Category Culture Sessions
October 5th: Displaying Beautiful Blooms
Arthur Pinkers at the 2014 SDCOS Show
We enjoy our orchids when they look their best. We love beautiful arrangements when we go to shows and see the exhibits. With a desire to increase our personal enjoyment and with show season upon us, we will be looking at techniques to have our plants present their beautiful blooms to their best. Tips on staking, plant grooming and small table top displays will also be covered. Join us on Wednesday, October 5th for this interesting presentation by our President, Arthur Pinkers.
Arthur has been an orchid enthusiast since the age of sixteen, when he acquired a plant of Slc. Glittering Jewel (Sl. Gratixiae x Slc. Hermes), which infected him with the orchid bug. His forty plus years of experience growing orchids started in the Pacific Northwest with a greenhouse to fend off the cold, rainy days, but a decade ago a job change forced him to move to Santa Clarita, California, where the conditions are extreme for growing orchids.
Growing up in the Seattle area, Arthur attended Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, graduating with a B.S. in Chemistry and Biology. He worked for many years as a chemist, and had the fortune of having his dream job as the Lab Director for Beall Orchid Company until shortly before its close in 1990. Despite not having a current career working with orchids, Arthur has taken an active role in the orchid community. He has been an Accredited Orchid Judge for over twenty years and has served in most executive positions on the Board of the Northwest Orchid Society, including serving as President from 1988 to 1989, and as a center photographer for the Pacific Northwest Judging region. Currently, Arthur serves as the Center Judging Chair at the Pacific South – San Marino Judging Center and one of the photographers for the Pacific South Judging Center. Though he has an interest in a wide variety of orchids, botanicals are a special draw to him for their diversity and charm.
Arthur has been married to his wife, Margie, for over twenty-seven years, and has two adult children. While they have not inherited his knack for growing orchids, his family enjoys the beauty and wild aromas his backyard jungle brings to their home, a respite from the desert landscape around them.
Recent American Orchid Society Awards
The American Orchid Society recently granted awards at the Pacific South Monthly Judging in San Marino which was held at the Huntington Botanical Gardens. This photo was taken by Arthur Pinkers.
Dendrobium amabile ‘Huntington’s Cotton Candy’
Award of Merit – 80 pts.
Parents: Species
108 flowers and 75 buds on 5 inflorescences
Natural Spread: 5.0 cm
Vertical Spread: 4.0 cm
Exhibited by Huntington Botanical Gardens
3/2/16 “Keeping your Orchids Healthy” by Pam Aitchison
Our guest speaker for our next SFVOS General meeting on March 2, 2016 is our very own SFVOS Vice President Pamela Aitchison, who will be sharing information about how to keep our orchids healthy in our home environments. Her talk will cover many topics that will especially be of interest to new orchid growers, but experienced orchid growers may learn a trick or two as well.
Pam is a Certified University of California Master Gardener, and has been teaching organic gardening for many years. She provides training to the new Master Gardener Candidates every year, and is a regular guest lecturer at California State University Northridge (CSUN), the LA County Fair, and schools and non-profit organizations throughout Southern California.
Pam has been growing orchids for more than 30 years, and her collection includes Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Epidendrums, Miltonias & Miltoniopsis, Oncidiums, Masdevallias, as well as Phalaenopsis, Cymbidiums, Vandas, Vanilla Orchids and Zygopetalums.
Pam will be showing us a PowerPoint Presentation and will hopefully give you many ideas and suggestions for caring for your orchids at home. You won’t want to miss this lecture, so mark your calendar today.
SFVOS Guest Speaker February 3rd, 2016: Doug Overstreet on the Care and Feeding of Orchids
Orchid educator Doug Overstreet, considered by some to be a “man of all orchids,” will present the program when the San Fernando Valley Orchid Society meets at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016 at the Sepulveda Garden Center. The program is free and open to our members and to the public. Doug will be speaking about the care and feeding of orchids. He will be demonstrating re-potting techniques, and giving us all his tips and tricks to help our plants be healthy and beautiful.
Many of you already know Doug as our interesting and knowledgeable auctioneer at our annual orchid auctions. His encyclopedic knowledge of orchids and lively banter always make for a great orchid auction experience.
Doug Overstreet was born and raised in New Mexico. He is a descendant on both sides from a long line of farmers and is the son a floral designer, so he comes by his interest in orchids naturally. Overstreet began growing orchids at the age of 10 and said he has been avidly involved in the hobby ever since. He continued his love affair with orchids after moving to California in 1975.
