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Conejo Orchid Society
Vol. 35, No. 1 www.conejoorchidsociety.org Jan., 2015
THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE, FROM BILL GUNNING
Happy New Year ! Hope you all had a happy holiday and are ready to get down to some serious orchid
business.
Whether it’s been the weather, or the stars were just aligned right, my orchids seem to be on a course for a
phenomenal show. The spikes on my cymbidiums are fatter than I can remember, my Cymbidium dayanum
(after some good advice from Ewa and Rina) produced 8 spikes, the Dendrobium nobiles are loaded with buds,
and my Dendrobium speciosum is spiking for the first time. The laelias are putting on their usual show and my
very first orchid, a Phalaenopsis roughly 20 years old, is producing 2 spikes for the first time. Then again, there
is my Maxillaria tenuifolia, which continues to grow but refuses to bloom. I keep moving it closer to the trash
cans to give it the idea, but it appears a bit slow on the uptake.
We ended up last year with our Holiday Party and this time we were not treated to a candle lit dinner. Great
thanks to the board members and others who contributed to the great dinner and who helped with set-up.
Special thanks to Gayle, Leslie, and Rina, who made the extreme sacrifice to pick up the plants from Orchid
Zone that were given to each attendee and awarded in our Bingo game. See page 3-4 for photos from the
event.
2015 should be another great year for our members. Our speaker for January is Fred Clarke of Sunset Valley
Orchids, who hasn’t spoken to the club for several years. We are planning a repeat of our picnic at Cal-Orchid
and will be having another meeting devoted entirely to culture as we did last year.
Membership Renewal - It’s time to renew our annual membership and hope to have this complete by March
so we can publish our new directory. Annual dues remain at $20 for all family members living at the same
address.
Santa Barbara Intl. Orchid Show - Our first big event for the year is our exhibit at the Santa Barbara
International Orchid Show coming up in March. We had a meeting in Decembers to formulate the plan for our
exhibit which reflects the show’s theme, “Celebrate with Orchids”, commemorating the 70th anniversary of
the Santa Barbara Show. Much work still needs to be done and we encourage everyone to participate.
NEWSLETTER EDITOR: GAYLE BRODIE (805) 551-8620; [email protected]
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FRED CLARK TO SPEAK ABOUT CATASETUMS AT THE
JANUARY 12 MEETING
Fred Clarke of Sunset Valley Orchids will be talking about Catasetums at our January meeting.
Fred is a noted expert on the subject, and wrote the cover article in the November 2014 issue of Orchids
magazine on “Magnificent Mini-Catasetums”. In addition, he recently presented a national webinar on
“Growing and Loving Catasetums” via the American Orchid Society website, which is still available for AOS
members to access.
Fred is a popular speaker on many orchid subjects and travels extensively around the United States, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Latin and South America. He is an AOS judge, and his own plants have
won hundreds of AOS awards, including eight of the coveted First Class Certificates.
Fred started Sunset Valley Orchids in 1995 as a natural outgrowth of a hobby that began 27 years earlier.
Sunset Valley Orchids is a “Boutique” style nursery dedicated to providing excellent customer service and
breeding superior orchid hybrids for the orchid enthusiast.
With over 45,000 square feet of greenhouse space in Vista, Fred focuses on breeding award quality orchids,
specializing in Cattleyas, Catasetinae, Paphiopedilums, Australian Native Dendrobiums, and a few others in
limited numbers like Sarcochilus, Zygopetalum and Stanhopea.
Fred states that “All our plant offerings are produced in our laboratory and grown from seed here at the
nursery. The lab processes over 200 new hybrids annually resulting is 2000 re-plate flasks. Our plants are
selected on strict criteria of robust growth and ease to flower. This is accomplished by selecting the most
vigorous growing plants throughout the growing process of flasking, community trays, and growing on in pots.
This grading results in the strongest and best plants for both our customers and for our own future breeding.”
Ed. note – I had the pleasure of visiting Sunset Valley Orchids last month, and the scope and quality of the
plants was breathtaking. It was an amazing experience that was well worth the drive. Gayle Brodie
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2014 HOLIDAY PARTY WAS LOTS OF FUN!
