Joanna Eckstrom: “Orchid Mermaids”

Joanna’s talk at the January meeting will be about culture and care of Vanda … “Orchid Mermaids” will feature a Powerpoint presentation and if you have a vanda in your collection, bring it along for a Q&A – be sure to protect the WHOLE plant from January in New England weather.

My husband Bob bought our first orchid plant in 1988.  Cymbidium Peter Pan ‘Greensleeves’ HCC/AOS flowers lasted nearly four months, convincing us that we could grow orchids.  Twenty-seven years later, Peter Pan is still in the collection – it is so vigorous that it breaks out of its pot every two-three years and never stops blooming, making it hard to find a good time to divide and repot.

We’ve tried many genera and now have 50 Vandae and a few other genera for variety.  Besides being an AOS member, we belong to six local societies whose meetings we try to attend as we are able.  When we do get to a meeting, Bob is credited as ‘grower’ of plants we exhibit; Joanna is the ‘Shower’.  Joanna became an AOS Accredited Judge (Northeast Region) in 2012.   She’s chaired at least one show a year for various societies for twenty+ years and was honored with the Orchid Digest Diamond Award of Excellence for doing something that she loves.