In 1984, his collection began to grow by leaps and bounds, and he now maintains a mixed collection of approximately 1,000 plants. Overstreet also became an active participant in the local orchid community. Over the years, he has served on the board of the Orchid Society of Southern California, and he is a past president and board member of the Southland Orchid Show Committee. He is a former ribbon-judging chairman for the Orchid Society of Southern California and is an accredited American Orchid Society judge in the Pacific South Region.
A frequent lecturer on orchids and related topics, he has spoken for numerous orchid societies, botanical gardens and orchid nurseries. He is noted for his ability to present complex information on orchids clearly, concisely and in a manner suitable for the advanced enthusiast but also easily understandable by the beginner.
Overstreet has written articles for Orchid Digest and has served on the editorial committee of that publication as assistant editor. He lives in the Glendale area and owns and operates Nature’s Bounty Orchids, a small nursery serving the Southern California hobbyist and gift plant community through local certified farmers’ markets.
November 4th – Tim Culberton to speak on Lycastes at the SFVOS
In Tim’s own words:
Although I teach middle school kids for a living, one of my passions has always been plants. I began growing orchids as an offshoot from working at Longwood Garde
ns in Philadelphia just after college. From the very beginning it was all about Paphs, particularly awarded and select clones of historic importance, of which my collection numbers nearly 1000.
While I love finding old, rare stepping stones in paph breeding, I also do a little hybridizing of my own, and growing up my own babies is a blast. I enjoy making my culture the best it can be, and I have had numerous experiences with professional growers in California and on the East Coast, which has helped tremendously.
I am the youngest accredited judge with the American Orchid Society, and have served in various capacities with local orchid societies. I love meeting other people who like orchids too, and doing so often finds me traveling to shows, vendors, and peoples’ greenhouses to see the latest and greatest in new hybrids and to get the best orchid gossip. I like to be involved in plants as much as possible: in addition to Longwood, I’ve worked at the Smithsonian Institution tending to their orchids, and for years for the United States National Arboretum, collecting rare plants and documenting cultivated species and hybrids for their herbarium.
For your meeting, I’ll be sharing a presentation on recent advances in Lycaste breeding, culture, and growing. These plants are easy to grow and flower, are vigorous, and have low demands on culture, and as such are wonderful plants! Tremendous advancements in breeding Lycastes have been made recently, and I will share some of these with you, as well as help identify some of the important species in the backgrounds of historically important and modern Lycastes.
By the end of this presentation, you will have a new appreciation of what goes into breeding trends for these types of plants, as well as an appreciation of their beautiful flowers and ease-of-growth. I will be providing a plant table of the newest, modern, cutting-edge Lycaste breeding, with both blooming and un-bloomed plants.
October 7th, 2015 Presentation: Orchids: Sex, Lies and Deceptions
The Flying Duck Orchid
Our guest speaker for our next San Fernando Valley Orchid Society General meeting on October 7th is our very own SFVOS member Pamela Aitchison, who will give us a presentation about the amazing world of orchid pollination.
Orchid flowers are different than the flowers of most other plant species, and their reproductive methods are even more unique. Many orchid flowers resort to clever illusions and trickery to lure their pollinators.
Pam has been growing orchids for more than 30 years, and her collection includes Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Epidendrums, Miltonias & Miltoniopsis, Oncidiums, Masdevallias, as well as Phalaenopsis, Cymbidiums, Vandas, Vanilla Orchids and Zygopetalums.
Pam is a UCCE Master Gardener, and has been teaching organic gardening for many years. She has spoken at many locations throughout Southern California including California State University Northridge (CSUN), the LA County Fair, and many schools and non-profit organizations in our region.
May 6, 2015 – The SFVOS will present “Orchid Care Basics”
Mastering the Art of Growing Orchids at Home
Our next monthly meeting we will be showing an educational video entitled Orchid Care Basics: Mastering the Art of Growing Orchids at Home. The host of our program is Mr. Mark S. Lee, a well-known Orchid Grower and expert. Mr. Lee discusses many aspects of growing including light requirements, watering and feeding techniques, repotting, selecting the proper potting mix, managing pests and disease and much, much more. It is a well done program and whether you are just getting started growing or have been growing orchids for years, everyone will learn something.
Pam Aitchison will also be giving us a virtual tour through our very own website: sfvos.com. Pam will demonstrate all the features of the website including orchid care, culture sheets, links, as well as show you how to find instructional videos on YouTube. Please join us for our next SFVOS monthly meeting. It should be very interesting and informative.
