P.O. Box 211463Royal Palm Beach, FL 33421

www.orchidsocietyofthepalmbeaches.orgFind us on Facebook

June 2016Hello Everyone,

A big thank you to all of you for the cards and phone calls. I am recovering very well from the first knee replacement and expect to see you at the July meeting.

I have not been out to look at my orchids, so I feel quite out of touch. One of the things I occupy my time with is the Facebook orchid groups, in particular Newbie Florida Orchid Growers and Florida Orchid Growing. As the names imply, they are both for Florida residents only. I am an administrator on the Newbie group, helping the other admins. to admit new members. For both groups I answer questions about orchid culture, pests, diseases, ID, etc. Patt Lindsey started me on FOG about two years ago. By participating in these groups, I have learned and been inspired to take better care of my orchids. **(Note from editor), and also to expand her collection.

I have gotten a better camera, because after all, we have to show off our beauties with our on-line friends. These groups have influenced the orchid market in Florida and, I believe, increased it greatly. Most of our local Home Depot’s now carry a better selection or Better-Gro orchids on their bag racks. You can get some real gems there, including many wonderful species. The shows all around the state are getting bigger because word of their existence is publicized on the FB groups. And membership in our local societies has increased because of Facebook. I always publicize our meetings for at least a week, listing the location and the speaker, and almost every month we get a guest or two who come because they saw the meeting announcement. Below are the links, you may be able to click on right from the newsletter, or copy and paste it to your browser address line. Call or email me if you have any questions.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/247915252046214/     https://www.facebook.com/groups/fl.orchid/ 

Happy Growing,

Doris Happel

1

A Note From Charline:

I want to thank all of you for your cards and good wishes for my surgery to go well. As I waited to be prepped in the hospital, I was really scared. Then I felt a wave of positive force wash over me and it helped so much. Thank you! It’s been slow, but I’m a little better every day. A hip replacement heals slower in us older folks.

This year’s final orchid workshops are scheduled for July 9 and August 13, in the community building at Park Pointe 10 a.m. – 12. (Remember they are always the 2 nd Saturday).

Most of our Catts and Catasetums should be repotted by now. The Dens, Epis, Paphs and almost everything else can still be done. Cattleyas and Catasetums can be done but they will resent it a bit. Bring in your problem plants or interesting things to share. If you want help repotting or dividing, please bring your own potting supplies.

We always have a good time together teaching each other. It’s a very hands-on class. Thank you to Brenda Diaz who brought in a very challenging vanda-like plant (which turned out to be Aerides odorata when she bloomed it this week). Frank had a monster Catt and Cecy, a monster nodosa.

If you need more information you can call me at 968-0440.

Charline Nakamura

June 11th - Saturday morning study group. Hello OSPB,

2

My goodness, isn’t it wonderful to hear from Doris and Charline in this edition. I want to remind you, I will welcome any correspondence you would like to post in our newsletter or pictures of your orchids or anybody’s orchids. It makes my job so much easier and it makes the newsletter so much more interesting too.

I hate to sound redundant, but I too want to thank everyone who called and sent cards after my recent surgery. I really appreciated hearing from you.

I hated to miss our meeting but I’ve heard that Jesse and Dee of Natures Relics did a very interesting

program. I love their cypress mounts and my orchids love them too. Our July 14th meeting will feature Mark Margolis and the topic will be Catasetums, and how to grow them. Mark grows some awesome plants and has won many AOS awards. Catasetums are very beautiful, a little strange with their growing habits, but once you figure them out and learn the secret to growing them, they will reward you with incredible blooms. Mark is a very good teacher. In fact, he is a retired Dade County teacher. So bring along your notebook and be prepared to take notes and absorb everything you need to know to grow these unusual and exotic plants….Bring a friend.

The door opener will be Marie Reddy and refreshments will be supplied by members who are celebrating their birthdays in July. Wayne Green, Katie McGivern, Anita O’Connor, Mary Jo Prosser, Brenda Skaggs and Elyse Underberg. Thank you and Happy Birthday…!

