Our February featured speaker will be Luis Manuel Ortiz Jordan, an expert on growing miniature orchids. Luis has been growing orchids for more than 20 years, since he was 12. He discovered his love for orchids after his grandfather gave him his first plant, Cattleya dowiana. When it bloomed, he was infected with the orchid virus. …

Our March speaker is Graham Ramsey,  who will discuss “Repotting With New Zealand’s Finest.” His comprehensive lecture will cover using different orchid media as well as repotting and mounting techniques at 7:30 p.m. March 13. Graham is an Asheville, North Carolina  native. Like many orchid enthusiasts, his first orchid was a white Phalaenopsis purchased at …

Brian has been growing orchids for 25+ years. He is experienced in growing orchids in diverse climates including California's hot dry deserts and coastal climate as well as the Midwest. His travels in locations such as Sweden, Brazil, Costa Rica, Japan, and Colombia allowed him to understand orchid growth in native conditions. As an American …

  We are delighted to have Keith and Dina Emig, owners of Winter Haven Orchid Nursey in Winter Haven, present a program entitled “Vandaceous…But Not Vandas” at our 7:30 p.m. meeting on June 12. Keith and Dina grow, hybridize and register plants in the Oncidium, Cattleya, Phalaenopsis, Vanda, and Dendrobium alliances, and have created their …

Rafael Romero will be sharing his extensive knowledge about Schomburgkia hybrids at our 7:30 p.m. July 10 meeting. Rafael, a native of Caracas, Venezuela, studied for two years at  the United World College of the Atlantic in 1978. He later graduated with a degree in biology from Universidad Simon Bolivar in 1984. He started working …

Grower and hybridizer Jim Roberts of Florida SunCoast Orchids will be the speaker at our 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14th meeting. The topic will be “Summertime and the Growin' Is Easy.” It was in the college days of 1979 when Jim first encountered orchids during a routine doctor’s visit. While there, Jim noticed a large cattleya …

Larry Cox acquired his first orchid, a cattleya, in 1972. His second was a paphiopedilum, Paph. Maudiae ‘Magnificum.’  The cattleya is long gone, but he still has a piece of the paph.   When he began with paphs, he commonly heard, “You can’t grow those in South Florida,” but the first one lived and bloomed, and …