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October, 2017

E Y E S O N O R C H I D S

B A T O N R O U G E

O R C H I D S O C I E T Y Eyes On Orchids

President’s Message

V O L U M E 5 9 , I S S U E 1 0 – O C T O B E R , 2 0 1 7

Meeting October 18 - 7 p.m. - Burden Center - 4560 Essen Lane, Baton Rouge, LA Inside this Issue

President’s Message 1 Program 1 Minutes 2 Scary Orchids 3 Meeting Schedule 4 Green Growers 4 Birthdays 4 New Members 4 Harlequin Phals 5 September Program 6

Renew Membership 7 Election Time 7

AOS Webinars 8

Tip for re-blooming 8 September blooms 9

Short Course Flyer 10 Notes from the 11 Orchidnut

October Program - “Blue Cattleyas” by Frank Zachariah

The program for the October meeting will be a presented by member Frank Zachariah, who is an AOS Associate Judge, on the topic of “Blue Cattleyas”. Blue is not a color that is found naturally in cattleya orchids, and a number of hybridizers have been breeding plants to develop that color in them. Frank will discuss their efforts and results and give tips on blue orchid culture. One of the most prominent hybridizers of blues was the late Ervin Granier, who was a long time member of our Society.

Even though we have had a return of hot, late summer temperatures, we should be seeing cooler weather soon. I myself am ready for some fall. I want to thank Bob Lank and Wesley Mathews for taking charge of the September meeting in my absence, and Randy Johnson for providing the pro-gram. As always, I greatly appreciate Danna Spay-de’s contribution to our monthly newsletters and Nancy Morri-son’s continued dedication (with help from BROS members) in providing such wonderful refreshments during our meetings. I heard Randy gave a great presentation on catasetums, and I am sorry I missed this program. I have a small number of these or-chids in my collection and have not had very good luck with them. The nominating committee met and produced a slate of nomi-nees for 2018. We will vote on these nominees in the October meeting. Also, this is renewal time for dues, which are $20.00 for an individual and $30.00 for a family. We plan to have our Christmas party at my house on Saturday, December 9, at 6:30 PM. We will have a plant swap as we con-ducted last year, by numbered tickets. If you want to participate in the plant swap, please bring a tagged orchid. I would like to look back on this year and thank all of the members and spouses who worked tirelessly to make our orchid society an enjoyable organization. We had another great year of Green Growers thanks to Gene and Thelma Berg and celebrated Gene’s 90th birthday. See President Page 3

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The meeting was opened by Vice President Bob Lank, who announced that President Valerie Creehan was not present because her husband has been very ill for the past few days. Bob asked for prayers for any other ill members and their families. He welcomed several guests, including Beth Watson who is now in charge of plants for Trader Joe’s. Brenda Or-tis and husband Tom were welcomed as new members. Several other guests were welcomed as well. Orchids for those having birthdays this month were distributed to members. Danna invited members and visitors to her Orchid for Senior’s program that meets on the fourth Monday of the month at the Independ-ence Park Recreation Center. Annual dues are due now $20.00 for individual members and $30.00 for family memberships. Jim Morrison, Chair of the Nominating Committee, presented nomi-nations made by the as follows: Bob Lank, President; Wesley Mathews, Vice President; Jim Morrison current treasure; Patty Granier, current Secretary; Kathy Conerly, Board member-at-large. Jim asked for nomi-nations from the floor for presentation for voting at next month’s meet-ing. Members can contact Jim any time before the October 18th meeting to give their recommendations, as long as the person being nominated agrees. Voting will take place in the next meeting with new officer’s terms beginning at the November meeting. AOS Student Judge Randy Johnson presented a program on growing Castasetinae (Catasetum) orchids. Just a few of the many important points Randy made were:

●These orchids grow well in south Louisiana because they like humidi-ty and can tolerate high temperatures and bright light. ●These orchids go dormant in the winter – “No leaves no water” Do not water when dormant. ●Don’t start watering in the spring until the new leaves are 3 to 5 inches long so that water will not rot the crown. ●They are pollinated by bees for a scent that attracts the female bee. ●It’s best to use a high nitrogen fertilizer when growing and, as they tend to be heavy feeders.

