Left: Paph. Maudiae ‘Bankhouse’ AM-AOS
March 1 st: Paphiopedilum Maudiae Hybrids Speaker: Tim Culbertson
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 Gardens in Philadelphia just after college. From the very beginning it was all about Paphs, particularly awarded and selected clones of historic importance, of which my collection numbers nearly 3000. 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 am the youngest accredited judge with the American Orchid Society, and have served in various capacities with various orchid societies in California and on the East Coast. I love meeting other people who like orchids too, and doing so often finds me traveling to shows, vendors, and peoples’ green
houses 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. In short, I really like plants. For your meeting, I’ll be sharing a presentation on Maudiae-type Paphs. These plants are easy to grow and flower, are vigorous, and have low demands on light and fertilizer, and as such are wonderful plants! Tremendous advancements in breeding Maudiae-type Paphs 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 Maudiae-type Paphs. 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 Maudiae-Paph-style breeding, with both blooming and un-bloomed plants.
Photograph Right: Maudiae ‘Gen X’ AM-AOS
July is the beginning of the new fiscal year for our Society and this year we have a lot to celebrate. We are thrilled to announce that at the July meeting we will be installing our new President, who is none other than the eminently qualified Orchid Expert and AOS Certified Judge, Arthur Pinkers. We will also be installing a new Treasurer and several additional members who have graciously volunteered to serve on our Board of Directors.
Arthur has been an orchid enthusiast for almost 40 years when, as a 16 year-old, he acquired a plant of Slc. Glittering Jewel (Sl. Gratrixiae x Slc. Hermes) and was infected by the orchid bug. He and his wife Margie of over 25 years have two adult children who recently graduated from high school and are attending College of the Canyons. Arthur grew up in the Seattle area and attended Western Washington University graduating with a B.S. in Chemistry and Biology. He and his wife currently live in Santa Clarita, California where Arthur is learning to grow orchids under extreme conditions, very different than those in his native Pacific Northwest. Arthur worked for many years as a chemist and also had the fortune of holding his dream job as the Lab Director for Beall Orchid Company until shortly before its close in 1990. Arthur’s interest in orchids covers a broad range of types with botanicals being a special draw. Arthur has served on most executive positions on the Board of the Northwest Orchid Society and is a Past President. He is a veteran Accredited Orchid Judge and serves as a photographer and as Chair of Information for the Pacific South Judging region. Previously he served as center photographer for the Pacific Northwest Judging region.
San Fernando Valley Orchid Society 
You must be logged in to post a comment.