Northwest Orchid Society Newsletter

December 11, 2006
7:00 p.m.
University of Washington
Center for Urban Horticulture
3501 NE 41st Street
Seattle, WA 98105

At this month’s meeting we will be having our annual Christmas party. We will be having a finger food potluck consisting of desserts and appetizer-like food that one could eat by picking up with your fingers. Bring whatever suits you best. The society will supply some trays of various finger foods.

Kathy Murray will give us a presentation on the Native Orchid Conference in Oregon last summer.

We will have the Schoenfeld trophy and the Rebecca Northen Miniature Orchid trophy to award to some one who brings in their special plants. Everyone is encouraged to participate in winning one of these trophies. All you have to do is bring in one or two blooming plant(s), one that 6 inches or less in height, the other can be any size. Then everyone who is there will get to vote on which plant they like the best in each category and the one with the most votes wins.

Beginner’s program: (starts at 6:30 p.m.)
No beginner's program this month.

Display Table:
No display table this month, but bring in your best plant to compete for the Schoenfeld or Tyson trophi

Sales Table:
Members may bring up to 10 plants to sell. Include a tag with your name and the price in the plant.

Raffle:
No raffle this month but all members get a free orchid for the holidays.

As part of our December meeting this year, we want to have a slide show with pictures of all those orchids that bloom in between meetings. You know that wonderful Cattleya whose gorgeous flowers started to fade just before you could bring it in for the display table? Did you take a photo? Or maybe you have a favorite plant that you didn’t want to risk transporting?

Send us your photos and we’ll make them into a slide show. Digital files are required (JPEG). All entries must be received by December 9 to be included. Be sure to include you name and the name of plant with your submission.

SHOW THANKS

Thank you all for participating in our big fall show by bringing plants for our display and for helping at the event. I think it was a huge success despite the typical rainy and blustery November weather.
The exhibit area was breathtaking with displays by eight vendors, five visiting societies (Mount Baker, Olympia, Oregon, Spokane, and South Central [Tri Cities]), the Woodland Park Zoo and UW Botany Greenhouse, and our wonderful exhibit. To my knowledge we’ve never had so many exhibits.

As with all events of this magnitude, a number of people devoted an exceptional amount of time to make it happen and some took vacation (Michael Corn, Cathy Tuttle, Pat Gossler, and perhaps others).

I want to thank the Show Committee for ongoing help, advice, and assistance. We owe special thanks to George Grantham for designing and installing our display, Michael Corn and Cathy Tuttle for developing the new ribbon judging database, Bill Zimmerman, who headed the AOS judging team, Chris Peterson, for multiple trips with cash registers and show materials to and from storage and for handling special awards and ribbons, and Pat Gossler for tallying vendor tags and banking show receipts.

Michael Corn also appeared on the Ciscoe Morris radio show to promote the show. Mike Pearson, as always, was an enormous help. Brian Anderson created this year’s poster and made lovely flyers. Linda Petchnick allowed us to use one of her paintings for our poster and also installed the art display. Jerry Hoffmeister, Jamie Notman, Abigail Chang also contributed many hours.

Thanks also to Jay Perez for lining up speakers for the orchid talks and to Donna Pierce, Mike Foster, Barry Bridge, Joff Morgan, Frank and Judy Vincenzi, and Craig Williams for their help creating and dismantling the NWOS display.

I also want to thank our vendors: Baby Dragon (David Tallman and Vernon Geizler from Portland), B & B (Bob Ellis, a long-time NWOS member from Port Angeles), Clackamas (David Morris who lives outside Portland), Out on a Limb Orchids (NWOS members Mark Bamber and Jennifer Ritchie, Camano Island), Sorella Orchids (Nenita Sorella, Vancouver, Washington), and Valley Orchid Supply (Barb Inman of Westport). In addition, NWOS member Shannon Boling (Orchids Anonymous, Monroe) shared booth space with Dick Gersib (Orchids for Kids, Lacey). Dick sells primarily seedlings and didn’t have enough plants for an exhibit so Shannon created their exhibit. A new NWOS member, Rosa Villena of Gig Harbor, sold plants from her family’s nursery in Peru.

We also thank Molbak’s nursery in Woodinville for donating 250 boxes for our sale.

Thanks to all of you it was an outstanding event.

Kathy Murray
Show Committtee Chair

Best Plant by Orchid Hobbyist
Miltassia Charles M. Fitch ‘Amethyst’
Laima Swanson

For a complete list of all of the awards and ribbons given at the Falll Show, you can download the awards report (PDF).

And thanks to our judges: Bob Hendrickson and Craig Williams. If you are interested in helping to judge the plant table, just let Mike Foster know—everyone is welcome, no matter what your experience level.

The 2007 AOS calendar, full of beautiful and unusual orchids is available at the December meeting. NWOS member Mike Pearson once again has a photo in the calendar! NWOS members pay just $10 when they purchase it at the meeting. Regular price is $11.95.

(Held November 7, 2006) The board had extensive discussions about the Fall Show—although a great event and a lot of fun, both attendance and revenue were down again this year. The board and the Show Committee are exploring the idea of moving our main show and sale to the spring and possibly to a different location that might attract more people. These changes would mean no Fall Show next year but a major show and sale in early 2008. Ideas and suggestions from members are welcome; please talk to a board member or join the Show Committee if you have an opinion and want to help.

The NWOS will put in a small display and have a booth at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show at the Convention Center in downtown Seattle in February. Volunteer sign-up sheets will be available at the January meeting.

We've talked with several members, but we still haven't had any luck in securing a new editor for the newsletter.

No real experience is necessary. Basic writing/editing skills, desktop publishing or web experience will be helpful but are not required. This position requires a commitment of 8-10 hours per month.

Volunteers will need to have their own computer and an e-mail account that they check regularly. The editor is also responsible for printing and distributing the newsletter. If you are interested or have questions, please contact Brian Anderson at nwos_news@nwos.org.

For additional volunteer opportunities, click "Volunteer Opportunities" in the side menu on this page.