Our speaker for the September meeting is Inge Poot, well-known to many of our members for her work as a Director of the Southern Ontario Orchid Society (SOOS) and as an AOS accredited Orchid Judge with Emeritus status. Inge writes that she has loved and recognized orchids since she was a small child admiring the wild orchids in her native Austria. In Canada, she earned a BSc from the University of Toronto in 1962 and completed her MSc at the same institution in 1973. Her field of study was Mycology (Fungi). She worked at Richters’ Herbs for about 30 years, the last 5 working from home answering cultural questions from customers on-line. She and her husband have been growing orchids since 1962 and now have, according to Inge “1000 to 2000 orchids scattered all over our swampy-smelling house and attached greenhouse.” They grow a diverse selection of genera, and have most examples of the genus Stanhopea. They joined SOOS in 1964 and Inge has held positions of Librarian, Show Chair and President, as well as being active in other Orchid Associations including Chair of the Mid-America Conservation Committee for 5 years .

During the recent COVID hiatus, Inge took on the job of Orchid Doctor for solving pest and disease problems for SOOS members and it is on the topic of Orchid Diseases that she will address us on September 18.

The meeting will take place in Room 5 at the RBG Headquarters, 680 Plains Rd. W., Burlington, commencing at 2 pm, and members are invited to arrive as early as 1:30 to socialize and interact with vendors. Masking (or not) will be in accordance with RBG and provincial guidance and personal preference. For the benefit of those unable to attend in person, invitations to join via Zoom will be sent out to all members about a week before the meeting.

We hope that our usual vendors will be in attendance, and we invite members to bring their orchids in bloom for the show table.