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!

Do you ever wonder why everyone keeps calling violet-colored orchids blue? Rob Shepherd will present a modern perspective on the coerulea color form in Phalaenopsis based on two decades of experience. Rob, who is the owner and hybridizer of Sapphire Dragon Orchids in California, started growing orchids in 1984 in Tyler, Texas when he was 11. For years, he had a large mixed gen­era orchid collection but over time zeroed in on Phalae­nopsis. Rob is working to make coerulea hybrid­izing more predictable, successful and to push the boundary of quality coerulea hybrids. We will have our usual orchid raffle and table judging. Join us!

Orchids 101 will meet in the greenhouse at 2pm. Lorna will be talking about naming orchids and their general care.

Our December meeting will be our 2nd auction of the year. Proceeds from our auctions help raise funds for our annual Orchid Show and Sale in March. Look over your orchids – are some ready to be divided? Do you have some you’d like to switch out for something new? Clean them up and bring them to donate to the auction – then be prepared to have fun as you collect some new orchids!

Cecily Maciejeski, owner of Cedarwood Orchids and Ornamentals in Huntsville, TX, will be presenting a program on the process of judging and awards granted by the American Orchid Society. As part of the program, our Dallas Judging Center judges will hold an official judging event. If you have one or more plants that you’d like to bring for judging, clean them up and bring them with you!

Cecily has been growing orchids in Texas since 1998 and is an associate judge with the AOS, occasional society speaker, and lifelong learner. She has been breeding Cattleyas but has plans to expand to certain Oncidiums as well. Come and see how orchids are judged and learn about what judges look for in awardable plants!

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

Breeding cattleyas has been going on for over 100 years. Jeff Bradley has been growing some of these historic hybrids since he was six years old and will be speaking to us about them and the people he knew who hybridized them and grew them. Jeff’s collection now numbers over 3,000 species and hybrids. Come join us as we hear about and see these gorgeous catts! We will be having our usual table judging for members also and our raffle as well.

Orchids 101 will be at 2pm in the greenhouse with Lorna leading the discussion on general orchid naming and care.