by Michael Allen

Susan Orlean didn’t write any stories about a “Bougainvillea Thief.” Instead, her best-selling novel of the 1990s, The Orchid Thief, revolved around John LaRoche and the other quirky personalities of the South Florida orchid world. Eccentric collectors, fastidious breeders, and a cadre of orchid enthusiasts populated the true-to-life novel. For many Americans, the book brought a usually hidden culture into the spotlight and helped spark a resurgence of interest in the esoteric world of orchid collecting.

Orchids, however, are far from the only plants that are passionately propagated for new varieties and collected for new characteristics. In fact, nearly all garden collections are the result of intense work by countless horticulture professionals. They have focused their passions—and, many times, entire lifetimes—on a specific species of plant. Not all of these folks have novels written about them; in fact, very few of them ever do.

If there were a “Bougainvillea Thief,” however, his name would undoubtedly be John Lucas, and he resides right here in Buckingham, Florida. Just a stone’s throw from the meandering Orange River, Lucas’s Tradewinds Signature Botanicals nursery is the unassuming center of the bougainvillea universe.

“We have more varieties here than anywhere else in the country,” he says. The largest collection in the world is at Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden in Thailand, and it should come as no surprise that Lucas has been instrumental in establishing that historic collection too.

While his nursery is successful, Lucas is much more of a “plant man” than he is a “nursery man.” His nursery isn’t overwhelmed by complex irrigation systems or high-tech automated greenhouses. Rather, the acreage is comprised mainly of plants, not equipment, and he has an impressive collection of cacti, succulents, and other rare and exotic specialty plants.

More than anything else, though, Tradewinds Signature Botanicals is a bougainvillea paradise. It houses more than 125 different varieties of the plant, ranging in color from the delicate white of “Summer Snow” to the rich “Tomato Red.”

“What I have here is the best of what I think will work as commercial varieties,” he says. Most of these varieties are sold directly to consumers through the many different plant shows at which he exhibits, many of which he has organized himself. Recently, he exhibited at the Edison Garden Market at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates; Lucas was instrumental in putting this show together.

“For it being the first year, I was very pleased with the turnout,” says Debbie Hughes, director of horticulture at the estates, who worked closely with Lucas in organizing the event. “John knows a little about everything and a lot about bougainvilleas.”

Lucas also knows that more than just gardeners are looking for his plants. Because he has such a wide variety of different cultivars, his nursery stock is highly sought after by different growers. Therefore, he’s working toward restarting a previously successful division selling liners, or vegetatively propagated baby plants (versus ones produced from seed), to commercial growers. That way, Lucas is able to take his different varieties and pass them on to other producers.

“It involves more labor,” he says. “But I already know everybody in the business, and everybody knows me, so I know we can compete in the industry.”

Like so many other enthusiasts who dedicate their lives to tropical plants, Lucas didn’t begin his life in a tropical environment. Rather, he grew up in Pennsylvania and eventually attended college in Ohio. He didn’t catch the tropical “bug” until he was stationed in Homestead, Florida, while a member of the U.S. Air Force. Like many before him, Lucas fell in love with the area and later returned there full-time.

His passion for plants, however, started long before. “My grandmother was a plant freak, and I guess it wore off on me,” he says. This enthusiasm for plants continued while he lived in South Florida. He worked at various nurseries during his free time and on weekends, often just in trade for plants. His work and expertise in the field grew, and Lucas finally started his first greenhouse operation on a friend’s property in 1969. His commercial nursery career had begun.

During this period, Lucas had the opportunity to befriend Alice Lunsford, the namesake of the now famous “Miss Alice” bougainvillea cultivar. At the time, Lunsford, living in Miami, had more bougainvillea varieties than anyone else in the region. While making deliveries from his own nursery, Lucas would stop at “Miss Alice’s” nursery last, where she would make dinner. “She became a mentor and a best friend,” he says.

Through his time with Lunsford, Lucas’s interest in bougainvilleas grew, as did the size of his own collection. He became interested in exhibiting at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, to show off his bougainvilleas and other plants. But because one had to be a member of an organized plant “society” to exhibit at the renowned site, he founded the American Bougainvillea Society first. He remains president of that society today.

Lucas’s reputation as a bougainvillea expert really took off with his introduction to Michael Ferrero in the early 1990s. Ferrero was at the time working with the Nong Nooch collection in Thailand. Ferrero met Lucas through his work with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and the American Bougainvillea Society. At Ferrero’s behest, Lucas joined him in Thailand and India in pursuit of amassing the most complete collection of bougainvillea varieties. His experience there helped further his interest in collecting and breeding the plant back in the United States. Today, every new introduction of bougainvillea in the U.S., since the earliest cultivars released in the 1920s, can be directly attributed to Lucas’s work.

As development encroached on Lucas’s nursery in Broward County, he picked up his operations and moved to Buckingham in 2005. “We bought an existing nursery, so it was very easy to move in and take over,” he says. He still feels like he’s getting back on his feet, but the new nursery has slowly been taking shape. He has plans for expansion in the coming years.

At first observation, Lucas, with his understated, unassuming personality, wouldn’t stand out as a world expert. He does, however, show the quiet thoughtfulness one would expect from someone who has dedicated his life to the plant world. He is far from gregarious, like the many characters in The Orchid Thief, but he deserves just as much attention.

For more information about Tradewinds Signature Botanicals, call 239-693-5948. Hours are by appointment only.

Michael Allen is a freelance writer based in Fort Myers. He is also president and general manager of Soaring Eagle Nursery on Pine Island.