Ewa Gago receives her culture awards from Bill Gunning
Our holiday party went without a hitch this year. Attendees of our 2013 party remember our candlelit dinner thanks to
a major traffic accident that knocked out power in the area. So even though we didn’t quite have the same
“atmosphere” as last year, we all had a great time. Great food, great camaraderie, and of course, great plants!
The annual awards, the Red Marsh Species Award and the Betsy Seim Culture Award, based on the judging at our
monthly meetings, were both won by Ewa Gago. The Art Fingerle Outstanding Service Award, made by the COS
President to the person who contributed the most to the society during the past year was won by Vicky Price, our
tireless Treasurer, who also is our principal designer and fabricator for our Santa Barbara Orchid Show exhibit, and who
also handled the procurement and distribution of discounted orchid supplies to members.
Gayle Brodie & Phil Peck looking at the gift plants
Page 3
Sheri Swap at the dessert table
MORE HOLIDAY PARTY PICS
Bingo!!!!!
Leslie Naines-Brown, Kathy Boals, Alice Smith and Joyce Martin
Good Food
Page 4
COS VOLUNTEERS AT THE HUNTINGTON GARDENS
Joe Grodell, Kathy Boals, Bill Gunning, Gayle Brodie, Vicky Price, Leslie Naines-Brown, Phil Peck, Marcie
Wingard, Craig Brainard, and Chiyoko Tanger all volunteered at the Huntington Library during November and
December. The major project currently underway is the repotting of the Huntington’s enormous Paphiopedilum
collection. Gayle and Leslie were also involved in various orchid propagation tasks in the orchid lab.
Bill, Gayle, Vicky, Leslie, Marcie, Craig, Kathy and her spouse Brian also took Brandon Tam, the Huntington’s
Orchid Specialist, out to dinner to celebrate his graduation from Cal Poly Pomona in Plant Sciences.
Gayle Brodie holds a Paphiopedilum kolokapingii specimen plant that is about to be repotted.
Kolopakingii is the largest member of the Paphiopedilum genus.
If you would like to volunteer at the Huntington Gardens, please contact Gayle Brodie at (805) 551-8620.
There is a weekly carpool (usually on Fridays) from the Conejo Valley to the Huntington. You are guaranteed
to learn a lot and have fun!
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JANUARY REFRESHMENTS TO BE PROVIDED BY:
We thank Lucy Saito, Kate Murray, and Shelley Sechooler in advance for bringing the refreshments to the January
meeting!
JANUARY CULTURE SESSION
The culture session topic will be “How to Perform a Root Implant” (yes, you read that correctly), presented by Gayle
Brodie).
TIME TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP
Time again to renew your COS membership. The membership fee is $20 per person / couple / family of the same name /
address. If you haven’t already, please take a moment and give your dues to Joyce Martin as you sign in. This is also a
good opportunity to make sure that we have your current (and correct) phone number and e-mail address. If you cannot
make the meeting, please complete the membership form below and send it with a check to Vicky Price at 381
Raindance St., Thousand Oaks, CA 91360. We would like your renewal information by March 1st so that we can produce
our 2015 Member Directory.
Page 6
2015 Conejo Calendar of Events
Member Meetings (speakers / activity) January 12- Fred Clarke – Growing Catasetums
February 9 – George Hatfield – How to Do Ribbon Judging
March 9 - TBD
April 13 – Brandon Tam - Paphiopedilums
May 11 – Alison Starcher – Good Bugs
June 8- TBD
July 13 – Jason Fischer - Phragmipediums
Sunday, August 9 - Cal Orchid picnic - No Monthly Meeting
September 14–TBD
October 12 - TBD
November 9 - TBD
December - No Meeting - Happy Holidays
Board of Directors Meetings (open to all members)
Tuesday, January 6 at Kathy Boals house at 7 p.m. –all interested members are encouraged to
attend. Please RSVP to Kathy at [email protected]
Meeting Place and Directions General meetings are usually held at 7:00 PM on the second Monday of the month at:
Westlake Village Town Hall
31200 East Oak Crest Drive
Westlake Village, CA 91361
Meeting directions:
Take the 101 and exit Lindero Canyon
Turn South. Turn left on Agoura Rd.
