE: MICHAEL COKER
Michael Coker: A life amongst orchids By Matt Ross You would have no idea of the horticultural delights tucked away at Michael Coker’s suburban residence. Hidden behind his home in Heidelberg Heights are six orchid houses sustaining one of Australia’s most impressive private collections of orchids. His houses contain a dizzying array of orchids; 165 different genera and around 5000 plants, coming from every corner of the globe. There’s a sense of pride as Michael puts on a tour of his setup, sharing his expert knowledge as we go. And rightly so, this is something he’d always wanted and through hard work and daring to dream, he made it happen. Every bit of space is consumed by orchids at various stages of growth. But there’s a precision and thought process to their placement; each house enjoys different microclimates allowing different genera to thrive. And each orchid is facing the way it should for optimal growing conditions. He had assumed that a single house would have been enough but that merely lit the touch paper. Orchid Houses 2, 3 and 4 followed. And when a neighbouring property became available
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to purchase in 2014, that was the opportunity he had been waiting for to complete his set up. Orchid House 5 followed as a simple shade structure and after another two years he received the council permit he needed to put a solid roof on House 5 and to build Orchid House 6, his largest and most ambitious build. Each house is designed and built to his exacting specifications; Powerplants Australia and Monbulk Rural supplying specialist materials. It’s no surprise that orchids feature so heavily in his life. Michael’s father, Julian Coker, was something of an orchid oracle. He held the Australian Orchid Council position of Registrar-General of Judging for a number of years and ultimately gave up his medical career to follow his passion and set up an orchid nursery in Warrandyte.
