SASKATCHEWAN ORCHID SOCIETY MARCH , 2011 VOLUME 28, ISSUE #6

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SOS Executive

President: Sherida GregoireVice-President: Cal CarterPast President: Faithe ProdanukSecretary: Jennifer BurgessTreasurer: Cheryl GrummettSocial: Shirley Keith Lori PozniakPlant Orders: Heather Anderson Cheryl AdamsonResources: Yvette Lyster Pat RandallLibrarians: Tracey Thue Don KeithNewsletter: Bob Lucas Dave RobinsonCOC/AOS Rep: Al HartridgeSpeakers: Eugene KuceyWebmaster: Jennifer Burgess

Mail Address: SOS, Box 411 Saskatoon, SK S7K 3L3Web Address: www.saskorchids.com

NEWSLETTER

Editor’s Note: The newsletter will be distributed electronically to all members for whom we have an email address. If you wish to switch from paper to electronic delivery, please notify me at robert.lucas@usask.ca. Future Meeting Dates: April 17, 2011 May 29, 2011 Sept. 25, 2011

March Meeting

The March general meeting of the Society will be held on March20 at John Dolan School, commencing at 1:30 p. m. Cal Carter will give apresentation on the Cypripedium Alliance.

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ANNOUNCEMENTSThe SOS will be entering a

display at Gardenscape, March 25-27. To avoid a conflict, our meeting date for March has been changed to March 20th. A sign-up sheet for volunteers to man the display will be at the front table at the March meeting. Be sure to sign up as the Gardenscape Show is a great way to showcase the SOS to the general public.

If you have flowering plants for the display, they should be dropped off at the Show site, Prairieland Park, Hall C on Thursday, March 24th between 5:00 and 7:30 p. m. Be sure to put your name on your plant pots. Those who have volunteered for display duty may pick up their passes from Sherida at the same time. Plants are to be picked up between 5:00 and 5:30 on Sunday, March 27. If you cannot pick up your own plants, be sure to arrange for someone else to do so.

The OrchidWiz raffle draw takes place at the March meeting. Tickets are $3.00, three for $6.00 and 10 for $10.00.

The plant order from Crystal Star Orchids had a deadline of the March meeting. Since this vendor orders directly from overseas vendors, you must check the webpages of these vendors to see the available plants. The websites are as follows:

• In-charm Orchids - http://www.incharmorchids.com/english/index.htm

• Jumbo Orchids - http://www.tacocity.com.tw/orchids

• Ching Hua Orchids - http://www.chinghuaorchids.com.tw

• Sunset Valley Orchids-http://www.sunsetvalleyorchids.com

The plant order from Miranda Orchids has a deadline of March 28. See the catalogue at http://www.mirandaorchids.com

The plant sale at the March meeting will feature SOS member plants, so be sure to bring your excess divisions or plants. We will also have donated plants for the raffle, raffle tickets may be purchased from Cheryl, $1.00 or three for $2.00.

Elections to the Executive will occur at the April meeting. If you would like to serve or wish to nominate someone, see Sherida at the March meeting.Meeting Agenda:

AnnouncementsProblem CornerShow and TellCoffee/SuppliesCarter PresentationPlant Raffle and SaleAdjournment

Phal Bedford Golden Victory

FEB 20TH MINUTESSherida opened the meeting

by welcoming all members and guests.

AnnouncementsGardenscape– March 25-27th

2011 and volunteers are still needed to man the display. Volunteers will receive a pass to enter the show on the day of their shift. These passes will be handed out during the set-up time of our display at Gardenscape. A limited number will be handed out at the March meeting for those who cannot attend the set-up at Gardenscape.

Presentation – Tracey Thue will give a presentation on Lycastes that was acquired from the COC.

OrchidWiz Raffle – tickets are available from the Library table, 1 ticket for $3, 3 for $6 or 10 for $10. The draw will be done at the March meeting. This is a fundraiser for the SOS. The OrchidWiz program has a$300 value.

Edmonton Show –Next weekend is the OSA’s show. Blooming plants for the SOS’s display are to be brought to Bob’s house at 519 Mendel Terrace, Wed 5:30-7:30pm . Please have your name on the bottom of the pots, and be sure plants are clean. As well, please enclose a list with your name and the names of your plants. Names of plants can be forwarded to Bob via email to facilitate pre-registration in the show. Don and Shirley will be taking down the display, and plants will be available for pick-up at 311 Beechdale Cres. , 2-7 pm on Monday.

SOS Elections – Elections will be at the April meting. A new speaker coordinator is needed as Eugene is stepping down from

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the position.Plant Orders – Cystal

StarOrchids and Miranda Orchids orders are due at the March meeting Forestview and CR Orchids orders are due today.

Plant Raffle – Plants have been donated by Safeway.Problem Corner– A Cymbidium haas aphids on

the buds and picking them off has not been effective. Suggestion: Washing off with water may be the best solution, so as not to damage the buds. You could also try spraying down with warm soapy water and Neem oil (this has been done successfully without damag-ing buds) 15 mls oil to 1 L water.

– A Paph has bloomed sequentially (and still blooming) since last July but needs repotting. Is it safe to repot? Suggestion: repot and cut off any roots that are not healthy- the old potting medium may cause root damage (rotting) in the future and this would be worse than the stress of repotting.Show and Tell

Plants were shown by Mary Orchard, Cal Carter, Ruthanne Hanbidge, Tracey Thue, Al Hartridge, Bob Lucas and Sherida Gregoire Presentation

Tracey gave a COC generated

presentation on the Lycaste Anguloa and Ida genera of orchids by Dr. Henry Francis Oakeley. History, natural habitat, culture and identification of the orchids were included in the present-ation. Plant Raffle:

Orchids were donated by Safeway – there was a collection of Phaleanopsis and a cattleya.Plant sale

There were 6 plants on the table, dendrobiums, cattleya and a paph and all were sold.Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 3:10 p.m.

