Time to re-pot? Time for a hands-on re-potting clinic, certainly. Our March meeting is your opportunity to bring one or more orchids that may need to be re-potted and to obtain advice and assistance from Pat Vuurman, Ben Boers, Drew Goddard and others. Basic orchid medium will be provided and other supplies will be available for purchase. Bring your gloves, secateurs and pots if you have them.  If you are on top of all your re-potting, congratulations! Come to the meeting anyway to help your colleagues, or work on plants from the RBG collection. The meeting starts at 2 pm. Come any time after 1 pm to socialize and to chat with vendors. Members and guests welcome, and a special welcome to new members who joined at the recent Orchid Show. The location is Room 5, Royal Botanical Gardens, 680 Plains Road W., Burlington.

Don’t forget the 35th Annual Spring Orchid Show and Sale, being held soon at the Royal Botanical Gardens. For details, including a $3.00 off coupon if you are not an RBG member, click on “Annual Show” on the banner at the top of this page.

At the February meeting, Drew Goddard, current President of the Orchid Society of the Royal Botanical Gardens, will speak on the topic of Artificial Lighting for Orchid Growing. The meeting will take place in Room 5 (subject to availability) at the RBG, 680 Plains Rd. W. Burlington, ON. The formal part of the meeting is from 2 p.m. to approximately 4:30 p.m. with time before the meeting  for socializing and interacting with vendors. Members and guests welcome.

A team of AOS judges from the Toronto judging centre will be joining us at our general meeting. They will select the best plants from our show table to be judged and will talk about the process involved. So clean your plants, stake them and bring them in. Who knows? You might be going home with an AOS awarded orchid.

As usual, the meeting will begin at 2 p.m., with time for socializing and talking to vendors from 1 p.m. onwards. Important: If you have a plant or plants to be considered for judging, please bring them earlier rather than later, to give the judges ample time to look at them. The meeting will take place in Room 5, RBG, 680 Plains Road W., Burlington. Guests are welcome.

Sunday, December 13, 2015 at Royal Botanical Gardens, 680 Plains Rd. W., Burlington. Auction of orchids and orchid-related items starts about 2 p.m. with social time to follow. Members, please bring your donations (auction items and finger food) to Room 5, Royal Botanical Gardens from 1 pm. Guests are always welcome. If further details are required, contact a member of the executive or leave a message via our contact page.

Our program for November is entitled “Floral designs incorporating various types of orchids as the main flower” and is sub-titled “‘Tis the Season”.  Our speaker is Elizabeth (Lizzie) Matheson. She was born in Scotland and studied Floral Art and Design at Swindon College through the examining body of the City and Guilds of London Institute, and later taught for the same organization for 20 years. She also qualified as a Demonstrator and Judge under the umbrella of the National Association of Flower Arrangers, affiliated to the Royal Horticultural Society. Lizzie will demonstrate the use of orchids in seasonal flower arrangements, and her arrangements will be raffled at the end of the meeting.  The meeting will take place in Room 5, Royal Botanical Gardens, 680 Plains Road W., Burlington. The formal part of the meeting begins at 2 pm but you are invited to arrive earlier to  socialize and to interact with vendors. Members and guests are welcome.

The orchid is an amazing flower that comes in literally thousands of different shapes, sizes and colours and has a very rich history, folklore and art which we tend to overlook in our preoccupation with growing techniques, lighting, media, fertilizers and other practical aspects. The topic for our October meeting is “Orchis – History, folklore and art”. The presentation by Lauren Booklin, an OSRBG member, will focus on the fascination that people have had for centuries with this plant. The formal meeting will begin at 2 p.m. with time before the meeting for socializing and interacting with vendors. Members and guests are welcome. Royal Botanical Gardens, 680 Plains Road W., Burlington, Room 5.