Turn right on East Oak Crest Drive
(the third street on the right)
The Town Hall is the first drive on the left
Neighboring Societies :
SANTA BARBARA ORCHID SOCIETY
Meets the third Wednesday of each month at the Trinity Lutheran Church, Santa Barbara at 7:30 PM
For information call - 805-965-2536
VENTURA ORCHID SOCIETY
Meets the last Tuesday of each month at the Ventura Townehouse at 6:50 PM
4900 Telegraph Rd (7th floor), Ventura
Call Jean - 805-642-4815,
or Penny - 805-646-7716
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SAN FERNANDO VALLEY
ORCHID SOCIETY
Meets the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00 PM at the Sepulveda Garden Center,
16633 Magnolia Blvd.
Encino, CA 91436
For information call - 805-532-0080 ask for Mike
OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS
COS OFFICERS:
PRESIDENT BILL GUNNING (805) 279-0334 [email protected]
1st VP – PROGRAMS Leslie Naines-Brown (805) 492-6794 [email protected]
2nd VP – CULTURE SESSIONS KATHY BOALS (805) 377-5539 [email protected]
TREASURER VICKY PRICE (805) 233-2258 [email protected]
MEMBERSHIP Joyce Martin (805) 522-1072 [email protected]
DIRECTORS:
PUBLICITY ELLIE STAIGHT (805) 497-8187 [email protected]
REFRESHMENTS CHIYOKO TANGER (805) 529-6536 [email protected]
LIBRARY EWA GAGO (805)744-1561 [email protected]
RAFFLE Phil Peck 818 324 0382 [email protected]
NEWSLETTER GAYLE BRODIE [email protected]
ORCHID POTTING HELP Marian McWilliams (818) 421-0024 [email protected]
JUDGING CHAIRPERSON RINA SOTO (818) 480-2644 [email protected]
DIRECTOR AT LARGE SUSAN DUBIN (805) 497-6700 [email protected]
DIRECTOR AT LARGE Alice Smith (805) 777-1075 [email protected]
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SANTA BARBARA ORCHID SHOW
We are well on our way to developing our exhibit for the Santa Barbara Orchid Show which will be held March
13 – 15. There are many opportunities to patriciate including working on construction of the exhibit, providing
plants for the display, and participating as a ribbon judge. We will provide additional information at our January
and February meetings and via e-mail. If you have any questions, please contact Bill Gunning or any of the
other board members.
This year’s show will be its 70th anniversary and the theme is “Celebrate with Orchids”. To go along with this
milestone, the show organizers have issued the following press release which describes some of the history of
the event and the importance of Santa Barbara to the world’s orchid culture:
Santa Barbara International Orchid Show Celebrates 70th Year and Santa
Barbara as a Haven for War-Torn Orchid Species During WWII
A crown jewel of international flower showcases, the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show
(www.sborchidshow.com), will be coloring the scene of Earl Warren Showgrounds with the rarest, most
magnificent orchid specimens from all over the world on March 13-15, 2015. The impressive exhibit — one of
the oldest and largest in the United States — celebrates its 70th year as not only a display of the finest orchids,
but also as a testament to Santa Barbara’s role as an historical haven for many phenomenal orchid varieties
that would have otherwise disappeared into war-torn history.
Orchids first arrived to the mild, Mediterranean-like climate of Santa Barbara at the turn of the 20th century.
Many wealthy industrialists, escaping from the harsh eastern winters to retreat at Santa Barbara’s flourishing
spas, ended up settling in the area and employing expert horticulturists to build out elaborate gardens on their
estates. At the time, exotic orchids became the rage, and mass plantings of cymbidiums and other unusual
species flourished amid luxurious properties in such locales as Montecito and Hope Ranch.
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By the time World War II burst onto the scene, England was the leader in growing and hybridizing junglesourced orchids. But even these unassuming, neutral plants weren’t safe from the destructive bombings and
fuel shortages that wreaked havoc on the region.
It was a handful orchid enthusiasts such as Santa Barbara’s Elliot Rogers, local cymbidium grower and
manager of the Santa Barbara Orchid Show, and Samuel B. Mosher, professional agriculturalist and fortunate
oil tycoon, whose love for the rare flowers helped lead to their enduring preservation to this day. After
purchasing and importing a number of fine cymbidium collections from English orchid owners threatened by
the war, Rogers and Mosher then began hybridizing them in California.