Randy encouraged everyone to add these unique orchids to their collec-tions. Chip selected his picks for well-grown orchids from the bloom table. This was followed by an auction of fifteen blooming orchids to lucky winners. The door prize and raffle orchids were then awarded, and the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully Submitted ,

Patty Granier Secretary

BROS Officers, 2017

President

Valerie Creehan

225.756.8363 vcreehan@bellsouth.net

Vice- President

Bob Lank

225.978.2615

pops1548@cox.net

Secretary

Patty Granier

225.603.9898

pattyanne546@cox.net

Treasurer

Jim Morrison

225. 752.6383

jwmorrisoniii@msn.com

Show Chairman, 2018

TBA

Newsletter Editor

Danna Spayde

225.317.0933

orchidnut_2000@yahoo.com

Assistant Newsletter Editor

Valerie Creehan

225.756.8363

vcreehan@bellsouth.net

Board Members

Randy Johnson, thru 2017

Lata Johnson, thru 2018

Chip Thompson, thru 2019

SWROGA Reps:

James Jeansonne & Tin-Wein Yu

AOS Rep:

Tin-Wein Yu

Orchid Digest Rep:

Frank Zachariah

Standing Committee Chairs

Program ♦ Lata Johnson

Membership ♦ Bob Lank

Finance ♦ Jim Morrison

Librarian ♦ Bob Danka

Refreshments ♦ Nancy Morrison

Publicity ♦ Danna Spayde

Minutes September, 2017

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We benefited from Danna’s wonderful “Orchids for Seniors” programs. We deliv-ered numerous, beautiful foster phals to oncology and nephrology patients at Our Lady of the Lake and Baton Rouge General Bluebonnet Hospitals as well as to other non-profit groups. Chip Thompson originated and organized orchid training sessions for nursery personnel, in addition to a LA Nursery potting workshop, with help from members. We had a fun, annual potting workshop with dinner, thanks to everyone who donated divisions/plants and brought food. We had an excellent July show! We enjoyed speakers such as Eron Borne, Zach Goodnow, Dennis Wollard, Frank Zachar-riah, Randy Johnson, Courtney Hackney, and Jean Allen-Ikeson. Let’s assist this next year’s group of officers in continuing to make our society great. If any members would be willing to participate in the program committee, please join us the 2nd Saturday of each month, at 9 AM, at the Jones Creek Library. For this month’s program, Frank is giving a presentation on Blue Cattleyas. If any-one has any of Irvin Granier’s crosses or has information to share about his blue catt-leyas, please bring your plants to the meeting. Please join us on Wednesday, Octo-ber 18, at 7:00 PM and bring your blooming plants for everyone to enjoy.

Valerie Creehan President

Cattlianthe Trick or Treat ‘Orange Beauty’ Dendrophylax lindenii (Ghost Orchid) Ponthevia racemosa (Hairy Shadow Witch) Dracula vampira Cymbidium Voodoo ‘Halloween’ Masdevallia Spooky Paphiopedilum Stealth ‘Black Dragon’ Dendrobium Black Cat Cattlianthe Candy Corn To see the pictures click on the link. Enjoy.

Used with permission of John Calvin Schwarze, Newsletter Editor of Calcasieu OS. Thanks, John.

An interesting display of vandas at

September meeting

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Meeting Schedule

No Green Growers meet-ing this month

Nov. 15 - BROS Meeting -

Program - TBA

Orchids for Seniors doesn’t meet in November & December.

Jan. 10 - Green Growers Jan. 17 - BROS Meeting - Program TBA Jan. 22 - Orchids for Sen-iors - Program “Orchids 101”

No Green Growers meeting this month Dec. 9 - Christmas Party Orchids for Seniors does not meet in November and December

December, 2017

November, 2017

Green Growers Schedule

NO MEETING IN NOVEMBER OR DECEMBER January 10, 2018

February 14, 2018 Meetings are at

7 p.m. at the home of Gene & Thelma Berg

425 Nelson Dr. Come for good fellowship,

refreshments, learning - and door prizes!

January, 2018

Burleigh, Judy 10/26 Judy Ducote-Long 10-1 Manny Guerra 10/4 Dennis Kellogg 10/21 Gerard Killebrew 10/21 Nancy Morrison 10/2 Stuart Stewart 10/26

Be sure to come to the meeting to get your birthday orchid.

New Members

In September we welcomed several guests and two new members, Tommy and Brenda Ortis, pictured left. We are very happy that they joined us.