Peter Lin “12 Months of Orchids” talk at the SFVOS
12 Months of Orchids – Building a collection with blooms every month of the year.
At our next regular meeting at the San Fernando Valley Orchid Society, on January 7th at 7:00 pm, Peter Lin will be presenting his newest talk on “12 Months of Orchids”. This fast paced PowerPoint presentation will show you how to build an orchid collection to have blooming plants for each month of the year.
Peter started growing orchids over 30 years ago, but then stopped due to school and starting a career. It wasn’t until about 11 years ago that the orchid “bug” came back and he is now heavily involved once again. He is an accredited judge with the American Orchid Society and a hybridizer of mini-catts. He enjoys meeting with other orchid enthusiasts, and can often be found at various orchid shows and societies around the country. He also has hundreds of photos of his orchids that he maintains on Flickr. You can view them by typing this address into the internet: http://www.flickr.com/photos/minicatt/collections/
Due to limited growing space, Peter likes to specialize in miniature orchids, both species and hybrids, and has received numerous AOS awards. His other interests in orchids include Dendrobiums, Angraecoids, and Neofinetias. He maintains a collection of a thousand or more orchids at his home in Southern California in 3 small greenhouses, as well as an offsite greenhouse.
Don’t forget to bring a notepad and a pen. You just might want to take notes.
Have a safe and Happy New Year!
James Rose on “The Laelias of Mexico” – November 5, 2014
We are very fortunate to have James Rose of Cal-Orchid, Santa Barbara. Mr. Rose will give us a talk on the ‘Laelias of Mexico’. . James lecture will deal mostly with the variability of the many flowers and the habitats and conditions from which they grow. Hopefully, we can all share some knowledge in the wonderful world of Orchids. Cal-Orchid also will provide plants for our Plant Opportunity Table (POT)
James attended University of California, Santa Barbara as an anthropology major. In 1971 he began working at Santa Barbara Orchid Estate. After 16 years there, and becoming manager, he left to establish his own nursery with his wife, Lauris. In 1987 they purchased Orchids By Rowe, a 2 acre cymbidium nursery 2 blocks from the Pacific Ocean in 1987, and totally redesigned the former cymbidium cut flower range to what is now a world re-known orchid nursery providing one of the largest varieties of orchid species and hybrids in the U.S.
Cal-Orchid maintains an active breeding program and stud collection built upon decades of international travel. James is very well known for having a distinctively selective ‘eye’ for the new unusual plant, and Cal-Orchid’s new and long-time customers enjoy reaping the benefits. The nursery’s inventory features the Cattleya, Cymbidium, Odontoglossum, Masdevallia, Lycaste, Paphiopedilum alliances as well as a good assortment of African species. James and Lauris have become recognized for their superior ‘Pacific’ line of reedstem Epidendrums, which have evolved over 12 years of selective breeding and have garnered awards around the world.
James has published in the AOS, Orchid Digest, and CSA magazines, and is well respected for his vast knowledge as well as his distinctive sense of humor. He lectures all over the world at orchid shows and World Orchid Conferences. He is a Cymbidium Society of America Judge, former member of the AOS Conservation Committee, and active member of the Japan Grand Prix Organizing committee where he has judged every year at the world famous Tokyo Dome. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about Laelias and hear this excellent speaker.
Dr. Daniel L. Geiger, Ph.D. to speak at the SFVOS on October 1st
Oberonia under the microscope
Please join us Wednesday, October 1st at the Sepulveda Garden center to hear Dr. Geiger’s talk and watch his PowerPoint presentation on this interesting subject.
Oberonia is a literally and figuratively overlooked genus of orchids with minute flowers. Daniel has become interested in this genus with some 150-300 species. An overview of the genus is provided, including many never seen before images taken with light and scanning electron microscopes. Most specimens available in the trade are misidentified; the process of checking the identification of a plant is detailed. Approaches to experimental culture of oddball orchids rounds out the presentation. This may be particularly interesting to growers who want to expand into under-appreciated orchids, or may be tempted with small research projects.
Dr. Daniel L. Geiger is Curator of Malacology (mollusks) at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, where he also oversees the electron microscopy facility. As a hobby orchid grower, he specializes in Oberonia and Hippeophyllum, which are grown in two terraria and a small greenhouse. Due to his botanical interest, he also holds an appointment as a Visiting Research Scholar at the Huntington Botanical Garden. He has written a number or articles for AOS Orchids and the Orchid Digest, and received an AOS exhibit award for a display on Oberonia. For further information please see www.vetigastropoda.com
San Fernando Valley Orchid Society 
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