MOS
Official
Newsletter of the Michiana Orchid Society
May, 2005
MAY MOS MEETING
AT FERNWOOD!
The May 14, 2005, meeting of the Michiana
Orchid Society will be held at Fernwood Botanic Gardens in Niles,
Michigan, at 1:30 Michigan time. (For you Indiana folks, that’s 12:30, now that
Daylight Savings Time has taken effect.)
Our meeting will be held in conjunction with our educational exhibit and
orchid display, and there will be a video---"An Introduction to
Orchids". The public is invited to
stop by to watch the video, enjoy our orchid display and ask questions of
Michiana Orchid Society members.
We're planning to set up the educational
exhibit and orchid display on Friday, May 13, around 1:00 in the afternoon.
Please plan to bring your orchids and a few foliage plants to Fernwood to set
up a lovely display to lure the public into sharing our orchid addiction. We have planned to keep the exhibit up
through Sunday. We'll need to have
people around on Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
We're looking forward to seeing you all
at Fernwood and enjoying the beauty of spring in this wonderful location! Fernwood will also have their spring plant sale
this same weekend. See you there!
IN THE AIR AND ON THE ROAD FOR ORCHIDS!
Several Michiana Orchid Society members
have logged some miles lately in their quest for more information on
orchids. The Mid-America Orchid Congress
and Spring American Orchid Society members’ meetings were held recently in Minneapolis, hosted by
the Orchid Society of Minnesota. Deb and
Sandy flew to Minneapolis
to enjoy the lovely orchid displays and sign in at the Mid-America for the
Michiana Orchid Society. The meetings
and speakers of the Slipper Orchid Alliance, the Orchid Digest Corporation, the
Pleurothallid Alliance and the International Phalaenopsis Alliance were also
held. Michiana members Rob Halgren and
Marilyn Lee were also there to take in the meetings and conferences. Everyone enjoyed speakers Alex Hirtz on
“Orchid Evolution in the Neotropics”, Jason Fischer on “Orchids of Japan”,
Francisco Miranda on “Brazilian Orchids”, Jerry Fischer on “New Developments in
Phragmipediums”, Karen Muir on “Brachypetalums”, Will Rodehamel on “Easily
Grown Pleurothallids”, Bob Fuchs on “Trends in Vandaceous Intergeneric
Breeding”, Alan Koch on “Brazilian Laelias in Minicatts”, Norman Fang on
“Harlequin Phalaenopsis”, and Russ Vernon on “How Not to Grow Phalaenopsis”. Of particular interest to Sandy was Jerry Fischer’s talk on new phrags,
where the new Phrag popowii was discussed.
Additionally, a lovely Phrag popowii specimen shown by Orchids Limited
was awarded an AM/AOS of 85 points by the American Orchid Society judges.
After being in attendance at all of the
conferences, Rob suggested a field trip to Orchids Limited….so Deb, Sandy,
Marilyn and Rob piled into Rob’s car and explored their wonderful greenhouses,
making a few purchases along the way.
Wonderful phrags such as Scarlet O’Hara and Jason Fischer and paphs
including the vietnamense hybrid Ho Chi Minh were in bloom. A few must-have plants were purchased by our
orchid-frenzied travelers.
Other plants were gathered in the sales
areas of the show. Rob had a car, so he
had no trouble taking his plants home, but he forgot one big paph… Marilyn hand-carried it home on the plane for
him. Deb and Sandy had to flatten out
their purchases and pack them in their suitcases. That flask of sanderianum had a very
cushioned spot in Sandy’s
carry-on bag. After four days of
orchids, Deb and Sandy flew home to a snow-covered Indiana.
Apparently all of these orchid adventures
were not enough. Seeing an opportunity
to go to the Three Rivers show, Deb and Sandy drove to Ft. Wayne
to judge and clerk in the Three Rivers show the following weekend. MOS member
and student judge Greg Filter was there for judging, also. It was a small show with about ten displays,
collectibles and wonderful orchid photographs, and five orchid vendors. Michiana was unable to send an exhibit this
year, but hopefully we will be able to fit this nice show into our spring
schedule next year.
PHRAG POPOWII AT MINNESOTA
Braem,
Ohlund (our Sandy) and Quene recently described in print the five long-tailed
Phragmipedium species originating in Central and South
America. They went back to the original publications describing
these species and found that what had first been described and what we call
these plants nowadays are different. They then corrected the nomenclature of
the species to what had originally been intended by those such as Reichenbach
who first described the plants. Phragmipedium popowii became the new
name for the species which had incorrectly been named Phrag.
warszewiczianum. This information had not been published before in North America. At the joint semiannual meetings of the
Mid-America Orchid Congress and the American Orchid Society in Minneapolis April 20-24, two things happened.
