October 5th: Displaying Beautiful Blooms

Arthur Pinkers at the 2014 SDCOS Show

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.         

 den-amabile-huntingtons-cotton-candy-am-80-pts-20162040-img_8105_dxo-4-l 

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

“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!

 

 

 

President’s Message July 1, 2015

A Message from our President: Millie Peskay

We closed our fiscal year with a Pot Luck dinner at the June meeting.  Members contributed  generously and innovatively for the Pot Luck tables.   Dinner was followed by member­speakers  Art Mendoza and Millie Peskay who told of their experiences with cymbidium and

Vanda orchids.  Thanks Art and Millie.

Millie donated a lovely plant purchased at the Conejo Orchid Society’s annual sale.  It was sold  at auction with proceeds to our Society.

Treasurer Bob Peskay gave a short summary of our finances for the Fiscal Year 2014-­2015.   Expenses exceeded income by $557 for the year and would have been more except for  contributions of $625 from our members.  Bob pointed out the great help of the contributions to  support the ongoing programs and was greeted with generous contributions from Frank and  Florence Shimizu and new member Jessie Broussard.   Members may contribute at meetings or  by mail directly to the treasurer.  A more detailed financial report is elsewhere in this newsletter. We all had fun with three Bingo games with P.O.T. drawings between each game.  Prizes were  orchids purchased from Cal Orchids in Santa Barbara.

Finally, thanks to all the members for making a great year.  As Usual, there will be no meeting in  August so I look forward to seeing everybody on September 5th .

Millie Peskay

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.

waterOrchidCarePam 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.

Orchids of the Shan Plateau will be presented by Winn Winmaw 7/2/14

This month’s speaker is none other than Newport Orchid Society member Winn Winmaw.  Winn and his wife, Chitsaya, are on the Board of Directors for the NHOS.  Winn was born in Shan State, Eastern Burma, where Cymbidiums, Vandas, Dendrobiums and Paphiopedilums are found abundantly in the wild.  Winn began collecting orchids at the age of 7 and has been fascinated with them ever since.

As an undergraduate of physics at the University of Rangoon, Winn was a member of the Department of Botany’s Orchid Society.  Winn also lived in Japan for four years for further study and training.  He moved to the United States in 1998 and settled in Orange County.

Winn recently made several trips back to Burma to study orchids in their native habitat.  He made an expedition to the Shan Plateau, which will be the subject of his talk on Wednesday night.   Winn will talk about his adventurous and treacherous journey and bring us photographs of the orchids he encountered along the way.   Don’t miss this exciting presentation at the San Fernando Valley Orchid Society’s next regular meeting on July 2nd, 2014 at 7:00 pm.

No January meeting for the SFVOS due to New Year’s Day Holiday

Unfortunately, there will be no meeting in January 2014 for the San Fernando Valley Orchid Society .  As you know, we meet on the first Wednesday of every month, but the first Wednesday in January 2014  falls on New Years Day.  The Sepulveda Garden Center is closed that day, and will not allow us to hold our meeting there.  Keep gardening, and we look forward to seeing you all at the February 2014 meeting.  Please remember to invite guests to our monthly meetings.