Category: Meeting Information

Preparing to set up an orchid show involves careful planning and execution. Emily Quinn will be presenting information on selecting your best plants, ensuring they are healthy and free of pests and diseases, and grooming them for optimal presentation. She will also share volunteer roles – we need your help to have a great show!  Emily is an AOS judge with the Dallas Center and is currently the Training Coordinator for AOS.  Her greenhouse contains the broad spectrum of species and hybrids of a person who never saw an orchid she didn’t like!

Orchids 101 will be in the greenhouse with Charlie leading a Q&A discussion. Bring your questions – Charlie will bring the answers!

OUR SHOW is set for Octber 10-12! Friday the 10th is setup. Please pay attention to signups being handed out at the meeting as we need your help to arrange tables and chairs, and get our vendors in the door with all their orchids and supplies. During the show, we need society members to help man the GNTOS table and be on hand to answer questions, etc. We also need clerks to help with the judging taking place Friday evening. SO – please sign up (and have some fun too!).

Tim Carr will present our July topic on Big Lip or peloric phals.  The term “Big Lip” refers to a specialized petal that often differs in shape and color from the other petals and sepals, caused by a genetic mutation. This results in the lip resembling the petals. He will be showing us what this unusual variety looks like – they are fairly easy to recognize.  Tim has been growing orchids for thirteen years and has been a member of GNTOS since 2015.  Tim is also an American Orchid Society Judge attached to the Dallas Judging Center. Our usual table judging and raffle will take place after Tim’s talk.

Orchids 101 will be back also with a Q&A in the greenhouse at 2pm, led by Charlie.

REMEMBER: The Cedar Ridge Preserve (7171 Mountain Creek Pkwy, Dallas, TX 75249) is now hosting a series of surveys every Monday through mid-July.  Contact Charles_M_Hess@ymail.com if you are interested in helping with this. See a previous post (An Opportunity to Survey Orchids…) for more information on what to bring, parking, etc.

(Be sure to check out the article below this one – you have an opportunity to be involved in orchid surveys in the Dallas area this summer!)

Yes, it’s that time of year when we meet at 2:30pm for a snack fest and then an orchid and orchid paraphernalia auction! There won’t be any plant judging – if you bring orchids, they are going to auctioned off!  There will not be any Orchids 101 in the greenhouse prior to our meeting either.  Those two events will resume in July.

The auction depends on you bringing orchids and orchids supplies to put up for auction, so be checking over your collection and supplies to see if there’s something old that you’d like to replace with something new you’ll be bidding on at the auction!

If you are bringing orchids or orchid supplies for the auction, our president, Tim, asks that you email your list of what you’re bringing to Tim3180@att.net before 9pm Thursday, May 29.  Tim will return the list to you with numbers assigned to each item.  When you bring your orchids/items on auction day, put those numbers on your plants, just like we do for the show and tell tables.  THANK YOU!

SEE YOU AT THE AUCTION!!

Ray Barkalow, who owns First Rays, LLC, will be the presenter during our May 4 meeting. While many folks will give out advice about orchid growing, they tend to tell you what to do but don’t tell you why.  The information that Ray will share will help you understand the why of how to grow orchids. Ray been working with orchids for over 50 years. He has retired and now lives in North Carolina, where he continues to operate FirstRays.com. A code giving a 10% discount on purchases from Ray’s company will be given at our meeting. This program will be presented virtually.

Orchids 101 will be in the greenhouse as usual at 2pm. Lorna will be leading the discussion on moving your orchids outside for the summer.

March’s presentation will be given by Karl Varian, a member of our society, and an AOS judge since 2022 for the Dallas Judging Center. Karl has picked up many interesting tidbits on Dendrobiums that he’ll be sharing with us, including what parts of the world are ‘home’ to Dendrobiums and how to grow this diverse group of orchids. Karl has been growing his collection of orchids since about 1960, so he has a lot of experience to share! We’ll have our orchid table judging and the raffle following Karl’s talk. Snacks are provided – come join us!

