Orchid Events - 2023 Monthly Meetings

January 3 - Honey, I Shrunk the 'chids
Kristen Uthus, New World Orchids

Kristen will be our virtual speaker this month, joining us from her home in Michigan. Kristen says "Eventually everyone runs out of room for more orchids—unless they’re really small. While their size intimidates some people, miniatures are just as tough as their larger relatives. What makes them so appealing is their variety of form in addition to flower, and they are just plain cute! The fact that they take up so little space means that you can have a lot of different kinds of orchids in a limited area."

February 7 - Broughtonias and Their Hybrids
Phillip Hamilton, Bredren Orchids

Phillip Hamilton will talk about the Broughtonia species and some of their hybrids, with lots of focus on how to grow them. Phillip was born and raised in Jamaica where he inherited his dad’s passion for orchids and grew up working in his parents’ orchid nursery, Hamlyn Orchids. His dad’s orchid passion is with the Jamaican native Broughtonias and their hybrids. Phillip’s passion also includes Phalaenopsis, which he has been growing and hybridizing since the age of eight.

March 7 - Oncidiums
Steve Hawkins, The Orchid Specialist

Steve will talk about oncidiums and oncidium intergenerics. There is quite a variation in types of oncidium orchids from the miniature Tolumnias to the large varieties with long, arching inflorescences. Steve will share his tricks with these easy to grow and flower orchids. After graduating college with a degree in horticulture, Steve started work at Rod McLellan's Acres of Orchids in San Francisco, and ultimately began his own nursery, The Orchid Specialist, in Apopka. He has retired and now grows orchids for his personal enjoyment, and consults with hobbyists that may be experiencing problems.

April 4 - Harvesting Rainwater
Dotty Woodson, D and B Orchids

Dr. Dotty Woodson from Fort Worth, Texas will talk about rainwater harvesting. Rainwater is a great alternative to well water and public water supplies that are often laden with dissolved salts. She was with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service for over thirty years, disseminating a wealth of knowledge about sustainable landscapes and gardening. Her focus was on water resources and landscape horticulture, reaching audiences through television, print and the internet.

May 2 - Habenarias
Nicholas Rust, RustyExotics Orchids Nursery

Nicholas operates a small orchid nursery based in Georgia, selling uncommon orchids such as Habenaria, jewel orchids, and Bulbophyllum as well as other unique plants like Amorphophallus. His background in biochemistry and molecular biology led to an interest in the entire growth cycle of orchids and the start of his own hybridization program. He uses rarely cultivated species and distinct variations of common species to create truly exceptional shapes and colors that will pave new directions for unique hybrids.

June 6 - Unusual Mounts
George Hausermann, EFG Orchids

George "The Toolman" Hausermann will demonstrate how to attach orchids onto unusual mounts. Sue will have a nice variety of different orchid divisions, and George will show his creativity with different ways of growing orchids on eye catching mounts. EFG Orchids was founded in 1939 outside of Chicago furnishing the wholesale market with cut orchid blooms and gardenias. George is a fourth generation orchid grower, who relocated to DeLand to create an innovative new greenhouse with a wide variety of exotic plant species.

July 12 - 101 Ways to Kill an Orchid
meeting date change: rescheduled to second Wednesday
Ron Kaufmann, Orchid Conservation Alliance

Ron has been growing (and killing) orchids for two decades. His presentation will cover some of the ways orchids can be brought to an untimely end, along with suggestions for correcting some common horticultural errors. He has travelled extensively to view orchids in the wild in Asia and South America, particularly Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia. Ron is a marine biologist by training, and his scientific work includes studies of Antarctic and deep-sea ecosystems as well as marine communities in near shore habitats around San Diego.

August 1 - Hybridizing and Flasking
Tony Millet, Hobbyist and AOS Student Judge

Tony will be speaking on the benefits of hybridizing and growing from seed. There will be some show and tell involving plant pollinia, plants in pod, protocorm formation in flask and early potting out of flask to near blooming size plants. Tony is an orchid grower and hybridizer who does his own flasking, replating, mericloning and other in-vitro work. He has been growing orchids for 30 years and hybridizing for 20 years. He really enjoys making hybrids using hard to find, rare or different color forms of species.

September 5 - Schomburgkias
Bret Ullery, Accent Orchids

Bret Ullery of Accent Orchids in St. Petersburg will be talking to us about Schomburgkias. Bret and his wife Ruth started Accent Orchids in 2012, with Bret building the shade houses. He loves to educate people about orchids and how to grow them, particularly his favorite dendrobiums, schomburgkias and grammatophyllums. Bret has been the president of the Tampa Bay Orchid Society and is currently the president of the Florida West Coast Orchid Society.

October 3 - Reblooming Orchids
Courtney Hackney, Hackneau Art & Orchids

Crowd favorite Courtney Hackney will talk about reblooming orchids identifying the cultural factors that trigger different orchids to bloom. Depending on the type of orchid, changes in light, temperature, day length and similar environmental conditions induce flowering. He grows many different genera, but his favorite is the Cattleya Alliance. He has about 500 mature cattleyas and even more seedlings, but his favorites are classic clones, some of which appeared in orchid collections over 100 years ago. He makes 8 to 10 hybrids per year.

November 7 - Judging the Show Table
Alan Koch, Gold Country Orchids

Alan will do an informal judging of our Show Table, talking about the plants, their culture and evaluating the awardability from his AOS judging experience. Courtney Hackney and our AOS judges in attendance will provide their assessments in this interactive and fun program, lots of charisma there!  Alan owns and operates Gold Country Orchids in Lincoln, California. He is an internationally known speaker, an expert in the Brazilian Cattleya alliance and a trend setter in miniature Cattleya breeding.

December 5 - Christmas Orchid Auction

We’re looking forward to our Christmas party and auction where we get to kick back, have fun and spread holiday cheer with our orchid buddies... and come home with orchids. Hope to see you there!
Our Christmas orchid auction is on our normal first Tuesday meeting night. Drive around to the back, closest to the hall entrance. We'll be there setting up around 5:30.
We’ll start our social hour at 6:30 pm. This will give us a chance to exchange holiday cheer before we hit the vittles. Bring your beverage of choice. The club will provide the low octane water, iced tea and coffee, but if you enjoy a cuppa with your meal, feel free!
One thing you can always count on is all the good food. Wonder what Lady Di will conjure up for the main courses this year! Bring a dish to round out the meal. Salads, potato and pasta side dishes, vegetable side dishes and desserts have been big favorites in years gone by.
We’ll have calendars and seedling orchid plants. We’ll finish up the evening with an orchid auction where you can bid on a nice variety of different types of orchids.