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February 2004
FEBRUARY MEETING February
9, 2004 Woodland Park Zoo This month,
Justin Schroeder will discuss the orchid program at the Woodland
Park Zoo. I don’t know how many of you visit the zoo, but having
a 3 year old, we often go. I make sure we visit the Rainforest exhibit
where the orchids are and spend a lot of time looking around a finding
all the orchids tucked in here and there. Beginner's program (starts at 6:30 p.m.): Jerry Hoffmeister will discuss potting mixes. He will bring in several mixes and their components and tell you how he uses them. You may also bring in your plants for a diagnosis of general issues and he will do his best to help. Plant Table: Bring your blooming orchids to show. Sales Table: Members may bring up to 10 plants to sell. Raffle: Win a new orchid for your collection. COMING UP March: OPEN April: Bill Bergstrom of Bergstrom Orchids will be doing a talk about his collecting trip in Peru. May: Harry from Andy’s Orchids will talk on mounting and growing mounted orchids. June: Potluck and reports from scholarship winners July: Open August: Picnic September:
Bill Goldner of Woodstream Orchids will speak to us, program TBD. Got a suggestion for a speaker or program? Contact Jerry Hoffmeister at at jerry@hoffmeisters.com or 206-932-9912.
FROM THE PRESIDENT Before I grew orchids, winter was one of my less favorite seasons. Now I look forward to the winter months because of all the plants that bloom. That’s the joy of growing orchids—the beauty they bring in the dull winter months. I’m sure at the next meeting we will have an excellent display of flowers. In the past I have mentioned something about an orchid rescue program. The AOS has developed a form for just that purpose. I will have copies of it at the meeting. Some of us are getting older and when we get to a place where we can no longer take care of our orchids this form has contact information for people who can help. That way your collection of rare species and such can live on. It also provides space to list people to call in an emergency, like an electrician or a plumber, if something happens when you’re on vacation for whoever is watching your collection. As the orchid rescue person in our society, I have listed my name and telephone number on the top of the list. I suggest that, if you take one of these forms, you laminate it and put it on the door to your greenhouse where it can be easily found. I’m really looking forward to the position of past president and I know Bill Carley can hardly wait to be just a regular old member again. Who will be the next president of our Society? Will it be YOU? It’s not a hard job. All you have to do is schedule the meetings, preside over them and write this letter (that’s the hard part). Easy. You even get a book with monthly procedures to follow. But now its YOUR turn. We need NEW people in every postion. Our orchid society, like all societies, is volunteer based. You can make a difference. The more members who are active, the better the club. Do more than just coming to the meeting! Join the board, volunteer to help the libriarian, or work at the sales table during the meetings. There are many ways YOU can become more active in YOUR club. See you at the next meeting, Jamie
Notman
Our award-winning display at the Tacoma-Olympia Orchid Society Show in January. ORCHID SHOWS AROUND THE NORTHWEST On January 17 and 18, the Olympia and Tacoma Orchid Society Show was held at Windmill Gardens in Sumner. It was a nice show and seemed to be well attended. The theme of the show was “Orchids in Winter.” Our display consisted of 56 plants provided by eight different members. We received the Orchid Digest Trophy for best display and the show award for best display by a visiting society. Our 56 plants receive a total of 38 show ribbons including 20 blue, 15 red and 3 white. George Krassle’s large white Laelia was judged best Cattleya alliance and Shannon Boling’s large Paph was judged best over all plant and best Cypripedium in the show. In addition, Mike and Abby’s Masdevallia limax garnered the trophy for best Pleurothallis in the show. Mike and Abby must have set some kind of record, receiving 11 ribbons on the 13 plants they provided. Others who provided plants were Jerry Hoffmeister, Mike Foster and Donna Pierce, Jamie Notman and Ingrid Bridge. Jerry also assisted with setup and teardown, and Ingrid and Barry Bridge also helped with teardown. Thanks everyone for making our display a success! The Mt. Baker Orchid Society will have their show at Skagit Valley Gardens Nursery just south of Mt. Vernon February 28-29. Setup is Friday afteroon, Feb. 27. I will be collecting plants at my house on Wednesday, Feb. 25. Please call me if you need to make special arrangements or if you would like to help with the setup or teardown. The Oregon Orchid Society Spring Show, formerly scheduled for Mar. 27-28, has been moved up to March 6-7. It will still be at the Fairgrounds in Hillsboro, but a larger building has become available. Their shows are always outstanding and this one promises to be even better than usual. I don’t usually mentioned shows where we do not plan to display, but one show is worthy of note. The Central Vancouver Island Orchid Society will be having their show on April 16-18 in beautiful Nanaimo, British Columbia. If you haven’t been to a Canadian show or to Vancouver Island for a while this would be a wonderful opportunity to do both. You may contact them for more information by e-mail at j.philip@attcanada.ca. George Grantham SHOW NEWS FEBRUARY 2004 Greetings. The next event for the NWOS will be our small presence at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show