It turns out that as an unintended consequence of World War II, the center of the orchid world shifted to
America. In fact, when cymbidium fever swept the nation, it was one of Rogers’ varieties, Cymbidium Carisona
‘Glendessary’, that parented the popular Cymbidium Lillian Stewart line of orchids.
Santa Barbara’s temperate climate, with mild nights and gentle ocean breezes, provided the perfect setting for
orchids to flourish. Nestled on a narrow plain between the rugged Santa Ynez mountains and the tranquil
Pacific Ocean, Santa Barbara naturally gave rise to a healthy orchid industry that now produces more orchids
than any other region in the country.
Since debuting as a premier showcase for the area’s orchid lovers and connoisseurs in 1945, the Santa
Barbara International Orchid Show has played host to some of the finest orchids in the world. At its 70th
anniversary event in 2015, visitors can expect to be wowed by lavish garden displays, artistic floral
arrangements, and meticulously designed corsages.
For those wishing to bring home a stunning souvenir from the show, vendors offer blooming orchid plants,
growing supplies, and winsome orchid-inspired art for. Visitors may also enjoy educational culture
demonstrations during the show in order to learn about growing their own orchids.
No matter what kind of memento visitors take away from the show, it’s sure to inspire a sense of celebration for
the legacy of beauty that Santa Barbara helped to carry on at such a pivotal time in both the history of orchids
and, ultimately, the modern world.
For more information or to purchase tickets to the show, visit:
http://www.sborchidshow.com/pages/Visit/Visit.html.
RECENT AMERICAN ORCHID SOCIETY AWARDS
Plant Name: Pleurothallis nossax ‘Huntington's Kettle’ HCC/AOS 76 pts.
Natural Spread
Dorsal Sepal
Petal
Lateral Sepal (Synsepal):
Lip (Pouch):
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Horizontal:
Width:
Width:
Width:
Width:
1.6 cm
1.2 cm
1.1 cm
3.0 cm
0.8 cm
Vertical:
Length:
Length:
Length:
Length:
7.4 cm
3.8 cm
1.9 cm
3.6 cm
2.9 cm
Description: Four lovely, interesting, translucent inflated flowers and seventeen buds on
seventeen inflorescences; dorsal sepal tan, translucent, strongly porrect, veined opaque and
lighter; lateral sepals tan, fused, saccate, veined lighter; petals translucent; nearly colorless,
blushed deep oxblood distally; lip translucent, blushed deep oxblood distally; substance firm;
texture crystalline and translucent, almost chiffon-like.
Exhibitor: Huntington Botanical Gardens
UPCOMING EVENTS
You can register for the Cymbidium Congress at http://www.cymbidium.org/cymbidium-congress.
Concurrent with the Santa Barbara Intl. Orchid Show, the following nurseries will be holding open houses:
Cal-Orchid, Inc.
1251 Orchid Drive, Santa Barbara
805.967.1312 - www.calorchid.com
Show 9am-5pm (Friday-Sunday)
Regular 9am-4pm (Monday-Saturday)
Gallup & Stribling Orchids
3450 Via Real, Carpinteria
805.684.1998 - www.americanorchids.com
Show 8am-4pm (Friday-Sunday)
Regular 10am-5pm (Monday-Friday)
8:30am-5pm (Saturday-Sunday)
Hatfield Orchids
3793 Dufau Road, Oxnard
805.901.0340 - www.hatfieldorchids.com
Show 9am-5pm (Friday-Sunday)
Regular 9am-4pm (Monday-Saturday)
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Orchids Royale
5902 Via Real, Carpinteria
805.684.8066
Show 9am-4pm (Friday-Sunday)
Regular Open by appointment
Santa Barbara Orchid Estate
1250 Orchid Drive, Santa Barbara
805.967.1284 - www.sborchid.com
Show 8am-5pm (Friday-Saturday), 9am-5pm (Sunday)
Regular 8am-4:30pm (Monday-Saturday),
11am-4pm (Sunday)
Westerlay Orchids
3504 Via Real, Carpinteria
805.684.5411
Show 8am-5pm (Friday-Saturday), 9am-4pm (Sunday)
Regular 8am-5pm(Monday-Friday),10am-3pm (Saturday)
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