Lab Helps Bring China Orchids to Maryland (AP) AP - Thomas Handwerker leans close to a young orchid, just over from China, to inspect its deep green leaves. He knows exactly where a long, flowery spindle will sprout. He's a career horticulturist, but he doesn't know a thing about growing phalaenopsis orchids. Handwerker is counting on farmers along the eastern shore region of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia to do the work of cultivating this brood of 30,000 orchids.