COS September 10th Meeting

September 2014 COS monthly meeting:
Wednesday September 10, 2014 – doors open 7:00 pm
Cheshire Senior Center
240 Maple Ave, Cheshire, CT 06410

Joanna K. Eckstrom

Orchid Grower, Judge, Speaker

Wilton, New Hampshire

September topic:  Preparing plants for a show. What are judges looking for–the difference between Ribbon Judging and AOS Judging.

My husband Bob bought our first orchid plant in 1988. Cymbidium Peter Pan ‘Greensleeves’ HCC/AOS.  The flowers lasted nearly four months, convincing us that we could grow orchids. We’ve experimented with many genera and, today, have about 75 Vandas and a few other genera for variety. Twenty-five years later, Peter Pan is still in the collection – it is such a vigorous grower that it breaks out of its pot every two-three years. And it never stops blooming, making it hard to find a good time to divide and repot.

Besides AOS membership (and mandatory attendance at monthly judging sessions), we belong to so many orchid societies that there aren’t enough weekends in a month to go to every one’s meeting. When we get to attend, Bob is named as ‘grower’ of any plants that we exhibit. After seven years training, I became an AOS Accredited Judge (Northeast Region) in 2012. I’ve chaired at least one show a year for various societies for twenty+ years and in 2013, Massachusetts Orchid Society honored me with the Orchid Digest Diamond Award of Excellence for doing something that I love.