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August 2003
AUGUST MEETING August
10 , 2003 Annual Picnic! All NWOS members are invited to the society's annual picnic at noon on Sunday, August 10, at Mark and Jennifer Bamber's home and orchid business at the north end of Camano Island. The society will furnish burgers (beef and veggie), buns, and trimmings plus soft drinks, paper plates and silverware (plastic). Members should bring a favorite dish: salad, side dish, or dessert to serve eight people. – Kathy Murray Beginner's program (starts at 6:30 p.m.): No beginner's program this month. Plant Table: No plant table this month. Sales Table: No sales table this month. Raffle: No raffle this month. NEXT MONTH September: Larry Moskovitz will give us a talk on "Bizarre Orchid Species" October: NWOS Auction November: Nina Rach, an AOS judge from Houston, Texas will speak tenatively on Stanhopeas. December: Christmas party, program TBD Got a suggestion for a speaker or program? November 2003 and most of 2004 is currently open and first vice president Jerry Hoffmeister is interested in knowing what you would like to hear about at upcoming meetings. E-mail at jerry@hoffmeisters.com or call him (206-932-9912) with your suggestions. PAID ADVERTISING
OUT ON A LIMB HOSTS NWOS PICNIC This year's picnic offers a chance to tour the ever-expanding Out on a Limb Orchids facility (and possibly to buy a few orchids). Unlike recent picnics, there will not be an auction. The auction will take place at the October meeting, so look at future newsletters for details. I just came back from Out On A Limb Orchids and what an overwhelming orchid explosion. Those of you who decide to make the journey will have a great time. Let's go to the picnic site: Mark and Jennifer's front yard. A beautiful perennial garden surrounds the oval lawn. Their house sits on a hill overlooking the greenhouses with snow-covered peaks and the Puget Sound in the distance. The greenhouses (I think there are six) are brimming with plants. At the last meeting, I said 300,000 plants is what we counted. Well, that was in just one of the seedling rooms. There are plants in all stages of growth to choose from and many varieties in bloom. Miltonias, paphs, wilsonaras, vandas, dendrodiums, masdevallias, colminaras, angraecums, epidendrums, coelogynes and a bunch of other stuff. This is a great opportunity to get out of town and enjoy the countryside. While out at Mark's I didn't hear any sirens or traffic all I heard was quiet. Relaxing. Have a good time! Jamie Notman, President How to get there Camano Island is an easy drive from Seattle and you don't have to wait in line for a ferry. If you¹re not familiar with the area you may want to leave early so you have time to explore Stanwood and the island. Directions: Drive north on I-5 past Everett and Marysville until you reach exit 212. (This probably is marked as the exit for Stanwood and Camano Island.) Turn left at the exit and go west on Highway 532. You will drive through Stanwood and arrive on the island by bridge. The first time the highway forks, turn right onto East North Camano Drive. Look on the right side of the road for a sign "Out on a Limb Orchids" and turn into the driveway. Total driving time from downtown Seattle is approximately 45 minutes. FROM THE PRESIDENT I was reading this article on orchids in the New York Times and it appears now that orchids aren¹t as high on the evolutionary scale as we have been lead to believe. Says that orchids emerged around 90 million years ago. Through DNA studies, they've shown orchids are more closely related to Asgaragales which is a large group of plants including aparagus, onions and irises. How about that. My trip to Alaska was a total success. Only one of the maps Ron Coleman gave me didn't pan out. The first orchids I saw were on the Steward Highway about 15 miles south of Anchorage. I spotted them while traveling down the road at 65 miles an hour they looked like white flags on the hillside. They were Platanthera dilatata. They were some of the biggest Platantheras I have ever seen. The next day we went to Eklutna Lake were we found a gold mine of orchids. There I found Corallorhiza trifida, Cypripedium passerinum, Listera borealis, Piperia candida, Platanthera obtusata, and Amerorchis roundifolia. Then on my way to Steward I found a place where the barrow pit was seething with Platanthera dilatata. Now is a good time to start getting plants ready for the Auction at the October meeting. After two years of low attendence at the picnic/auction the board decided to move the auction back to the October meeting. That meeting will consist of nothing but an auction and it will start at 7 p.m. sharp. I will not be attending the picnic as that weekend is my 30th year class reunion in Montana. All of those who haven't ever been out to Out on a Limb Orchids are in for a real treat so mark down the date for the picnic on your calander. Happy orchid growing, see you in September. Jamie