SOS FEBRUARY SHOW AND TELL TABLE

Rlc. Firedance Exhibitor: Sherida Gregore Bakerara Everglades Hunter ‘Swamp Buggie,’ HCC/AOS Exhibitor: Mary Orchard

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Vanda Exhibitor: Al Hartridge Bulb. wendlandianum Exhibitor: Tracey Thue

Dendrochilum wenzelii Exhibitor: Tracey Thue

Den. rigidum Exhibitor: Cal Carter

Paph. armeniacum Exhibitor: Bob Lucas

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Don Keith and I arranged to meet at the rental car agency at 8:00 on Thursday to pick up the cargo van. For those of you lucky enough to sleep in that morning, it was -34c with a 40 kph wind, which generated an effective wind chill of -45c. We needed two registered drivers as Don and Shirley had agreed to take down the SOS display at the end of the show on Sunday and bring it back to Saskatoon.

Upon the return to my house, it took me about 15 minutes to load the van. That was sufficient time to almost freeze my toes and thoughts like ‘stupid crazy’ ran through my mind. Although the van had been running for over half an hour, it was so cold that I could not remove my gloves, so I was worried about the orchids. At least Liz and Sherida were following me in another vehicle should I experience trouble.

SOS display We arrived in Edmonton

about 2:30 and went straight to the show site where Cheryl and Yvette had begun the set-up an hour earlier. Although one of

SOS display (back view)my tubs had ice in the bottom, the orchids seemed OK. We used the black stands with burlap covering and he display went up in short order. Since we were able to pre-register the plants, we were free to begin browsing the vendor area by 5:00.

Apart from the regular vendors, new faces included Ching Hua Orchids and Ten Shin Gardens, both from Taiwan, Jason Fisher (of Phrag Jason Fisher renown) and Ivan Portilla of Ecuagenera.

From the prospective of someone always on the prowl for red Phal breeding stock, the choice was quite limited, so I focused on other ways to spend my money. I purchased a seedling of Dtps. Kenneth Schubert from Ten Shin that I was told was very special (aren’t they all) as well as a Phal. amboinensis var. flava that had limited roots (hope springs eternal). Cheryl convinced me to purchase a Masdavallia princeps, the sequential bloomer, and I later wondered what was I thinking? Finally, Liz picked us up about 9:00 as the venue was closing.

Friday morning the Show was closed for judging and we returned about 12:30 to view the results. Our display garnered 15 ribbons out of 29 plants entered and the big surprise was a Best of Class Cattleya Alliance Award to Cheryl. Cheryl received this plant from Mary Orchard many years ago, so Mary should be basking in reflected glory.

Bc. Maikai ‘Mayumi,’ HCC/AOS

The ribbons were distributed as follows: Yvette, 2 firsts and one third; Cheryl, two firsts, a third and Best of Class; Cal, one first, one second and one third; Heather, one third; and Bob, two seconds and three thirds. The SOS received the Best Visiting Display award along with a framed orchid print.

The Show was impressive for both the number of displays and the quality of orchids. Chuck Tayor (Fatoldbaldguy Orchids), who you might remember visited us two years ago, won an FCC for Phrag Fire Cascade. This is the first time a FCC has been awarded in Alberta and it generated much discussion. As I took in his display filled with

JOURNEY TO THE OSA SHOW, 2011 by Bob Lucas

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besseae and hybrids, my wonder-ment turned to despair as I contemplated my own relatively poorly gown Phragmepediums. Maybe it’s time to chuck them, I thought.

Phrag Fire Cascade FCC/HCC

Paul Paludet won an AM for his display that featured many of his own Phalaneopsis hybids. There were five AOS awards in total.

Paul Paludet Display, AM/AOS

A non-awarded plant that caught my eye was an enormous complex Paphiopedilum exhibited by Norito Hasagawa.

Friday evening Liz and I organized a dinner with (former president) Faithe and Roger Prodanuk, Ben and Catherine Rostron, Ruthanne, her daughter Patricia and grand-

Paph. (Gege Hughes) x (Pauanui x Ruth Curran)

daughter Jill, Sherida and Yvette. We ate at Tropika, a Malaysian restaurant which featured a revolving lazy susan for distributing the food. Although the competition wasreminiscent of long-ago family meals, it was tempered by the mango margaritas.

Saturday we returned to the Show site for some photography and more shopping. I purchas-ed a flask of Phrag. Ruby Slippers from Ivan (so much for chucking my Phrags). We handed the van over to Keith and Shirley who had just arrived by air and started home. Al-though the weather had moderated, it had snowed and the roads were icy. We passed about eight autos in the ditch just outside of Edmonton which caused me to drive more slowly than usual, although we returned home without incident.

Don and Shirley took down the display on Sunday. Kudos to Yp DeBoer who organized volunteers to help with the packing of our display. With

their help Don and Shirley were on the road by 6.00 p. m., although they fared no better with the cold weather and icy roads. When Yvette asked Don about the trip home, he replied, ”it was tortuous but I had a lot of help from Shirley!” Fortunate-ly, they made it back safely.

Plant pick-up was Monday, in the midst of another storm. It is amazing what orchids have to put up with in the snowy white north, but they appear to be none the worse for wear.

For those of you who have not experienced an orchid show, I highly recommend it as a way of rejuvenating one’s interest in the cultivation of orchids.

Paph villosum

Ching Hua Display