Category Plant Forum

Aug 22 2016

September 7: Panel of Orchid Experts

04 1 Cymbidium Fairy Rouge 'Lavendar Fallers' Exibitor V Dinh Photo T Dark

 

When:  September 7, 2016

Time:   7:00 pm – 9:00 pm 

Topic:  Growing your best orchids at home!

This is a meeting you won’t want to miss.  Our next SFVOS meeting will feature a panel of experts who will give you all info on how to get the best results from your own orchids at home.    Our panel of experts will be AOS Judge and our new president, Arthur Pinkers,  Orchid Expert and cymbidium grower extraordinaire, Art Mendoza and our new Vice President and long time orchid grower, Mark Bentow.

The panel will discuss the best way to keep your orchids healthy, how to water and fertilize each type of orchid,  how and when to report and how to coax your orchids to re-bloom.

Bring your questions, and if you have a plant that needs special attention, bring it to the meeting and ask our experts what to do to bring your plant back to optimal health.

Don’t forget to bring your blooming orchids to show in our Plant Forum, and if you can, bring a snack to share with the group.    Bring a guest, and we will see you there!

 

 

 

 

Jun 8 2016

“Christmas In July” coming to the SFVOS next month

 

The San Fernando Valley Orchid Society is pleased to announce our second annual “Christmas in July” Party which will be held on Wednesday, July 6, 2016 at 7:00 pm.   We will be meeting at the Sepulveda Garden Center, located at 16633 Magnolia Blvd, Encino, CA 91436.

Guests are always welcome!
sand.snowman.w.umbrellaJuly 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.

To kick the new year off properly we will be having a special event at the next meeting. It’s our second annual “Christmas in July” Potluck Dinner. Everyone had so much fun last year at this event, and we will hopefully make this an annual tradition. We will be sharing a Potluck dinner. We have some great cooks in our membership, so be prepared to have a great dinner and delicious desserts. Each member is asked to bring a dish to serve eight persons.

Christmas.in.july.cartoon.

We will be calling all members to take a poll of what delicious homemade creations they are planning to bring. You should receive a call soon but if, perchance, you do not receive a call, please call Millie at (805) 532-0080 to let her know what you are bringing. Please remember to bring serving utensils too. This is a low-waste event, so please bring a reusable place setting if you are able.

After dinner we plan to play a few Bingo games and then a few of our members will be bringing and showing off a few of their favorite plants. Be sure to mark your calendars, because you won’t want to miss this party. We really do have a lot to celebrate!  See you there!

 

 

 

Nov 14 2015

SFVOS Annual Holiday Party 12/2/15

Attention SFVOS Members:

The San Fernando Valley Orchid Society

Cordially invites you to our

ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY

December 2, 2015

7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The Sepulveda Garden Center

16633 Magnolia Blvd.  
Encino, CA 91436

Admission: One Salad, side dish or dessert (8+ Servings)  and the Chicken and Beef Entrées will be provided by SFVOS.  Please bring serving utensils

Our special program will include: Refreshments, Bingo Games, Orchid Plant Exchange *(Optional), Special POT Raffle!

Please R.S.V.P. by November 30 to
Millie Peskay at: peskay@att.net
or call (805) 532-0080 or if you haven’t signed up yet

call Marcia Melcombe at (818) 349-8677

 *Bring an orchid plant in a 4”-6” pot to exchange with the other members, and take home a beauty for yourself. 

This is a great way to expand your own orchid collection and your knowledge.

SFVOS.2015.Holiday party flyer.3

SFVOS.2015.Holiday party flyer.2

Oct 27 2015

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 GardeTimCulbertson.headshotns 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.

 

Feb 26 2014

AOS Monthly Checklists Now Available

Please check out our new menu item featuring the AOS Monthly Checklists.  The current issue covers March and April.  These checklists are designed to help hobby growers learn how to care for their orchids in every season.   Each checklist features several types of orchids, and explains what is going on with them at this particular time of year, what we should be watching out for and what practices to adopt and/or avoid at this time.  There are six of these checklists a year.  I hope you find them as helpful as I do.  Enjoy.

Jan 8 2014

Why won’t your orchid bloom?

proper light for orchids

Like all plants, orchids require sufficient light in order to produce flowers. 

Insufficient light is the most common cause of failure to re-bloom your orchid. Leaf color indicates if the amount of light is adequate. The lus, rich, dark green of most houseplants is not desirable in orchid leaves. A grassy green color (light or medium green with yellowish tones) means the plant is receiving sufficient light to bloom.

Jul 15 2013

Window Orchid Display Table Example

Everyone loves to display their blooming orchids in their homes.   Putting them all around the house adds a nice decorators touch to each room, but you can also put them all on one table for a more dramatic display.    Your friends and family will love to see what you have blooming, and the display is constantly changing throughout the year, so it never looks the same.

Here is a sample window display you can set up in your home to show off your blooming orchids.  Remember to put it in an East or North facing window.  No direct sunlight as it can burn the tender leaves of some orchids, such as Phalaenopsis.   Also the humidity inside homes is usually quite low, especially in the winter and the hot part of the summer when the air conditioner is running.  You can provide more humidity by using a humidity tray under the orchids.