Brenda and Thomas, we hope that you will enjoy your membership in BROS and jump right into our various activities. If you do, I guarantee you that you will make many new friends and get lots of orchids.

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Orchid breeders have an eye for selecting stud plants that impart desirable flower qualities onto the offspring. Common traits include vibrant color, round shape, and being floriferous. There is one type of Phalaenopsis, however, that is made using entirely different criteria. In 1983, a large grower in Taiwan combined two faintly spotted yellows in the hopes of creating a more intensely spotted yellow. The lineage of the parents con-tained a number of species which had heavy markings including Phal. gigantea, Phal. amboinensis, and Phal. lueddemanniana so there was the possibility of additional coloration. The resulting hybrid was more intense and named Golden Peoker, with the best variety cloned and made available to the public. One of the cloned plants bloomed with a slight deformity and had spots which overlapped each other resembling ‘blotches.’ Though mutations are usually discard-ed in favor of pure genes, this plant caught the attention of the American Orchid Society who gave it a ‘Judges Commendation’ or JC/AOS. There was suddenly public demand for this particular Golden Peoker and so it was cloned again. This time, there were even more mutations. The coloring was dramatic with spots that were large, intense, and random in their pattern. The horticultural world had never seen anything like this, and it had considerable commercial appeal. This twice mutated Golden Peoker launched a whole new genre called Harlequin’ (named after the comic servant from medieval French plays who wears zany checkered cos-tumes). Many of the other big players in the orchid industry soon began breeding harlequins and, today, we have all sorts of randomly spotted hybrids to choose from. See Harlequin Phals Pg 6

Harlequin Phalaenopsis can be found today in a variety of flavors, but it took a little luck for the first randomly spotted hybrid to hit the market.

Harlequin Phalaenopsis

By Art Chadwick

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Harlequin Phals from page 5 Here are some tips when considering harlequin Phalaenopsis: ● The first flower that opens may not look exactly like the next flower, and they may all be different. ● The color and pattern of the spots can vary with temperature. Cool weather increases color saturation while hot weather can nearly white out the spot- ting. ● The care and flower longevity is the same as everyday varieties. Phalaenopsis shopping is much more interesting now that Harlequins are on the market. Though big whites and pinks will always be the best sellers, the mutated hy-brids with random spots are quite popular and remind us of the light-hearted outfits worn by the mischievous devil, Harlequin.

Arthur Chadwick is president of Chadwick & Son Orchids Inc. You may send questions to 1240 Dorset Road, Powhatan, Va. 23139, (804) 598-7560 or by email at info@chadwickorchids.com. Previous columns are on his website, www.chadwickorchids.com. Article used with Art’s permission.

At the September meeting,

Randy Johnson, BROS member

and student judge, gave a

presentation on castasetinae

orchids.

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October, 2017

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Baton Rouge Orchid Society

P.O. Box 66242

Baton Rouge, LA 70896-6242

225.308.1304 or 225.383.3554

info@batonrougeorchidsociety.com

www.batonrougeorchidsociety.com

Three opportunities to learn about orchids….

Baton Rouge Orchid Society - 7 p.m. - 3rd

Wednesday ♦ Burden Center, 4560 Essen Lane

Baton Rouge, LA ♦ featured speakers, growing

tips, plant clinics, awards table, plant raffle.

Green Growers - educational program for novice

orchid growers ♦ 7 p.m. on 2nd Wednesday of

month except May, July, and December at 425

Nelson Dr. Baton Rouge.

Orchids for Seniors - 10 a.m. - 4th Monday

January through October, except July ♦

Independence Park ♦ 7500 Independence Blvd.

Baton Rouge, LA. Orchid programs, field trips,

potting workshop.

Extending the knowledge and appreciation of

orchids to members and the gardening

community of the Greater Baton Rouge Area.

Membership Renewal Time!

The Society’s membership year is Novem-ber 1 through October 31. Therefore, it’s membership renewal time. Dues for one per-son are $20/year and for 2 people in the same household are $30/year. Our membership has grown during this past year, and we hope it will continue to do so. The Program Committee works hard to come up with interesting and educational programs that will increase our knowledge and enjoyment of our orchid hobby. Be sure to renew your membership promptly so you won’t miss out on any of the outstanding pro-grams and other events that the Society will hold during 2018. Treasurer Jim Morrison will be happy to take your dues at the meeting. Or you can mail them in with the renewal form. A mem-bership renewal form is attached to the email with this newsletter. Fill it out and bring to the meeting with your dues or mail it to the address on the form.

