Carol Beule is an EMMY award winning Costume Designer with a Master of Fine Arts in both Costume and Lighting Design from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She was a professional Costume Designer from 1974 until her retirement in July of 2017, and has designed for Film, Commercials, Theatre productions and TV shows. She lived in NYC for the first 15 years of her career.

Growing orchids in NYC was not considered possible, so she has grown orchids only since moving to Southern California in 1992. Growing outside with no greenhouse in Studio City at the edge of the San Fernando Valley was sometimes problematic. With temperatures ranging from 28 to 118 Fahrenheit, and humidity as low as 7%, it was usually a challenge. It has been her quest to find what will and will not bloom and prosper under these circumstances. Now however, she has 2 very small greenhouses to help.

In her search to find the perfect plant for her growing area, Carol discovered the Japanese orchid called Neofinetia (Vanda) falcata and various other species that thrive outside in Southern California, depending on the growing medium used. Carol grows various forms of Sarcochilus, Paphiopedilum, Phalaenopsis, Cattleya, Laelia, Dendrobium, Lycaste, Zygopetalum and Asian Cymbidiums.

Carol is a Fully Accredited American Orchid Society Judge, the 1st VP of the Orchid Society of Southern California, and is on the committee that creates the Society’s display for the Huntington’s annual October Orchid Show. When she retired, she started making ceramic pots for the Japanese/Korean/Chinese orchid called the Neofinetia (Vanda) falcata, Asian Cymbidiums and other small plants.  She grows in 2 small greenhouses and outside in her yard in Studio City, CA.  She has grown orchids only since buying her home.

Carol wrote an article for the American Orchid Society magazine on the pots used to display the Vanda falcata in Japan and the plant’s cultural heritage in 2022. The 1st part was published in February of 2022, and Part’s 2 & 3 continued through the year.

Carol normally brings any of her blooming Neofinetia or their hybrids along for members to view and smell when she speaks, along with several Vanda falcata pots. For Zoom meetings, she has some plants & pots near her desk to show.

During her search, Carol has had the opportunity to see a wide variety of growers in Japan.  She has seen some of the best of the best and their techniques.  This will be a wonderful opportunity to learn new techniques from some of the best of the best.

Donna’s presentation will cover propagation of orchids. It will include a demonstration on how to deflask orchids that come from the orchid Lab after their initial start in life.

Donna is a native Californian, is studying to become an American Orchid Society judge, and hopes to earn her accreditation soon. After over 30 years of loving, caring for and studying plants, she went on to work as a professional interior house plant maintenance technician until 4 years ago. She has since retired and works as a part time volunteer at the Huntington Botanical Gardens Thornton Estate Orchid Conservatory in San Marino.

She currently has over 420 sq feet of greenhouse, shade house and interior growing areas where she has over 1300 Cattleyas, Paphiopedilums, Cymbidiums, Dendrobiums, Sarcochilus, miniature Vanda and novelty Phalaenopsis orchids as well as several other genera. 

April 5, 2023 will be our first auction since Covid-19 caused a lot of schedule changes.

The auction will be held at our in person meeting location, The Sepulveda Garden Center, 16633 Magnolia Blvd, Encino, CA 91436 at 7:00 pm.  We will have a preview of the plants at 6:45 pm. This will be a great opportunity to get some great orchids to start or add to your collection.

It is very true of our society, we come for the Orchids but we stay because we become Friends.

Happy Orchid growing,

Arthur Pinkers,

President, San Fernando Valley Orchid Society.

An Overview Of The Genus Paphiopedilum presents one of the most popular and sought after genus of orchids. It includes the history of the genus in cultivation, an introduction to the sections of the group and the most important species in each section. Examples of hybrids are shown and discussed. Cultural notes are provided for each section.  The presentation provides a solid introduction to the new hobbyist and some important reminders for more experienced growers.

DOUGLAS OVERSTREET has grown orchids continually since he was 10 years old.  He comes by his interest in plants and animals naturally.  His family have been American farmers since 1684.  The first orchid he purchased in 1972 was Cattleya Trimos, a primary hybrid between C. trianaei and C. mossiae.  The first orchid he flowered was a phalaenopsis hybrid.

Doug moved to California in 1975 and continued his love affair with orchids.  In 1984, his collection began to grow by leaps and bounds with his first professional job.  He also became a very active participant in the local orchid community.  He began to work with orchids professionally in 2000 as a private consultant.  Gradually, this became his full-time occupation. He has managed private collections for leading hobbyists in Southern California for the last 15 years. He is an Accredited American Orchid Society Judge in the Pacific South Region.  An accomplished writer and educator, Doug has written articles for many different publications including Orchid Digest and has served on the Editorial Committee of that publication as Assistant Editor.  He has spoken for orchid societies and other groups nationwide.  Prior to joining the Huntington full time as a horticulturist, he was a frequent guest lecturer for the Huntington.  Currently, he is the orchid specialist in charge of the Thornton Conservatory and the Ernest Hetherington Memorial Cattleya Collection.

