Santa Barbara Show

Well, I enjoyed my vacation in California. George Hatfield's family were gracious to host me during my stay. I was able to help install the Hatfield Orchid's display as per Dave Teuschler's design and direction, and help George when/where necessary elsewhere.

Hatfield Orchids' display














































Cym. Lowland Tiger, clones 'Leccino', 'Frantoio' and 'Pedolino', created by Andy Easton.














Cym. Ruth Kallman: beautiful flowers, but the plant is too big for my outdoor/indoor growing constraints.














I also clerked for the exhibit judging and AOS flower judging, which was good experience because the SB show is much larger and exhibitors provide many orchids that we simply don't see in our regional shows or judging center. The captain of our AOS judging team had me score flowers for practice judging so I could then compare my score with the judges, which became the starting point for discussion of each category where my points were discordant with the judges.

Exhibitor display #36. (C. Grow, I think.)














Various Cym. lowianum varietals displayed by Exhibitor display #2. (Orchids Royale, I think.)














Cym. (George Formby x Son of Freak) in Exhibitor display #21. (Gallup and Stribling, I think.) Clones 'Andy's Apocalypse', 'Andy's Calamity', 'Andy's Frankenstein', 'Andy's Nightmare', and 'Andy's Oop's' all share the same trait. I'm not a fan of this type of breeding, but this is good genetic material for plant developmental biologists to gain a better understanding of orchid flower development.


















Seed Engei display.














I appreciated the corsage and cut flower displays, and the corsage-making for the elderly who attended the show, because our local society has some members who are skilled in corsage-making and flower arrangement. Such features could keep these members active in the club due to their unique talents, and also reach another sector of the public who do not usually attend our show.




























The trip West also allowed me to meet several members of the online Cymbidium discussion forum, the Torrance Cymbidium Society and Cymbidium Society of America. It was good to finally meet in person those with whom I'd only communicated electronically. A friendly group of people that I look forward to seeing again when I next return.

During the plane flight home, I read through Kobsukh Kaenratana's new book, "Heat Tolerant Cymbidiums". It's a beautiful book, so much that the person sitting next to me kept looking over to take a peek. The ideas and examples presented definitely got me thinking about what type of cross(es) I might try next season.

Spring Activities

Our orchid society had their annual auction last weekend, which is the biggest fundraiser for the club. I was Auction Chair, so I've been busy dealing with all the tasks associated with being chair of this event. By and large, the auction went off well, and we achieved pretty close to our calculated monetary goals, despite the economic woes. The auction proceeds fund our ability to bring in speakers from outside our geographical region, as well as pay for setting up the annual Show and Sale in the Fall.

The Cyms are, of course, in prime blooming season, and my partner complains that I don't bring enough upstairs to be readily appreciated. Below is a pic showing, left to right, Den. kingianum, Cym. Eastern Beauty 'Robert Chang', Cym. Langleyense 'Cascades', Cym. Mimi 'Mary Bea', and Cym. Mary Green 'Pink Mist'.














I had all three seedlings of Orange Nymph (Orange Brandy 'New Horizon', 4N x Wood Nymph 'Ruby Lips', 4N) in bloom. Of the three, I'm keeping the first one shown below because it has the strongest lip markings. The second one will be on display at the Maryland Orchid Show this weekend, as part the NCOS exhibit (see http://marylandorchids.org/). It has four nicely arching spikes in full bloom. The third one was sold at the auction.










































I also contributed the Laelia Newberry Glow (L. anceps x L. milleri) shown below to the NCOS exhibit for the MOS show. I bought this at last year's auction because it's my understanding that L. anceps is a companion plant with Cyms. I had it growing side-by-side with the Cyms, and it yielded four new growths, each producing a spike with at least four flowers. My camera has difficulty capturing the color tones, so on a warm day this last weekend, I took the orchid outdoors for some natural sunlight and provide other colors in the background with the hope that the image quality would improve. Mollie, our shepherd in the background, is rolling around in the grass, also enjoying the weather.














This weekend I'll be flying out to CA to visit my aunt and also attend the Santa Barbara Int'l Orchid Show. I'm very much looking forward to the vacation.