Election Time

It’s also election time for of-ficers for our 2018 membership year. The following nominations were made in September by the Nominating Committee, headed by Jim Morrison.

President - Bob Lank Vice-President - Wesley Mathews Secretary– Patty Granier Treasurer - Jim Morrison Board Member at large through 2020 - Kathy Conerly

These people have all agreed to serve if elected. Nominations from the floor will be open at the October meet-ing. If you want to nominate someone, be sure he/she is will-ing to serve if elected. The new officers will assume their duties at the November meeting.

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October, 2017

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Upcoming AOS Webinars

Committee Meetings

Publicity/Membership Committee will not meet during the holiday season. Next meeting is January 3, 2018 at 11 a.m. at Hunan’s Restaurant on S. Sherwood.

Program Committee meeting - 9 a.m. at Jones Creek Library on the second Saturday of the month.

Interested persons are invited to participate in either or both Committees

The AOS produces monthly webinars on topics of interest to orchid grow-ers. Some are open to AOS members only, but there are others in which anyone can participate.

Register at www.aos.org/orchids/webinars.aspx

AOS digitizes the webinars and they are available at your leisure from the same webpage.

November 8 - 8:30 EST - AOS Town Hall Meeting with AOS President George Hatfield.

Thursday, December 14th, 2017 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM EST - Greenhouse Chat with Ron McHatton.

Editor’s Note: I found this tip in one of the orchid newsletters that I get. ************************ A woman who was cutting down on her caffeine intake from coffee took to drinking green tea instead. She would make two cups of tea, using the same tea bag for both. Often, at the end of the day she would have a little tea left in her cup. Instead of tossing it, she took to watering the orchid plants on her desk at work with it. The tea was never hot and pretty diluted. After about a month, she no-ticed new flower spikes beginning to develop. She never gave the plants more that one or two tablespoons of tea per day. At the end of the work week she would be sure to dump any excess water from the pot so they could dry over the weekend. Tea leaves can also be added to compost for nitrogen and phosphorus. This technique will also work for plants such as roses and ferns that like acidic conditions.

Anyone Ever Tried This

Trick to Re-bloom

Phals?

James Jeansonne’s interesting bulbophyl-lum echinolabium X Bulbophyllum

Phalaenopsis on display at September meeting.

Winners of auction plants at

September meeting pick up their new

“goodies”.

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Blc. Hawaiian Satisfaction

Cattleya Little Susie

Blc. Chunyeah Good Life AM/AOS

Cattleya Wendy Patterson

Vanda Robert’s Delight X

Crownfox BR

Cycnodes Wine Delight ‘JEM’

FCC/AOS

September Flowers

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October, 2017

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Monday - October 23 at 10 a.m.

Independence Park - Room 137

Program: “Healthy Living” by Sam & Anne Bergeron

Orchids for Seniors Supplement

In September Angela Wall, Master Gardener, presented a delightful pro-gram on making simple terrariums. Angie brought examples of terrariums and fairy gardens that she has made, sometimes with the help of her grandchildren. She talked about terrariums for both orchids and succulents. I had collected enough glass jars from orchids that had been do-nated to the BROS that I could provide one, as well as an orchid plant, to every-one so members could try their new skill of making terrariums at home. We welcomed four new members - Leona Benoit, Dianne Stephens, Janet Wolf, and Kathy Dietrich - to our group, and we are delighted to have them.

Our final 2017 meeting in October will be a diversion from learning about orchids. One of our long time members, Sam Bergeron and his wife Anne will do a program on “Healthy Living”. Sam attrib-utes his robust health to his healthy eat-ing habits. He and Anne have put togeth-er a program on the subject and will do it for us on October 23. It is important that we stay healthy so that we can take good care of our or-chids. I get very frustrated when my body won’t cooperate with me when I need to

water or re-pot them. I hope many of you will be able to at-tend this last program of the year before our Holiday break. Below are some pictures of the Sep-tember meeting.

September Meeting

Report

Programs for 2018

October Program

It’s always good to brush up on the basics of orchid culture so that’s what we’ll do in January with a program I call “Orchids 101”. Suggestions for other months are very welcome.