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Orchid Society of the Palm Beaches P.O. Box 211463

Royal Palm Beach, FL 33421 www.orchidsocietyofthepalmbeaches.org

Find us on Face Book August 2014

Welcome Back OSPB, We’ve made it through another season. I gladly embrace Fall as slightly less inferno temperatures allow us to work outside a little longer. What a growing season it has been. Most all of my orchids I decided to repot or divide have bounced back from being disturbed and have firmly established themselves . I will say though, a couple plants didn’t make the process. One overgrown specimen that I purchased from my first visit to Carter and Holmes last December, just turned brown on me. I had made three separate divisions and one by one they just bailed on me. It’s kinda funny how some plants just don’t adapt to my growing area. I’ve heard all the veterans always say, you don’t become an expert until you kill 1,000 orchids. Well, unfortunately disgusted by this standard, I’m slowly getting there. In other news, I did purchase my first compot this May. For those of you who don’t know what a compot is, it’s a 3 -4 “ pot of baby orchids, with anywhere from 20 to 30 plants. (also called a community pot). Now those are 4-5 years from blooming but as I pulled 8 of them out and moved them to 2” pots, they have all gladly held on for me. This is a victory in my opinion, as I have started with a genus native to Florida, the Encyclia. The Anniversary Party was a blast, even though I may have been the only one who didn’t leave with an orchid. At the crunch time where I assumed my name was solid at the bottom of the list on a few different plants, I called for the bidding to be over. This obviously was not a good assumption! Anyways, I’m looking forward to September 11 and hearing our speakers program on mounting. And as always, make sure you bring a friend and a Show & Tell plant. I promise to bring both! I hope you had a Happy Labor Day! Your President, Jacob Galeski

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Hello OSPB,

I would venture to say our 64th Anniversary Party was a huge success. Our members brought some of the most lip-smacking good, casseroles and other goodies for us to feast on. We have some great cooks in this society. The chicken and pulled pork from La Brassia was really tasty. Carmine also brought along some pulled pork that he prepared and it was really delicious too. It had the sliced green olives in it. There were so many dishes to sample. I don’t think anyone went home hungry.

Our anniversary cake was half vanilla and half chocolate and featured a picture of Blc. Always Dream on top of it and tasted as good as it looked.

Katie McGiveron and her husband Randy did a fine job of calling for Orchid Bingo. Several people took home some really nice orchid prizes but the real excitement was at the Silent Auction tables. We had a huge assortment of all kinds of plants and the bidding was fast and furious. One really had to keep on their toes and watch carefully to be sure they were the top bidder when Jacob announced “Closed”. Thank you everyone for bringing in plants for the auction. We made $969. from the sale of those plants. That pretty much paid for the party.

Once again we collected food to give to a charity for the homeless. Thank you to everyone who brought along something to fill our box. It’s nice to remember those less fortunate as we celebrate and to be thankful for all that we have been so blessed with. I think Susie Cioci and her crew did a beautiful job decorating the tables and the room to make it look more festive. John Wallace was there early to move and set-up the tables. Tipr and Gloria Kennedy volunteered their time as well; Gloria kept track of the number of people we expected and also ordered and picked-up the meat. Cecy Gadoni and her kitchen helpers kept things organized and cleaned up in the kitchen. And of course, we appreciate all the help we got putting the room back in order and taking the garbage out. It makes such a big difference when we all work together. Of course I must not forget to mention Charlene Nakamura, she ordered and cared for all those orchids until it was time for the party. Christina Couto, Mary Scheitler and Linda Fay were on hand to greet the members and guests, collect the money, and sell raffle tickets. Jacob kept it all running smoothly, and if I missed anyone I do apologize, but know that we appreciate each and every one of you who participated and made it a great event. Now what are we going to plan for our 65th Anniversary Party next year? It’s going to be good, I know that.

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Our September 11th meeting will feature Thanh Nguyen from Springwater Orchids in Melbourne, as our speaker and he will be enlightening us on how species grow in their native environment so we will know better how to go about mounting them. What they like and what they probably won’t like as well. Thanh always has a very interesting program and he brings really nice plants to sell, so plan to arrive early so you don’t miss out on the really good stuff and……..bring a friend! I have volunteered to hold the building open (I’ll be there early for 1st picks) and our refreshments will be provided by all of our members celebrating birthdays in September. Larry Alkema, Marty Ciafrone, Charline Nakamura, Diane Patrick, and Dorothy Moore. Happy Birthday to all you September babies!

September 13th and 14th we will be participating in Everything Orchids and A Shady Affair at the Mounts. We will need help selling plants and talking to the people, telling them all about OSPB. Wear you badge and tell them at the gate that you will be working at our booth and you will get in free. If you have not signed up yet please do so at the next meeting. You will have a good time and it’s a good way to get to know the other members.

Notes from Charline Nakamura: The Saturday morning study group is unable to use the Mounts Auditorium for several months so we will not be meeting again until January. For those of you who came the Saturday we potted up all those cymbidiums with Katie McGiveron’s help; we have bloomed some of them. They can now be tagged Cym. finlaysonianum. It is a species named in honor of an English orchid collector in India back in the 1800’s, named Finlayson. The ending is the Latin for the masculine gender, matching the masculine gender is the genus Cymbidium. Thank you again to Laura Fountain who donated this huge plant and to Jacob, who sawed it into pieces for us.

I am very sad to tell you that our friends Jeff and Julie Newman, whose nursery is just outside of Hilo. Hawaii, took a direct hit from the recent hurricane. Julie says, “It was real bad and she is still in shock”. It was hard for me to hear the pain in her voice. They lost the plastic over most of the growing area. All hanging plants were blown away. Fortunately the benches did not go down into water. The cloud cover from the second hurricane that passed them a few days later, helped to keep the damage down. It took a while to obtain and put up replacement plastic and shade cloth. For several hours after our talk, I relived how numb I felt after hurricanes Frances and Jeanne got us.

I know you all wish the Newman’s nothing but the best as they rebuild their business and get back on their feet again. Hurricanes are so devastating with the damage they do to structures and the landscape. I pray we are lucky again this year. We still have a ways to go before we can breathe easy. I hope you have a plan to keep your plants safe in case a big blow come our way. I’m not sure what I’ll do if we have one coming our way. I always brought them all into the house but I have too many to do that anymore. Blc. Mt. Hood ‘Orchidglade’ AM/AOS

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The show season starts with Everything Orchids but in October it really gets cranked up.

South Florida Orchid Society presents

The 68th Miami International Orchid Show ORCHID JUBILEE

at the BankUnited Center, University of Miami 1245 Dauer Drive, Coral Gables, FL

October 3, 4, & 5 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Admission $10. AOS Accredited & Judged Show

Interntionally Acclaimed Orchid Growers from around the world

I am so ready!

I am very pleased to announce that we have a new sponsor. Please welcome Sandi Jones from Broward Orchid Supply. Sandi is very knowledgeable about all her products and she carries everything you need to grow big, healthy plants. She will be at Everythng Orchids. You can find her at the Hutchinson Building under the pavilion. Be sure to stop and say Hello. Mary Schleitler was wearing a very special, designer boot at the anniversary party. She tore her Achilles tendon, but she was on the mend. We hope you are all better Mary. I will see you all at the meeting September 11th. Bring a friend….! Happy Growing, Patt Lindsey

Pic’s by Patt

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