Please email Arthur Pinkers at arthur.pinkers@gmail.com to get the Zoom Link for the presentation.

We hope you will join us for a look into a wonderful genus of very unique flowers.  Brandon will help us learn to grow this great genus.  What he shares will help us grow these great plants to their best.

Brandon Tam is passionate about his career as the Orchid Collection Specialist at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.

Brandon’s grandmother first introduced him to orchids when he was seven by giving him a white cymbidium. He volunteered at the Huntington during high school, and when he graduated at age 16, Dr. James Folsom, Director of the Botanical Gardens, offered Brandon a full-time position as the Orchid Collection Specialist. Brandon has managed the collection for over ten years.  While working with Dr. Folsom to reinvigorate the Huntington’s orchid collection, Brandon attended California State University Polytechnic, Pomona, and earned his Bachelor of Science in Plant Science degree in 2015.

Brandon now oversees one of the largest orchid collections in the United States, which has grown from 2000 to over 10,000 plants in the past ten years. The Huntington has quickly built one of the five most diverse orchid species collections in the world. The collection is housed in over 26,000 square feet of growing area, which includes the Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory and three collection greenhouses, dedicated specifically for tropical plants.   He also oversees the Huntington’s 50 Amorphophallus titanums (better known as the “Corpse flower”), and has successfully bloomed six since 2014.

Under Brandon’s direction, The Huntington has won over 100 awards from the American Orchid Society within the last three years, which includes five First Class Certificates and three Certificates of Cultural Excellence. At the American Orchid Society Fall 2016 Members Meeting, The Huntington received The Merritt W. Huntington Award, which gives international recognition for the “Most Outstanding Orchid” in the year of 2015 for Paphiopedilum micranthum ‘Huntington’s Perfection’ FCC/AOS. In 2016, The Huntington received not just one, but two American Orchid Society Special Annual Awards! Lycaste consobrina ‘Huntington’s Finest’ AM-CCE/AOS received the Butterworth Award which goes to the grower of the plant exhibiting the finest orchid culture. It also received the Benjamin C. Berliner award which is given to most outstanding example of the genus Lycaste or its closely allied genera. At the time of judging, it had a total of 287 flowers and 7 buds.

In Brandon’s spare time, he loves to travel, and of course…EAT!  He joined Harold Koopowitz and others on a trek in Ecuador led by Pepe Portilla, where the group saw many wild orchids and focused on the study of Selenipedium aequinoctiale. Additionally, Brandon was elected as Trustee of the American Orchid Society, for a three-year term, which started March 2018.

Donna is a native Californian, is studying to become an American Orchid Society judge, and hopes to earn her accreditation soon. After over 30 years of loving, caring for and studying plants, she went on to work as a professional interior house plant maintenance technician until 4 years ago. She has since retired and works as a part time volunteer at the Huntington Botanical Gardens Thornton Estate Orchid Conservatory in San Marino.
She currently has approximately 420 sq feet of greenhouse, shade house and interior growing areas where she has over 1300 Cattleyas, Paphiopedilums, Cymbidiums, Dendrobiums, Sarcochilus, miniature Vanda and novelty Phalaenopsis orchids as well as several other genera. She grows award winning orchids as we show here. The information she shares with us may also help you grow award winning plants.

Presented by Ken Jacobsen

Ken was first introduced to orchids by his uncle in the 1960’s and has been growing orchids for well over 50 years.  His collection includes Cymbidiums, Oncidiums, Odontoglossums, Lycastes, Cattleyas, Laelias, Masdevallias and several other genera.  Ken and his wife, Amy, enjoy travelling to all areas of the world w here orchids are grown, visiting the local growers, and seeing various species in the wild.  Together, Amy and Ken have over 7000 orchids. 

Ken is a judge in the AOS judging program, was a judge in the CSA judging program, and is a past AOS trustee

The Jensoa group of Cymbidiums is a delightful group that have small foot prints and wonderful displays of small flowers that can be very striking.

Please Join us for our in person meeting at the Sepulveda Garden Center

The current health directives are not permitting the Sepulveda Garden Center to allow face to face meetings at this time.  The San Fernando Valley Orchid Society is meeting via Zoom the first Wednesday of the Month.  If you would like to attend, please email Arthur Pinkers at arthur.pinkers@gmail.com.  We would like to have you join us for the meeting.