To set up a homemade humidity tray,  place a shallow pan filled with gravel, decorative pebbles or lava rock on your table and fill with a small amount of water.  Set the orchid pots on top of the rocks, but never let them sit in standing water.  The pots should be above the water level at all times.

Keep your inside orchids clean by hosing off the entire plant in the bathtub or outside about once a month.  Do this in the morning so the plant will have time to dry off completely during the day.  Also never let water accumulate at the growing point on Phalaenopis (the point where the leaves connect at the center).   Water left in the crown can lead to crown rot, so dump out, and blow out any remaining water on the plant before putting back on the table.

Lastly a small fan for air circulation would be very helpful.  Put it on a timer and have it run for a few hours, on and off during the day.   Orchids love moving air.

Best of luck on your home display.

Jun 12 2013

Learn about Orchids

EDUCATION PROGRAMS:  Each month we have an informative program presented by a guest speaker on some facet of the Orchid world.  Our speakers are Orchid Experts that give us valuable tips and tricks.  It’s always interesting and informative.

Some of our past guest speakers have included experts such as:

Doug Overstreet

Ned Daniger

George Vasquez

CULTURE SESSIONS: Culture sessions often precede the monthly meetings, offering an opportunity for hands on instruction on the practical aspects of orchid culture.

MEMBER’S PLANT FORUM: Our members are encouraged to exhibit their blooming plants.  Outstanding plants are selected for ribbon awards. Each member who brings plants will receive one ticket for the P.O.T. Raffle.   A complete set of rules for ribbon judging is available at the meetings.

P.O.T. (Plant Opportunity Table): Plants are generally provided by our guest speakers and by our membership.  This is truly a great opportunity to increase your orchid collection at little cost and an opportunity to support the Society.  One ticket is given to each member who wears their name badge for the first drawing and one ticket is given to each member who brings plants to display at the Member’s Plant Forum for the second drawing.  Proceeds from the P.O.T. help defray our costs for speakers and programs.

OTHER ACTIVITIES:

During the year the Society Members participate in a numbers of other activities such as Orchid Shows, Greenhouse tours, picnics, etc.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

(818) 406-5734 (Ask for Pam)

Jun 12 2013

Monthly Meetings

GUESTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME.

PLEASE COME AND JOIN US.  IT’S EDUCATIONAL AND FUN.

We meet on the first Wednesday of every month at 6:45 pm.

The Sepulveda Garden Center

16633 Magnolia Boulevard

Encino, CA 91436

DIRECTIONS:

From the east:  Take the 101 (Ventura Fwy) heading west, and exit at Hayvenhurst Avenue.  Turn left on to Hayvenhurst, and immediately get into the right lane.  Turn right on Magnolia Blvd.   Our parking lot is on the right hand side of the street.   Park your car and walk west through the garden plots to the main building.

From the west:  Take the 101 (Ventura Fwy) heading east, and exit at Balboa Blvd.  Turn right on to Balboa.  Continue southbound for 1/2 mile, and get into the left lane.  Turn left on Magnolia Blvd.  Proceed about 1/2 mile to the Sepulveda Garden Center.  The parking lot will be on your left side.  Turn left into the parking lot.  Park and then walk west along the sidewalk, thr0ugh the garden plots to the main building.

MEETING TIMES:  The doors open at 6:45 pm for refreshments and socializing.  Our meetings start at 7:15pm.  The meetings generally last about two hours.   Restrooms are available.

PROGRAM:  Each month we have an informative program presented by a guest speaker on some facet of the Orchid world.  Our speakers are Orchid Experts that give us valuable tips and tricks.  It’s always interesting and informative.

CULTURE SESSIONS: Culture sessions often precede the monthly meetings, offering an opportunity for hands on instruction on the practical aspects of orchid culture.

MEMBER’S PLANT FORUM: Our members are encouraged to exhibit their blooming plants.  Outstanding plants are selected for ribbon awards. Each member who brings plants will receive one ticket for the P.O.T. Raffle.   A complete set of rules for ribbon judging is available at the meetings.

P.O.T. (Plant Opportunity Table): Plants are generally provided by our guest speakers and by our membership.  This is truly a great opportunity to increase your orchid collection at little cost and an opportunity to support the Society.  One ticket is given to each member who wears their name badge for the first drawing and one ticket is given to each member who brings plants to display at the Member’s Plant Forum for the second drawing.  Proceeds from the P.O.T. help defray our costs for speakers and programs.

SPECIAL MEETINGS:

APRIL:    Our annual Orchid Auction

AUGUST:  NO AUGUST MEETING THIS YEAR.

DECEMBER:  Our Annual Holiday Potluck Party.

OTHER ACTIVITIES:

During the year the Society Members participate in a numbers of other activities such as Orchid Shows, Greenhouse tours, picnics, etc.

NEWSLETTER:

Our beautiful full-color monthly SFVOS Newsletters keeps members informed on both upcoming meetings and other Society events.  We also publish news and information about all the happenings in the Orchid world.   Each month there are tips and tricks and other helpful information on caring for your orchids.  Newsletter is available via email, and by snail mail.  The Newsletter is included with your annual membership dues ($25.00/yr).  There are 12 issues each year.

REFRESHMENTS:

In  alphabetical order, rotating throughout the year, Members are asked to bring refreshments to the monthly meetings.   Members may also bring refreshments at any time, even when it’s not their turn.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

(818) 406-5734 (Ask for Pam)