February 4-8, 2004. Many of you have already signed up to volunteer at the Orchid Hotel. Christine Peterson has the volunteer list, and has passed out the wristbands to get into the show. We will not be involved in the display or a separate membership booth this time, so we do not need as many people to help. Thank you to those who did sign up. After the Flower and Garden show is the next NWOS-sponsored event. The Spring Orchid Sale will be at Sky Nursery on March 13-14. We will occupy the same greenhouse space we had last year. Only a few local vendors will be there, so we will have plenty of room for our Society members to sell plants. Please contact me (206-297-3708) if you want to use a larger area for selling your own things. We will have sign-up sheets at the next two meetings. We are looking for new help with the Show Committee this year in preparation for the Fall Show, that is scheduled for November 13-14 at the Seattle Center, Snoqualmie Room (same as last year). So many unexpected things happened last time! Who knew we would need so many last-minute helpers? Those of you who volunteered to help were wonderful. If you have any ideas to make the show better, please let me know so we can get you on the team. I will try to get the meetings arranged so they can be published in the newsletter. For now, please think about helping at the Spring Sale. We will have one community display, potting services, a membership area, and plenty of bench space for members. We are looking for people with advertising experience, ability to paint and build sandwich signs, display ideas, flyer distribution and cashiers. The vendors have not been invited (at this writing), but invitations will be out within a week. Please help us put some money into the Society’s account for a year of interesting speakers. Robin
Kemph DISCOUNT ON GARDEN BOOKS The NWOS is gathering orders for books from Timber Press. A group order will give members a discount of 35-44% (depending on the quantity ordered) off the list price and there will be no sales tax charged. Orders must be pre-paid by check or cash at the March meeting. Catalogs will be available at the February meeting or check out Timber Press online at www.timberpress.com. Orders must be placed at the February meeting. Books will be available for pick up at the April meeting. NOMINEES NEEDED FOR NWOS BOARD The Society is seeking candidates for several offices plus four trustee positions. Please volunteer to serve the society (or nominate someone who would be willing to serve). Trustees serve two years; officers are elected annually. Here are the job descriptions: President: The president presides at all meetings of the Society and of the Board of Trustees, sees that bylaws are followed, and in general supervises the affairs of the society. First Vice President: This officer presides at meetings when the president is absent and coordinates the educational activities of the Society (i.e., the beginner’s program and lines up speakers for the monthly meetings). Secretary: The secretary takes minutes of all Board meetings, maintains the membership records, and deposits dues. Treasurer: The treasurer deposits receipts, pays bills, and maintains the Society’s financial records with Quick Books Pro on a laptop computer owned by the Society. In a typical month, the treasurer writes six to eight checks to members who’ve sold plants at the plant table. Work is considerably increased after the Society’s shows and sales and quarterly when taxes are due (up to 20 hours may be needed just to do the taxes). The ideal candidate will have had experience with computerized bookkeeping systems. Chris Peterson, the current treasurer, is willing to train someone to take over the position. Trustee: The Board of Trustees meets six times a year (every two months, usually the first Tuesdays of September, November, January, March and May plus an organizational meeting in June or July). Board meetings usually last about two hours. Trustees serve for two years. To be considered as a candidate or to nominate someone else, please contact Kathy Murray, nominating committee chair, at K-M_Murray@prodigy.net or 425-257-0583 or talk to Kathy at the February meeting. Nominating Committee Volunteers Needed A few good
men and women are needed to find candidates for the Society’s Board
of Trustees and for officer positions. Please volunteer by contacting
Kathy Murray at 425-257-0583 or K-M_Murray@prodigy.net. NEWSLETTER EDITOR NEEDED Having served as editor of the NWOS newsletter for over two years now, I think it’s time to give someone else a turn. The job involves a commitment of 8-10 hours a month and the newsletter editor should be someone who can regularly attend general and board meetings. (The editor is not a member of the board but is invited to meetings to keep abreast of the society’s plans.) The newsletter is currently created in Adobe Pagemaker on a Macintosh, but can just as easily be done in Word or Publisher on any platform. Someone with good editing and computer skills will do fine. You must have your own computer. E-mail and Internet access will make the job much easier. In addition to assembling material and laying out the newsletter, the editor is responsible for printing and mailing the newsletter in a timely fashion. Most of the work is done in the last week of the month. Currently the Society mails about 140 newsletters and e-mails another 65. If you have questions or are interested in taking over, please contact Brian Anderson at nwosnews@comcast.net or 206-818-4364. IMPORTANT DATES FEBRUARY
4-8, 2004 FEBRUARY
19-22, 2004 MARCH 6
& 7, 2004
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