An orchid moment

This year’s recipient of the New Zealand Orchid Society’s John Easton Award for the most outstanding contribution in the culture and promotion of orchids in New Zealand, Margaret Harper, holds a cattleya orchid in the greenhouse behind her Oamaru home.

The founding and life-member of the 35-year-old North Otago Orchid Society said the award was a "lovely surprise".

She will travel to Napier to formally accept it on September 23. With plants taking up to four years to flower, Mrs Harper said the challenge of growing orchids had kept her interest since she became properly hooked after setting up her first major display at the 13th World Orchid Conference in Auckland in 1990.