GOLDEN TOUCH—George Harold Vasquez at home with his beloved orchids. The 60-year-old, who’s an award-winning grower and longtime aficionado of the plant, will be a judge at the World Orchid Conference this fall in Singapore. CATE BROWN/Special to The Acorn When the Twentieth World Orchid Conference opens in Singapore on Nov. 13, renowned orchid expert George Harold Vasquez of Thousand Oaks will be there as one of the confere nces’ s in- ternationally accredited judges.

The WOC, a tri- annual event, has been held all over the world— including London, Honolulu, Medellin, Johannesburg and Miami— since its 1954 inaugural conference in St. Louis. It’s considered by botanists and orchid lovers to be the Olympics of the orchid world.

The 60-year-old Vasquez, a grower and the holder of more than 1,000 orchid awards, does his judging based on a point system that evaluates each plant’s color, form, balance, health and vigor.

PERFECTLY ARRANGED—Orchid expert George Vasquez prepares a display at the Westlake Four Seasons Hotel. CATE BROWN/Special to The Acorn Born in El Monte and raised in Malibu, Vasquez grew up among the orchid-filled greenhouses operated by his parents, Amado and Maria Vasquez. Still in the family, the property on Bonsall Drive lies close to the Zuma Canyon trailhead where Vasquez played baseball as a child.

Today, Vasquez is involved in every aspect of cloning, hybridizing, pollinating and growing the elegant species. Like his parents before him, Vasquez has made the orchid a way of life.

And his hunt for that most elusive of all orchids—the one with uncommon beauty and total “wow” factor—is never ending.

“It might be a plant with brilliant color or it could be something very unusual, like a perfect, highly miniaturized variation that we haven’t seen before, something that could lead to a new direction in orchid culture,” Vasquez says.

As a teen, it was his responsibility to deliver orchids to the estates of his family’s celebrity clients in Malibu. The goal was to place the perfect orchid in the perfect setting.

Customers admit that his plants are more costly than those available at supermarkets or big box stores, but they say the Vasquez orchid is worth it.

Artist Jacoba Burnham and her husband Domingo Mendias, orchid fanciers who live in Hidden Valley, consider Vasquez to be the “Rolls Royce” of orchid growers. “An orchid of George’s will be more beautiful and last months longer than any other orchid,” Burnham said.

Vasquez is also a favorite of orchid societies. He judges shows, supplies orchids, and serves as expert consultant and program speaker. He was a primary supplier at last month’s Conejo Orchid Society show at the Thousand Oaks Library. Vicky Price, the society’s co-president, said Vasquez’ plants “are beautiful, unusual and always sell fast,” which helps the society raise money for its ongoing orchid conservation programs.

During the 1980’s Vasquez supplied orchids for the Reagan White House. He also provides orchids to capacious residences, high-end hotels and commercial establishments from Bel Air to Montecito.

Over the years the orchid master and holder of numerous orchid patents has also registered exclusive hybrids with the Royal Horticultural Society named after orchid lovers Princess Margaret, Princess Grace, Lenore Annenberg, Patricia Neal, Joan Didion Dunne, Katherine Ross, Betsy Bloomingdale and Nancy Reagan.

Several years ago Vasquez joined forces with orchid horticulturalist David Murdock, Dole Food Co. chairman. Vasquez became a design consultant for Murdock’s state-of-the-art orchid conservatory in Hidden Valley, as well as his Four Seasons Hotel operation in Westlake Village.

“Mr. Murdock is passionate about orchids and has the highest standards of perfection,” says Vasquez. “(Murdock is) known as a grower who grows only the finest orchids in the world.”

At the March 2011 Santa Barbara show, the Murdock-Vasquez collaboration on the exhibition’s theme, “Route 66,” drove off with top honors. The thousand-squarefoot diorama depicted a “Route 66” off-ramp to a farmer’s market and was the largest exhibit at the show. It included two vintage cars, a 1957 Cadillac convertible and a 1949 Hudson pick-up truck (a lucky find uncovered in a garage on the Murdock ranch), surrounded by thousands of exquisite cattleya, phalaenopsis and dendrobiun orchids.

When it came time to decide on the best place to raise children, Vasquez and his wife Bonnie picked the sunny side of the Santa Monicas, settling in the Conejo Oaks section of Thousand Oaks some 30 years ago.

Bonnie has been a teacher’s aid in the Conejo Valley Unified Schools for many years. Their three children attended Aspen Elementary School, Redwood Middle School and Thousand Oaks High School.

“We thought Thousand Oaks would be a great place to raise kids, and it has been,” says Vasquez. “We’ve seen changes since we moved here, but we hope it will never lose its small town feel and friendliness.”

He said his family and the world of orchids come first—and that there’s little time left for other pursuits.

Bestsellers aren’t on his reading list. But if he ever sits down with a good book—or a scientific paper— orchidacea would be the subject.

“I grew up with orchids,” he says. “I can’t imagine my life any other way.”