Orchid News – June 2010

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Calendar

• 3 June Denis Sinclair on Sarcochilus
• 1 July Ed Pearce on Computers and Orchids
• 5 Aug Ron Alexander on Australian natives
• 2 Sept Bernie Hoffman on pollinating orchids
• 8-11 Sept Spring Show

Orchid Snippets

Who has the most dangerous job at the Autumn Show? Perhaps it’s selling raffle tickets – Dulcie had a snake slither onto her foot while she was selling tickets.

Or perhaps it’s the sales table – Glad had a kookaburra swoop down and take a piece of bread out of her hand, just as she was about to put it into her mouth.

And best wishes to Glad and Graeme for a speedy recovery from recent surgery.

Do you know the smallest orchid? I read that the smallest is a Platystele found in Ecuador, on the eastern slopes of the Andes. This orchid has a flower which is just 2 mm wide.

Have you heard of the underground orchids that grow in Australia? Rhizanthella Slateri, or Eastern Underground Orchid, was first identified growing near Buladelah in late 1931. It is unusual in that it grows entirely underground, and only reveals itself above ground when in flower. The only other underground orchid is Rhizanthella Gardneri found in Western Australia.

June Meeting

The guest speaker for our June meeting will be Dennis Sinclair from Port Macquarie. He will be talking about the breeding and growing of Sarcochilus, an Australian Native.

Dennis hopes to bring a few plants to sell at our meeting.

Sales Table

There will be a sales table at the June meeting. Our guest speaker, Dennis Sinclair will have some Sarcochilus to sell. We will also have some Oncidiinae alliance orchids that Murray Shergold donated at the last meeting. These orchids don’t have names, and will be available to members for $5 each. There are also some Hardcane Dendrobium seedlings that were donated by Danny Bell. They are also available for $5 each.

Reminder to members that you are invited to sell plants on the sales table – please make sure they are clearly labelled with the name of the plant, the sale price and your name. remember too that we ask members to limit themselves to no more than 6 plants for sale per meeting.

Orchidwiz Raffle

The draw for this raffle will be at our June meeting. This excellent program is an encyclopedia of orchids with information about the growing conditions required by many species and hybrids, and the breeding of many hybrids.

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Autumn Show

Congratulations to all those who contributed to the success of our Autumn Show. We had 112 plants benched, with 18 people contributing one or more plants.

And there are many people who help in running a successful show, from publicity, setting up, raffles, sales, supervision, answering questions, dealing with finances, trophies and ribbons, greeting visitors to packing up after the event. Thank you to all those who helped in any way.

And a special thanks to our Show Marshall Ivy Wheeler and her assistant Bill Bright for bringing it all together and running the show for us.

And particular congratulations to the Mitchells who again had the grand champion, a particularly well grown specimen of Coelogyne fimbriata.

Results

Grand Champion N&K Mitchell

Reserve Champion B. Moore

Champion Specimen N&K Mitchell

Detailed results of the 2010 Autumn Show.

Agenda for June 2010 Meeting

• Welcome, Apologies, Visitors.
• New members
• Minutes of May meeting
• Business Arising
• Committee Report
• Inwards Correspondence
  1. BCU Statements
  2. Bellingen Show – 21 August
  3. St Ives Orchid Fair – 13/15 August
  4. Tinonee Catalogue
  5. Easy Orchids – supplies catalogue
  6. Cymbidium Club of Australia – Extravaganza 6/8 Aug
• Outwards Correspondence
  1. Thanks to Murray Shergold.
  2. Get well to Glad, Graeme
  3. Thanks to Ivy.
• Finance Report
• Sponsors Spot
• General Business
  1. Review of Autumn Show – any thoughts? Suggestions re couple of changes to schedule.
  2. 40th birthday proposal – what do you think about a luncheon with a good guest speaker and an orchid display?
  3. During Ed’s absence later in the year, Steve Clemesha will carry out secretary duties, Sue Williams will do typing. Is anyone interested in doing the newsletter?
  4. Recommend that we combine Oncidium and Odontoglossum Alliances for monthly competition.
• Guest speaker. Dennis Sinclair from Port Macquarie will be speaking about growing Sarcochilus orchids.
• Raffle, popular vote, table talk.

Minutes for May 2010 Meeting

President Don Welcomed the 31 members and 5 visitors to the meeting. Apologies were recorded from Eric and Dot Collins, Pat Wallace, Norm and Kay Mitchell, Joy Kelly, Tracey Suter, Bernie Hoffman, Bob Southwell.

• WELCOME from President Don to the 43 members and visitors to our meeting
• APOLOGIES were received from Pat King, Pat Wallace, Eric and Dot Collins, Joy Kelly, Bernie Hoffman, Gary and Tracey Suter, Bob Southwell,
• NEW MEMBERS Sherrill Harrison, Barbara Hunt and Leonie Strauss were welcomed to the society.
• MINUTES were amended with the addition of Pam and Graham Baillie to the apologies. Amended minutes were approved M/ Ed, Scd/ Ken
• BUSINESS ARISING
  1. 1.Ed reminded members of the raffle for Orchidwiz.2.Committee will be reviewing the show – any suggestions to committee please.
• COMMITTEE REPORT – no meeting this month
• INWARDS CORRESPONDENCE
  1. 1.Mingara Open day2.Aranbeem catalogue
• OUTWARDS CORRESPONDENCE
  1. 1.Thanks to Neil and Sonya for talk re Railways
• FINANCE Bruce referred briefly to report in Orchid News, and summarised finances for show which indicate a profit of over $200.
• SPONSORS’ SPOT Ed referred to support from Easy Orchids, and encouraged members to support this business.
• GENERAL BUSINESS
  1. 1.Don spoke of Coffs Harbour Show this weekend and requested some plants for the display we will have there. Plants to be benched by 9 on Friday morning.
• SPEAKERMurray Shergold from Easy Orchids judged the Miltassia Charles M Fitch “Izumi” that he deflasked and gave to members when he spoke to us last year. Murray looked at the 18 plants benched and commented on growing mix, use of fertilizer and moisture. His choices for best grown were:
  • 1st Ed Pearce
  • 2nd Kay Mitchell
  • 3rd Ken Green

  Murray then gave an interesting and informative talk about the Oncidium alliance orchids. He use to Orchidwiz program to show some species, and then some of the hybrids that have been bred. Many of these hybrids grow well in the mid north coast.

  Species which are part of this group include Oncidium, Odontoglossum, Brassia, Miltonia, and Cochlioda. Some of the intergeneric names are Colmanara (Miltonia, Oncidium, Odontoglossum), Burrageara (Cochlioda, Miltonia, Oncidium, Odontoglossum), Beallara (Brassia, Cochlioda, Miltonia, Odontoglossum), Degarmoara (Brassia, Miltonia, Odontoglossum), Vuylstekeara (Cochlioda, Miltonia, Odontoglossum) and Wilsonara (Cochlioda, Odontoglossum, Oncidium). Other names like Miltassia (Miltonia, Brassia) are more obvious)

• POPULAR VOTE was won by Ken and Dulcie’s Dendrobium
• TABLE TALK was done by Murray Shergold, and the raffles were won by Bill Bright, Steve Clemesha and Steve Newman.

Committee Report

Committee met at Ed’s on 19th May. Matters discussed were

1. Autumn Show – generally happy with show couple of suggestions for improvements to schedule.
2. Orchidwiz raffle to be drawn at June meeting.
3. Replacements for Ed while he is away later in the year.
4. Operation of sales bench
5. Proposal for 40th birthday celebrations in 2011
6. What should we do with our library?
7. Small change to sections for monthly competition.

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