Many thanks to Frank Washburn, Gavin Clark and Ann Stallman who, along with your reporter (Wendy Hearder-Moan), created the OSRBG display for the COOS Show, a display that earned a second place ribbon. The same team, augmented by Jocelyn Webber, dismantled the display on Sunday evening. Thanks also to everyone who contributed plants for the display; without them, there would be no display!

Linda Will and Peter and Sherry Decyk won “Best in class” ribbons for, respectively, Best Paphiopedilum: Paph Iona (fairrieanum x bellatulum) and Best Laeliinae, other than Cattleya: Epidendrum diffusum.

Plants from the RBG greenhouse were awarded ribbons as follows:

• Cattleya bowringiana  – 2^nd;
• Cattleya bowringiana (another one) – 3^rd
• Cattleya maxima – 2^nd
• Cattleya maxima (another one) – 3^rd
• Epidendrum ciliare – 3^rd
• Phragmipedium Cardinale ‘Kilworth’ AM/AOS – 3^rd

Congratulations to the members whose plants were awarded ribbons, as follows:

Ben Boers

• Rth. (Potinara Free Spirit x Lc Golden Tangerine) – 2^nd
• Miltassia Dark Star ‘Orchid Works’ – 3^rd
• Paph niveum – 3^rd

Gretta Culley

• Phalaenopsis hybrid (pink, no name) – 3^rd
• Phalaeniopsis hybrid (cream, no name) – 3^rd
• Phragmipedium Hanne Popow (besseae var. flava x schlimii) – 3rd

Peter and Sherry Decyk

• Epidendrum diffusum – 1^st and Best in Class
• Aerides quinquevulneris – 1^st
• Cattleya Golden Tang – 1^st
• Cattleya skinneri ‘Debbie’ FCC/AOS – 1^st
• Cattleya Peckaviensis (aclandiae x schilleriana) – 3^rd

Wendy Hearder-Moan

• Phalaenopsis hybrid (pink, no name) – 3rd

Pat and Linda Vuurman

• Phragmipedium Calurum (longifolium x schlimii) – 2nd
• Cymbidium sinense – 3rd

Jocelyn Webber

• Paphiopedilum spicerianum – 1^st
• Phragmipedium Mini Grande (humboldtii x pearcei) – 2^nd
• Phragmipedium Jason Fischer (Mem. Dick Clements x besseae) – 2^nd
• Vanda Sensi Blue – 3^rd

Linda Will

• Paphiopedilum Iona (fairrieanum x bellatulum) – 1^st and Best in Class (pictured above)
• Paphiopedilum (Hampshire Zoo x Winston Churchill) – 1^st
• Paphiopedilum Rosy Dawn (Astarte x Gwen Hannen) – 2^nd
• Phragmipedium Acker’s Royalty (Twilight x fischeri) – 2nd
• Paphiopedilum Wossner Godeem (leuchochilum x emersonii) – 3^rd

The COOS Orchid Show and Sale

Celebrating Our 30^th Year

Saturday, Sept 26, 2015 from 11:00am to 5:00pm

Sunday, Sept 27, 2015 from 9:00am to 5:00pm

Cambridge Hespeler Arena,

640 Ellis Road, Cambridge, ON N3C 1A1

For more information, click here.

Our speakers at the September 20th meeting will be John Alexander and Dr. Peter Kaellgren and they will speak about native orchids of Ontario. John  is a wildlife photographer who has exhibited in New Brunswick and Toronto and recently at the OSRBG Show. Peter is retired Curator Emeritus in Decorative Arts, Royal Ontario Museum. They began exploring nature with bird-watching expeditions to Presqu’ile Provincial Park, but in 2011 they were introduced to the Showy Lady Slippers in Purdon Conservation Area and they caught the Orchid Bug. Their presentation offers a glimpse of the challenges and joys of searching for orchids in the wilds of Ontario. As usual, the formal meeting will begin at 2 p.m. and you are invited to come earlier to socialize and interact with vendors. The meeting is booked for Room 5, Royal Botanical Gardens, 680 Plains Road West, Burlington. Guests are welcome.