Our June meeting will start with the Installation of our new officers and directors and the presentation of trophies for our award winners.

Then we will have a wonderful program presented by Tom Harper of Stones River Orchids in Tennessee. Tom’s program is titled “12 Most Important Phalaenopsis Species.”

Tom began growing orchids on a windowsill in 1967.  By 1975, he had registered his first orchid hybrid and founded Stones River Orchids as a business. A long-time supporter of the Mid-America Orchid Congress, Tom served as its President, Vice-President and Mid-American Editor (the MAOC newsletter). Tom is also a founding member of the International Phalaenopsis Alliance (IPA) in 1989 and has served in many responsible positions including Vice President, President, and IPA Journal contributor on many occasions. Currently he serves on the Board of Directors as the Immediate Past President of theAlliance and is the Southeast Region 13 Representative.  He has been an active member in the Orchid Society of Middle Tennessee since 1967 serving as President, Vice President, and Trustee.

Tom assisted in writing and editing the Phalaenopsis species section of the soft cover Ortho book entitled Complete Guide to Orchids. He has written several articles on Phalaenopsis for Orchids, Orchid Digest and the IPA Journal.  He has traveled coast to coast and internationally speaking on various aspects of Phalaenopsis. Tom lectured at the 16th World Orchid Conference in 1996 in Brazil and the 19th WOC in January 2008 in Miami.  Additionally, he was invited to speak in March 2005 and again in 2007 at the Taiwan International Orchid Show and Symposium in Hsinying, Taiwan, Republic of China. He returned to Taiwan in 2010 and plans to travel there again soon. Most recently, he spoke at the 15^th Annual International Phalaenopsis Alliance meeting in theUnited Kingdom in June 2009.

In 2008, Tom received his first FCC/AOS on Dtps. Brother Success, ‘Laura’ (The highest award given by the American Orchid Society) at the Heart of Dixie Show inHuntsville,Alabama.  He has been an accredited American Orchid Society judge since 1984 and is based in theAtlantaJudgingCenter.

Tom will be providing the plants for the raffle table and will also have Phalies (unusual mericlones and some species) for sale.

THERE WILL BE NO PLANT JUDGING THIS MONTH!

We look forward to see you at the meeting.

Our April Program will be presented by George Carr and is titled “The Genus Catasetum – weird and wonderful.” George is an accredited American Orchid Society Judge in the Florida North Central Judging Center in Tampa, Florida and has been growing orchids for 35 years. His interest in the genus Cycnoches began in 1993 when he requested to do his research paper on the genus for his Student Judge requirement. His paper, Cycnoches – One Hundred Sixty-five Years of Confusion was completed and presented in 1995 and in 1996 the paper was awarded the first American Orchid Society Education Certificate of Appreciation. In 2003, George was named as an accepted American Orchid Society taxonomic authority on the Catasetinae specializing in Cycnoches.

George has published some 35 articles in the United States in Orchids and the Orchid Digest, Brazil, France in Richardiana, England in the Orchid Reviewand Colombia. His most recent paper on Cycnoches and hybrids of the genus was published in a supplement to the October 2012 issue of the American Orchid Society magazine Orchids.

George is retired but stays busy with his research and writings about the Catasetinae and other orchids. He has a blog on the Catasetinae, http://catasetinae5.blogspot.com, where, from time to time, he publishes articles with photographs of plants and flowers which interest him and which he hopes will interest others. We hope you will join us for this very interesting presentation.

Amazonia Orchids will provide the plant table tonight.

Roger Hammer will present our March program, which is titled, “Wild Orchids of Florida”. Roger retired in 2010 from Miami Dade Parks Department where he was the senior naturalist. He is a part-time instructor and fieldtrip leader for Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens and serves on the Board of Directors for Tropical Audubon Society. Roger also has an Honorary Doctor of Science from Florida International University.

Roger was the Keynote Speaker at the 19th World Orchid Conference in 2008 and the Opening Ceremony Speaker at the 11th World Orchid Conference in 1984, both held in Miami. He was the Keynote Speaker at the 2009 Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden annual meeting. Roger has received numerous awards including the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award, Charles Brookfield Medal, Green Palmetto Award in Education and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dade Chapter- Florida Native Plant Society, Tropical Audubon Society, & Miami Blue Chapter – North American Butterfly Association.

Roger is also a prolific author and will have his books at the meeting to sell (cash or checks only). We hope you will join us for this very special program.

Dendrophylax lindenii © Roger Hammer 

 

 

Please bring your friends; guests are always welcome at our meetings.

Dan & Margie Orchids will provide plants for our raffle table

Our January 2014 speaker will be Linda Wilhelm of Woodland Orchids in North Carolina. Linda will present a program titled, “The Magnificent Stanhopeas” – a discussion of species and hybrids of the genus and how to grow them.

Linda Wilhelm started growing orchids in 1980 after a vacation inFloridawith her mother. Already intrigued by orchids, she finally bought a small cattleya seedling, not knowing at the time that it would take seven or eight years to get a bloom. It was the beginning of an addiction. After meeting her future husband, Rolf in 1985, the addiction became severe when he too got involved with orchids.

When the hobby got out of hand and developed into a serious passion for both Linda and Rolf, they started their business Woodland Orchids. They specialize in breeding warm tolerant Oncidiinae (several of their new hybrids have received awards from the AOS), compact cattleyas and also line breed a number of different species and have made some wonderful Stanhopea hybrids.

An Accredited Judge with the AOS, Linda is very active in the judging program, having served in various positions with the CarolinasJudgingCenterincluding the job of the Training Coordinator, 5 years as the Chair of the Center and six years as a Trustee for the American Orchid Society. She enjoys being involved in shows outside her region, including offshore shows in the islands. “It offers such an opportunity to see a different variety of orchids as well as an opportunity to extend my group of friends.” She is a frequent guest speaker at orchid societies all over the USA as well as Brazil, Trinidad, Barbados and Guatemala.

We hope you will join us for this wonderful program.