South Florida Orchid Society

Rafael Romero

What a time to be an orchid nut in South Florida. The 69th Miami International Orchid Show has just ended and once again, the South Florida Orchid Society brings you a well-known international speaker.

Rafael Romero, was born in Caracas, Venezuela and graduated as a biologist from the Universidad Simon Bolivar. He began working with orchids in 1986 with his father in law, Henrique Graf, owner of Plantio La Orquidea, the largest orchid nursery in Venezuela.

Together with his wife, Rafael started a laboratory at Plantio La Orquidea in 1986 where they produce the species and hybrids for which they are well known. They moved to Sarasota in 2003 and established a 10,000 sq. ft. nursery featuring a many of the species and hybrids they produced in Venezuela as well as interesting species and hybrids from around the world.

So sit back and enjoy this special talk entitled “Orchids Tales”. Rafael will also be sharing his knowledge and experiences as well as answering questions.

In addition, Rafael will have a fine selection of orchids available for sale.

OFE International will be providing plants for our raffle table this month.

We will also be once again be having our popular silent auction!

Reminder: If you plan to bring plants for judging, be sure to have them registered no later than 7:30PM. This gives our team of judges time to properly evaluate your plants and present them for award photography. It also allows our judges to see this months program which starts at 8:00PM.

Armando Mantellini

We at the South Florida Orchid Society bring the most distinguished world class orchidist speakers. This month we bring you a man recognized all over the world. A world class pioneer in Cattleya species, Armando Mantellini. Born in Caracas, Venezuela. With a master’s degree in both mechanical and electrical engineering, orchid breeding since 1966 in his native Venezuela is his true love. Armando is mostly interested in Venezuelan and Colombian cattleya species. Fresh from giving a lecture at the annually cattleya symposium, Armando will speak on Breeding Cattleya mossiae. So sit back and enjoy. The master is in the house.
Jorge Merlo—Program Chairman

69th Miami International Orchid Show

Click Here for a list of Show Vendors

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In this day and age, all over the orchid community, we see long time growers and nursery owners retiring or just going out of business. We are delighted to find right in our own back yard a young couple ready to take on the challenge of turning their dream from hobby to a commercial nursery operation.

Angie Villanueva and Luis Del Pino purchased Ruben Sauleda’s nursery Ruben in Orchids, and right away, they started to add their touch. Adding new offices, remodeling the greenhouses and bring the beautiful grounds back to life and changing the name to Rio Orchids .Everyday management is run by Richard who worked with Ruben for over 30 years.

They continue to specialize in orchid flasking. At Rio, they cross their own amazing hybrids, which they sell to growers all over the world. They also maintain a supply of species and exotic orchids that are among our favorites. They are all grown to thrive in our South Florida environment.

Their presentation will focus on Orchid Propagation methods that have been in place for over 50 years. They will cover orchid pollination, flasking, seedlings, divisions, off shoots, back bulbs, and cuttings.

Let’s all welcome Angie and Luis to the South Florida Orchid Society family and support our local orchid nurseries.

Jorge Merlo
SFOS Program Director

RIO Orchids will be providing plants for both our regular and special raffle this month!

In addition, they will also have plants for sale!

• 7:00PM Doors open. Plant judging registration begins.
• 7:30PM Plant registration ends. Plant judging begins.
• 8:00PM Program begins.

If you are bringing plants for judging, please have them registered by 7:30PM. No plants will be accepted for judging after that time. This allows our judges time to properly evaluate your plants and also allows them to enjoy the main program with you.

Remember to have your plants cleaned and properly presented. They should be free of debris, insects, spider webs, etc. Although not absolutely necessary, leaves should be wiped with either Leafshine or a little milk and water solution. This makes for a much better presentation and will show when the plants are photographed. 

Ken Russ

Our June speaker is Ken Russ, who together with his lovely wife Judy, have been growing orchids for more than 20 years and have become multiple AOS award winners. After so manyyears of growing orchids Ken and Judy realized there was a need to share their orchid growing knowledge with all level orchid growers so they decided to create some innovative and practical presentations specially geared to help Florida orchid society members perfect the art of orchid growing

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Mac Rivenbark,“An Introduction to Philippine Orchids.”

Mac Rivenbark

Mac and his Filipina wife started an orchid business over 12 years ago after many fascinating trips to the Philippines. With extensive study, Mac is becoming an expert in Philippine as well as other Asian species and currently grows and blooms over 300 different types.

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