Orchids 101 will be in the greenhouse at 2pm. Lorna will be talking about being Bugged By Bugs!

We had a great Valentine Show and Sale at the Dallas Arboretum! A lot of people came by to enjoy the Spring-like displays and buy orchids. Many picked up information on our society and our coming October Show and Sale (Oct. 10-12). We appreciate all of you who volunteered to staff the table, talk with the public, and sell orchids! Many thanks, also, to the helpful and friendly staff of the Dallas Arboretum!

For our first meeting of the new year, Manny Aybar will talk to us about automating your growing area. Manny works in the Technology Industry. He is originally from the Dominican Republic (a grower’s paradise, as he describes it!), and has been growing orchids for about 26 years. He is currently serving as the Chair for the Dallas Judging Center and is also a long-time member of GNTOS. Whether you grow in a greenhouse or in your home, Manny will share information about the latest automated ways to grow orchids, to help you achieve better growing and flowering of your orchids. After his program, we will have our usual table judging for members, and the raffle.

Lorna will be leading Orchids 101 in the greenhouse at 2pm, talking about ways to keep records of your orchid collection.

Our 2nd semi-annual fundraising auction is in December! Bring orchids you’d like to donate, divisions of healthy plants, orchid supplies you don’t use. We will auction off any orchid-related items. If your orchid isn’t blooming, attach a picture you’ve taken or a representative photo to the flowerpot, so people will know what to expect. Also, bring finger foods to share! Funds raised go towards our annual orchid show and other needs. This is one of our favorite events each year. Come join the fun!

Because of the auction, there will not be any table judging or raffle, and no Orchids 101.

Before the auction, we will have the vote for our 2025 officers.  The nominees are:
President – Tim Brown
Vice Pres – George Bogard
Treasurer – Shane Stewart
Secretary – Emilia Hamilton
SWROG – Charles Hess
Only members of GNTOS are eligible to vote at the meeting.

Tim Brown will be discussing the beautiful Lady of the Night, where is it from, how is it used in hybridization, and how to grow it locally. Brassavola nodosa is found in most orchid grower’s collections as it is an easy grower and very fragrant at night. Tim’s interest in orchids blossomed in 1969 with his first cattleya hybrid. He has been growing orchids in various ways from windowsill to greenhouse since that time.  Taking his orchiding to the next level, Tim is now a student judge with the Dallas Judging Center.

Orchids 101 will meet in the greenhouse at 2pm. Charlie will be leading the open Q&A discussion.

FYI to all people interested in attending the Dallas Judging Center’s monthly meetings to experience what judging is all about: They meet every 2nd Saturday of the month between 11am and 4pm. Their new meeting place is First Baptist Church of Plano (3665 W. President George Bush Hwy, Plano, TX 75075). Judging training starts at 11am. After a brown bag lunch, actual judging of any orchids brought in will start about 1pm. The meeting and judging are open to all interested people!

Charles Hess will lead the October program, sharing his journey as he became passionate about conservation, beginning with learning how to grow local orchid species while living in the Philippines, painting watercolors of orchids, and then working to preserve native orchid species through conservation. Along with being a member of GNTOS for some years, he has chaired the SWROGA Conservation Committee since 2014, and most recently has helped focus orchid societies and their members’ financial support into protecting endangered orchid species in two Texas preserves.  The OrchidArtbyCharlesHess.com website, originally created by his wife, Trudy, features their shared passion for preserving the earth’s environment, as well as Charles’ original orchid art creations.

Orchids 101 will be lead by Lorna in the greenhouse. The topic will be preparing to bring orchids inside for winter.

Now is the time to begin getting ready for our Winter Auction at the December meeting. The auction helps raise funds for our annual shows and other society expenses, PLUS IT’S LOTS OF FUN! Look over your collection and see if there’s some duplicates or other orchids you want to donate. Then you’ll have room for some new orchids you’ll bid for at the auction!