Show &Tell

3

Remembering:

Lawrence M. AlkemaWe all knew him as Larry. He was tragically killed Sunday morning June 5th, when his truck was hit from behind on I-95 near Hobe Sound. He spent most of his life in the Palm Beach Gardens area and recently had retired from a successful insurance practice. He and Marcia were planning to relocate to Apopka to spend their retirement years near their grandson.

Larry and Marcia had been members of OSPB for several years and then they went missing for a few years, but had come back again. Larry was such a pleasant person and always had a big smile on his face. We offer our heartfelt condolences to Marcia and all of their family members.

OSPB Christmas party 2014

Herman ‘Bud’ Geriok

Our long-time, former member and good friend Bud passed away June 8th. Bud was a fun loving, happy-go-lucky guy. He was also an Air Force veteran and an orchid grower extraordinaire. He grew some of the most outrageous Cattleya’s, but his Vanda’s were also some of the finest.

Bud’s wife Anita served as our president for an astounding 9 years and Bud was right there by her side all the way. He was the guy who took out the garbage after the meetings, who arranged the furniture in the room and put it all back together again after the meeting. He was her right hand man for over 60 years.

Our sincere condolences go out to Anita and all of their family. Rest in Peace Bud. I’m pretty sure you have been given a job in God’s beautiful Heavenly garden.

4

C. warneri L. purpurata ‘Do Sera’ x self L. purpurata (Flammica x Striata) ‘Lisa’

These are all Brazilian species

A Crash Course in Understanding Orchid Names and Labels (Part 1)

Let’s start with the simplest names: those that represent orchid species. For example, we can look at the label, Cattleya labiata, and know that the orchid is a species. The way you can tell is by looking at the name immediately following the genus name (the genus name being Cattleya, in this case. Genus always comes first in an orchid name.) If the second name following the genus is in lower case letter, you know it’s a species. You will sometimes find the second name for an orchid referred to as the “grex” in various literatures. Species names are always Latin, and match the gender of the genus name; i.e. Cattleya is feminine as it ends in “a” so labiata must be feminine, which it is. And from here on, we’re going to assume that tag you are examining is correct in its spelling and punctuation. There are a number of resources one can use to determine if the label is correct.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/horticulturaldatabase/orchidregister/orchidresults.asp

So, What IS a species orchid? A species is a plant that was collected from the wild, or its ancestors originated in the wild and no other plant species’ genetic material has been added to it. Does that mean that every Cattleya labiata in our collections today originated in the jungle? No, it does not. The majority of our species orchids are actually man made. If Cattleya labiata 1 is crossed with Cattleya labiata 2 to create Cattleya labiata, the Baby, the Baby is still a Cattleya labiata (still a species) because no other species genetic has been added to it. You may hear the term “line bred species” from time to time, and that refers to two of the same species – usually of superior quality – being bred to one another to create superior offspring. It’s still a species, but man made.

Easy, right? Ok, on to hybrids… Take the name Cattleya Purity, species or hybrid? Hybrid! Again, look at the second (or grex) name, and notice that it is capitalized. Back to Latin for a moment, except for very old hybrids that were created before orchid nomenclature rules were established, hybrid names cannot be in Latin. The Latin bit is another clue to help you determine if you’re looking at a species or a hybrid. If you saw Cattleya Labiata, you’d know that although it is capitalized like a hybrid, it is actually a species (labiata being Latin) and the writer made a mistake. Printed with permission from the author, Alexis Solly

5

I will continue this very interesting article next month, so keep this in a safe place so you can refer back to it.

I hope to see everyone at the July 14th meeting. Bring a friend…..!

Stay cool,

Patt LindseyEditor

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

. Come join us on Facebook

Cecy Gadoni and her beautiful Vanda’s Alan Lasch “Hey, what’s going on?”

6

Pic’s by Frank

Ain’t that the truth …!

Study Chicks Whatcha lookin’ for????

7