Jerry Fischer of Orchids Limited exhibited the long-tailed phrags with their
newly corrected names, winning an award on Phrag. popowii. On Friday,
Jerry Fischer gave a talk called "New Developments in Phragmipediums"
(wait until you see Scarlett O'Hara) during which he introduced Quene. Quene
then went on to tell the audience about the work that he, Guido Braem and Sandy
Ohlund had done regarding the long-tailed phrags. We heard it for the
first time that weekend and two of the authors were present. Coincidentally,
the Orchid Digest came out that weekend with an article by Robert
Dressler which both agreed and disagreed with the work done by Braem, Ohlund
and Quene.
Minutes from April Meeting
The
April 9 MOS meeting was called to order at 1:35 by Vice-president Howard
Heines. Twenty members and one guest were present. Under "Old
Business" there were no reports from the By-Laws and Program committees.
Concerning publicity, the Elkhart
area is being handled by Jean Moskowitz who has placed a notice in the Thursday
edition of The Elkhart Truth about the MOS meetings. Katie Payeur suggested
fliers be posted in Lowe's, Home Depot, and flower shops telling about MOS.
Sandy mentioned AOS will advertise the MOS show this Fall for three months
before the show date.
Plans
for our educational display at Fernwood on May 13-15 were outlined by Sylvia
Groat. Set-up will be Friday, May 13 at 2:00 Indiana time. We'll need blooming plants. If
you can't come to Fernwood, take your plants to Sandy at the college before that Friday. On
Saturday, May 14 our regular MOS meeting will be held at Fernwood at our usual
time of 1:30 Indiana
time. Both Saturday and Sunday we need help from MOS members to talk with
visitors about MOS, discuss orchid culture, answer questions, help with potting
demonstrations, and set up videos Sandy
will supply. Sandy
will also bring books to sell concerning orchid pests and diseases. Most
persons who attend this weekend are interested in plants, and we have signed up
many new members from this Fernwood event.
Holy
Cross Continuing Educations Department offers a course in Orchid Culture in
both Spring and Fall semesters.
It's two evenings, 6-8:30, costs $35-40, and is taught by
Sandy Ohlund (of course!) Area libraries have a Holy Cross schedule, or you can
call the college to learn the schedule.
Jean
and Harry Moskowitz visited AOS at DelRay
Beach FL this winter
and saw former MOS member Steve Royer who now works at the AOS headquarters. He
gave them a personally conducted tour of the greenhouses. Their photos showed a
very large natural appearing tree in one greenhouse. It was actually made of
PVC pipe, covered with bark, and had orchids growing on it.
Under
"New Business" - On April 30 at Holy
Cross College,
8:00 - 4:00 Indiana
time, Fernwood will present a workship on perennials titled "A Garden for
All Seasons." The cost is $65.00 ($55.00 for Fernwood members) and
includes continental breakfast, lunch, and four speakers who are authors of
books about perennials. Sylvia recommends "The Well Designed Mixed
Garden" by Tracy DiSabato-Aust one of the featured speakers that day.
The
Journal of Columbian Orchid Society, "Orquideologia" for December
2004 cover photo is a lovely new Phrag. that Sandy helped name. It's official name is
Phrag Popowii Braem, Ohlund, and Quene.' The article inside is in both English
and Spanish.
On
May 21 the garden Plant Swap at Sherry Burtchett's will be in full swing. If
you didn't get directions at this meeting contact Sherry.
The
meeting adjourned at 2:30 to enjoy the slide show "Orchids of Northeastern U.S." presented by Sandy Ohlund. Many
of the orchids pictured also grow in the midwest and southern states. Cliff
Berger discussed some ideas for growing wild orchids.
Bring
and Brag featured orchids grown by Rick Hendrickson, Howard Heines, Harry
Moskowitz, Sally Gaishin, and Sylvia Groat.
The
drawing for the door prize of a lovely golden Pot. Burana Beauty
"Burana#4" supplied by Sylvia was won by Barbara Wich.
Upcoming
shows:
April
15-17 Ann Arber - at the Botanical Garden
April
30- May 1 Ft. Wayne
Memorial
Day weekend - Traverse City,
the Western Michigan Orchid Society
Respectfully
submitted,
Barbara
Wich co-secretary
TREASURER'S REPORT
April 28, 2005
Income
Dues--$10.00
Expenses
None
Ending Balance--$2,019.73
Amount in Savings--$2,936.93
Respectfully submitted,
Deb Longworth, treasurer
LAST CALL FOR DUES
Deb will send a reminder to
everyone who hasn't yet paid before the next meeting. The cost is $10.00 for
individuals and $15.00 for families. Thanks to everyone who has paid.
Refreshments
May Deb
June Cliff’s House
July John’s House
August Dennis’ House
September Sally
October Vicky & Rick
November Ann
December Sherry’s House
January 2006