‘Dream’ comes true

Remember “Cinderella”? The fairytale about the young, mistreated step-sister who – helped by her fairy godmother – gets to attend the big ball where she, beautiful and unrecognizable, captures the heart of the prince?

Well, in our neck of the woods “Cinderella” is real and her name is Donna Souza. She lives in Coeur d’Alene and works as the day-shift scanner cashier at the Spokane Valley Fred Meyer store.

Souza is a self-proclaimed orchid nut. She has been growing orchids since 1992 and maintains a collection of 200 in her home including one that produces dozens of beautiful yellow flowers on long stems. A friend paid $5 for it at a plant sale and gave it to her as a gift about five years ago.

As her collection grew, so did a dream: Souza wanted to go to an orchid show and earn a blue ribbon.

So when the Spokane Orchid Society held its annual show in early April, she packed her Punch and Judy orchid into her mother-in-law’s big Buick and headed for her first ever competition.

She was a little concerned since the plant had lost three blossoms to aphids, but she still went to the show.

And there she was among experienced competitors who had earned many prestigious awards. One by one the plants went back to the judging room. Some returned with ribbons, others without.

Finally Souza’s plant with its shiny leaves, fat psuedobulbs and very fragrant, intense yellow flowers disappeared into the judging black hole.

Orchids kept coming and going, but Souza’s didn’t return.

Jim Pearce, president of the Spokane Orchid Society, speculated that because she hadn’t kept the three flowers attacked by aphids, they weren’t going to judge it.

Four hours later, all the judges returned with Souza’s plant. Attached to it were two huge blue ribbons: one for Best of Show and another for Best Miscellaneous.

Souza said she was amazed when she realized she had taken away the big prizes.

But there was more.

She learned she had won the prestigious Award of Merit, the second-highest quality award granted by the American Orchid Society.

The judges then asked her what she wanted to call the plant. Souza proudly gave them the botanical name: Gongora quiquenervis.

“I was so proud of myself,” said Souza.

The judges replied, “No, dear, what do we call this plant now?”

Souza was puzzled.

“I really felt stupid,” she said. Jim Pearce stepped in and told the judges that this was Souza’s first show and she didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. “I didn’t know the other awards existed,” said Souza.

It was now the judges turn to be stunned. They had never encountered a first-time hobbyist winning an award that was usually given at the big shows in Florida, New York or San Francisco.

Souza’s plant had earned a score of 82 out of 100 on a very detailed and rigorous scoring card.

“It’s the first time we have given a quality award for that plant. It was basically because (the flowers) had such outstanding yellow color,” said Dave Spencer, one of the judges.

Souza’s exceptional effort earned her the right to give her plant a distinct new cultivar name.

“I had no clue what to call it,” Souza said. “This is a dream come true and I felt like I am in a dream. So I decided to call it Donna’s Dream.”

The magnitude of the award still hadn’t sunk in.

“It seemed like a lot of fuss over a blue ribbon,” she said, looking back at her big day.

Then Jim Pearce sat her down and told her that her life had changed.

“Donna, you have won the Academy Award with your first movie,” he said.

Her plant was valuable now and needed to be carefully cared for and propagated because other orchid collectors would want to grow it. It will also be recorded in the Smithsonian Institute’s orchid collection and Souza will be recognized as the expert on growing that plant.

People all over the world want a piece of this “Cinderella” story, Pearce told her.

“This girl comes to the ball, nobody knows who she is, and she takes home the prince,” he added.

And so, after a few hurdles, including a slight name change, Souza and her plant began dancing at the orchid world’s biggest ball with the name of Gongora fulva Lindsey, Donna’s Dream.

And all she wanted was a simple blue ribbon.