Our next meeting will be an informal Greenhouse Chat. Bring questions you may have – come to listen and learn! We’ll have our usual table judging for members and a raffle.

Orchids 101 will be in the classroom if the greenhouse is too hot. Lorna will be leading the discussion on how orchids receive their names, followed by a general Q&A.

Remember to plan ahead for our 2nd auction for this year, the first Sunday in December! Be looking over your orchids for possible donations, as we depend on you all to help provide the orchids we will be auctioning. The funds brought in help us pay for the annual Show and Sale in the Spring, as well as other things. We appreciate your help!

Perú is considered one of the most biodiverse countries and harbors approximately 10% of the world’s orchid species. César Ushima will be reviewing some of the most important and lesser known native orchids from Perú. He was born and raised in Perú and has been growing orchids since an early age. He worked in the Peruvian National Park Administration, where he had the opportunity to see orchids in their natural habitat. César is currently an Associate Orchid Judge for the American Orchid Society (AOS). Join us as we learn more about these Peruvian beauties! We will have our usual member table judging and raffle.

Orchids 101 will begin at 2pm in the greenhouse with Lorna leading the discussion “Bugged by Bugs?” If it’s too hot in the greenhouse, meet us in the classroom. We’ll find a corner to talk!

This month, our own David Gould will show some of the photographs he has taken as the photographer for the Dallas
Judging Center. On judging days, he has been responsible for capturing all the awarded orchids at their very best. His work is shown in our newsletters on the Judging Center awards page and also in the AOS Orchids magazine. David’s presentation will include some of the more rare and unusual orchids that he has had the pleasure to photograph, as well as many of the old favorites. We will also have our table judging for members and the raffle for everyone. Join us!

We will have Orchids 101 at 2pm in the greenhouse before the start of our meeting. Charlie will have a Q&A session so bring your questions!

We are having our first auction of the year on June 4 at 2:30pm. Bring plants and/or divisions to donate to the auction. You can also bring other orchid-related items, though they usually are not as popular. Also, bring finger foods to share as we enjoy socializing together before the auction begins. The raffle helps raise money for the Spring Shows and other things for the society. So bring some food, some orchids to auction, and prepare to bid high!

There will be no Orchids 101 at 2pm, members table judging, or raffle. Those will be back in July.

There will be no meeting for the month of April this year. We had a great show this March and so hopefully our friends and members enjoyed that extra orchid time! Our president issued this message to the society recently about the April meeting:

The Bonsai Society is having a two-day show at North Haven (Gardens) which will interfere with our usual meeting day and time for April. There was NO acceptable date available for us to reschedule our normal April meeting. Consequently we will NOT have an April GNTOS meeting.

See you in May!

Last month, we heard how to prepare our orchids for the show so that they’ll look their best. This month, we’ll be learning how to prepare ourselves! Preparing your orchids is only the first step – what do we do when we get them to the show? What other things need to be done to get the show ready? You’ll find out at the March meeting. We’ll be having our usual table judging for members and our raffle, which is open to all.

Orchids 101 will be in the greenhouse at 2pm, and Lorna will be talking about ways you can keep track of your orchid collection.

Our annual Spring Orchid Show and Sale is Saturday and Sunday, March 11-12, opening at 9am at the Texas A&M Agrilife in the Water and Land Resources building on Coit Road. Set-up for the show is Friday, March 10 from 8:30am to 5pm. Click on the above tab for the show to see more details!

This month’s topic will be preparing and grooming plants for our show next month, presented by AOS judges and GNTOS members Linda Horton and Emily Quinn. They will talk about grooming the orchids and other things you can do to make your plants look their best, along with things that you shouldn’t do. Click on the above “2023 Spring Show” tab to sign up to help with our show. Other details are given there as well. Check it out!

Charlie will be leading Orchids 101 at 2pm in the greenhouse.

Please note that we are meeting the 2nd Sunday of January and our meeting time will be at 12 noon! Orchids 101 will meet in the greenhouse at 11:30am. Northaven Gardens will be closed Sunday, January 1, so we cannot meet that day. (The newsletter says we’re meeting at 2:30pm on the 8th in the opening article – that is not correct. If you come then, we’ll be closing down so the next group can meet at 3:00.)

Dotty Woodson of Fort Worth will be presenting a program on insect and disease control for our January meeting. Dottie has been growing and hybridizing orchids with her husband since 1973. They have 5,000 square feet of greenhouses and have registered 64 hybrids and have won many national AOS awards. Dotty retired recently from Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center as an Extension Program Specialist. We will be having our usual raffle, along with the members’ judging table. See you on January 8th!

Orchids 101 at 11:30am will be led by Lorna, who’ll be talking about growing paphiopedilums and phragmipediums (slipper orchids).

Our December meeting will be the 2nd auction we do each year to help raise funds for our annual Orchid Show and Sale in the Spring. Start looking over your orchids and see if there’s any you would like to donate to the auction. We depend on our members to provide items for this event. Also, we enjoy a meal together before the auction so bring some food to share and orchids to auction at 2:30pm.

Due to the auction, there will be no Orchids 101, and no raffle or table judging – if you bring orchids, we’ll try to auction them off!

PLEASE NOTE: There will be a DATE AND TIME CHANGE to our January meeting since the first Sunday in 2023 is New Year’s Day and North Haven Gardens will be closed. Instead, we’ll meet the 2nd Sunday, January 8 at noon, with Orchids 101 at 11:30am. So add this change to your 2023 calendar. This is only due to having the first Sunday on January 1. Our meetings will go back to the usual meeting date and time on every first Sunday of the month at 2:30pm in February.

Mary Gerritsen, Ph.D., is an independent biotechnology consultant who has been growing orchids (mostly species) on and off for more than 30 years. She loves to see orchids growing in situ and spent nearly a month in Borneo. Mary plans and leads one or two Orchids in the Wild tours a year for the Orchid Conservation Alliance. She also is a member of the American Orchid Society, and several other orchid groups. After Mary’s talk (via Zoom), we will have our usual orchid raffle and table judging.

If you are not present at the garden center, you can still see her talk via Zoom.
Use: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81335990640?pwd=UlJHU3Z1azhQVE43a3dUbmRHNFJvZz09
Meeting ID: 813 3599 0640
Passcode: 310983

Orchids 101 will take place in the greenhouse at 2pm. Charlie will lead a Q&A on any orchid topic. Bring your questions!

REMEMBER: Our December meeting will be the 2nd auction we do each year to help raise funds for our annual Orchid Show and Sale in the Spring. Start looking over your orchids and see if there’s any you would like to donate to the auction. We depend on our members to provide items for this event. Also, we enjoy a meal together before the auction so bring some food to share and orchids to auction and we’ll see you in December!