Notman FALL SHOW NEWS August marks the ninety-day point till the Show. There is a lot to be done. Thanks to Katrina Lindahl and Mike Boyd who recently asked to be involved with the Show. It takes a lot of talented people to put on an event like this one, and the more the merrier. It will be great. Our Fall Show will be held at the Seattle Center in the Snoqualmie Room on November 22nd and 23rd. We are working on a lot of little details right now, and await the final list of vendors and guests. We are combining orchids with art this year with many small orchid displays and an art gallery. Several of the vendors will be selling orchid art in different forms along with our wonderful array of orchid vendors. There is still a little time before the deadline for vendors to submit applications at this writing, so I don't have a complete list for the show. So far we have:
Ochidacea and Botanica have also expressed interest, but the applications have not yet arrived. Invitations for round two will go out at the beginning of August. This year the Show Committee has decided to have special awards for special plants at the show. We will have ribbon trophies for the usual AOS awards. We are adding some unusual categories and special trophies for the plants that add fun to the displays. Some of the awards we will add are: Smallest Micro-mini Orchid (overall), Most Flowers On A Single Plant, Strongest Scent, Most Vibrant Color, Largest Plant (overall), People's Choice (display), as well as ribbon awards for Best Display categories. We will be asking for help in sponsoring these and the AOS awards at the picnic and the following meetings till show time. The sponsorships are $25 each, and you may choose the award you want to help with. The special awards will not be ribbons. If you have an idea for an appropriate trophy for our new categories, please contact me. Robin Kemph, Show Chair ORCHID PROFILE: CLOWESIA Clowesia
(kloh-WES-e-ah)
The genus Clowesia was published by John Lindley based on Clowesia rosea in 1848. Reichenbach transferred the species to Catasetum in 1872 and so it remained until 1975. At that time C. H. Dodson published his revision in which he removed from Catasetum, eight species that bore bisexual or perfect flowers. He resurrected the genus Clowesia with C. rosea as its type from the original description and transferred 4 other species from Catasetum to Clowesia. The remaining three species from Catasetum with perfect or bisexual flowers were placed in the newly established genus Dressleria. Clowesia are found at altitudes ranging from 200 to 1500 meters. It is an epiphytic genus of sympodial orchids that are found in warm, moist open canopy tropical trees, except Clowesia glaucoglossa found in one particular species of palm in one small area of southwest Mexico. Pseudobulbs are somewhat fusiform to conical in shape with thin veined leaves during the growth season. Like Catasetum and Cycnoches, the bulbs grow to maturity in 6 to 7 months and lose their leaves in a rest period. Some of the species bloom on new maturing growths, while others such as Clowesia rosea bloom from completely leafless pseudobulbs. The inflorescences emerge from the base of the pseudobulbs and are sharply pendent unlike the more arching, pendant inflorescences of Catasetum. There are two particularly beautiful and fragrant hybrids, Clowesia (Catasetum) Grace Dunn and Clowesia (Catasetum) Rebecca Northen. Because the International Orchid Registration Authority and the RHS do not recognize the genus Clowesia as valid, all Clowesia species and hybrids are usually sold as Catasetum. George Carr, courtesy of AOS
CONSTRUCTION TO START AT CUH Starting this fall, the Center for Urban Horticulture will begin construction on the new Merrill Hall (to replace the one that burned down in 2001). What does this mean to you? About 30 less parking spots at meetings. Construction staging will take up some of the parking area. Work is expected to be completed in Summer 2004. NEED CASHIERING HELP AT MEETINGS We are looking for a volunteer to help with cashiering at our monthly meetings. Pat Gossler does a great job but would like some help. This is your chance to get involved with the society and make a difference. If you are interested, please see Pat at the September meeting. HAVE YOU RENEWED? It's that time of year again. Time to renew your NWOS membership, that is. Dues are unchanged from last year—a very reasonable $20 for an individual membership and $25 for a joint membership (two adults in a household). How do you know if you need to renew? For those people receiving the electronic newsletter, the e-mail sent to you this month will let you know if your membership is expiring. A membership renewal form can be downloaded as a PDF file. DID YOU KNOW? Orchids are the second most popular plant in potted flowering plant sales to retailers? Second only to pointsettias, which enjoy the benefit of a holiday tradition, orchids wholesale sales were valued at $106 million in 2002. IMPORTANT DATES AUGUST 10,
2003 SEPTEMBER
27-28, 2003 OCTOBER
4-5, 2003 NOVEMBER
8-9, 2003 NOVEMBER
22-23, 2003 |
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