Hi Everyone!

In place of our usual membership meeting on the second Wednesday of the month we are moving the general body meeting to Friday May 12^th, 6pm @ the First Congregational Church in Southington 37 Main St., Southington, CT 06489. Initial setup of the Mother’s Day Orchid Sale will take the place of our regular May meeting.

Depending on the weather forecast for Saturday we may be able to use the outdoor parking area in front of the church to capture the attention of foot and vehicle traffic from the Town Green across the street. We have tents and a banner we can setup by the doors to the indoor event space.

We will needs your help setting up the floorplan; placing signage; collecting member donated plants, books, and supplies to be priced; setting up our greeter table; and setting up our club display table. Please join us and lend a hand. With enough help it should be a fun time to socialize and preview the plants!

Instead of a show table we need blooming plants to set up an eye-catching display to highlight the floristic diversity and captivating allure of the orchid. While we will have blooming plants we brought in from Hawaii for the sale, many of the member donated plants will not be blooming so we need to show people what they can achieve with a little care and knowledge. If you have anything in bloom and you are comfortable contributing to the display plants will need to be dropped off on Friday and picked up on Saturday at end of the sale, unless you would like to coordinate an early drop-off and pickup.  Also if you have any plants or supplies that you would like to donate to our sales table please reach out to us directly at ctorchidsociety@gmail.com so we know who is bringing what.

At the April meeting we sent around a signup sheet for Volunteers for our Mother’s Day Orchid Sale, Saturday May 13^th, I know 10am-4pm is a long day so we broke it up into two timeslots the morning slot includes early setup 9:30am-1pm and a later timeslot 1pm-4:30pm to breakdown. If you did not signup up please reach out directly to me at the above email so we know who we are counting on the day of the event!

Here’s to a successful event!

Christian

The April 12th meeting will be at the Farmington Senior Center

We will be holding our monthly meeting on Wednesday evening: doors open at 6:30pm for socializing and the meeting will start at 7pm.

@ the Farmington Senior Center @ 321 New Britain Ave, Unionville, CT 06085

Artificial Lighting: with our guest lecturer Kelly McCracken, owner of High Desert Orchids. 

Kelly started as an avid hobbyist, and like many of you, couldn’t stop buying plants. Quickly one greenhouse became two, and now she grows plants in a unique 3,000 sq ft high-bay industrial warehouse space all under artificial lights. Kelly specializes in miniature plants, with a particular affection for miniature Cattleyas, Angraecoids, Jewel Orchids, and Dendrobiums.

•      How much light?

•      What kind of light?

•      What spectrum of light? 

Don’t forget to bring along your blooming plants for this month’s show table. It’s always exciting to see what’s coming into bloom, looking forward to an awesome show table! See you there!

Please print and fill out the ID card for the show table below

Photos from the 2022 NYBG Orchid Show

Hi Everyone!

A shout out to all the volunteers who manned our booth at the CT Flower and Garden Show this past weekend. We saw a ton of foot traffic and generated some orchid fever! Welcome to all the new members who joined at the show.

Looking ahead to March, in place of our regular meeting we are planning a trip to the New York Botanical Garden for the 20^thannual Orchid Show! You won’t want to miss this field trip so mark your calendars for Sunday March 12^th. The displays in the conservatory are always spectacular and I am excited to see what this year’s designer Lily Kwong has created.

We are organizing car-pooling arrangements for transportation to the show with an 8am meet-up for a roughly 10am arrival depending on departure locations. Tentatively lets plan a 10am-2pm visit, depending on how everyone is feeling some of us may want to stay a bit later, check with your group. For lunch there is a restaurant and café right on site.

Drivers are needed; at the moment we have only 2 confirmed drivers who can take an additional 6 passengers. If you are on the fence because you are worried about driving in city traffic this is a Sunday trip and the Botanical Garden is located just outside of the city in the Bronx, it’s an easy drive right off the Hutchinson River Parkway South. Below is the address and general directions from CT. Parking is $22 at the Main Gate and can be split between the passengers in the car.

The New York Botanical Garden is located at 2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY 10458.

• New England Thruway South (I-95) to Pelham Parkway West (Exit 8C). Pelham Pkwy turns into Fordham Rd after 2 miles. Turn right onto Southern Blvd, and continue to the Garden entrance on the right.
• Or:
  Merritt Pkwy South to Hutchinson River Pkwy South to Cross County Pkwy West to Bronx River Pkwy (Exit 6) South to Fordham Road (Exit 7W) Merge onto Fordham Rd and stay in right lane. Turn right onto Southern Blvd, and continue to the Garden entrance on the right.

A signup sheet was circulated at the February meeting and I will be reaching out to everyone who signed up to connect you with a carpooling group.  I realize that I should have included a column for the towns everyone lives in and how many additional passengers you can fit not including yourself. Even if you already signed up, please either add this in on the attached Google doc or reach out to me directly.

Please add your info to the Google Doc here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Yh0SA35SirCn-A0xdaKs6eXqCBUmONIN/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104167156145722613413&rtpof=true&sd=true

Tickets for the garden including Conservatory entry are normally $35 on Sundays if you sign up on the Google doc or reach out to me by next Monday March 6^th we can pre-buy tickets at the discounted group rate of $33 for adults and $29 for seniors. Even if you miss the group signup you are welcome to join us and buy your ticket directly.

Hope to see you there!

February 8th Meeting in Farmington!

We will be holding our monthly meeting on Wednesday: doors open at 6:30pm for socializing and the meeting starts at 7pm

@ the Farmington Senior Center @ 321 New Britain Ave, Unionville, CT 06085

Let’s Talk About Cattleya’s: with Dave Tognalli and Glenn McGeough

Cattleya’s are one of the most widely grown genera of orchids with a long history of cultivation and hybridization dating back to the discovery of Cattleya labiata in 1817 by William Swainson. The genera is named in honor of William Cattley who was the first to successfully bloom the plant in cultivation. If you are new to orchids these are some of the easiest and most forgiving plants to grow, William Cattley successfully bloomed the first plant one year after receiving it in 1818 and that is no small feat considering it had never been cultivated before.

Get the inside scoop from two of our expert member growers Dave Tognalli and Glenn McGeough on what it takes to make them thrive and learn a bit about the growth habits, cultivation, and history behind some of these incredible plants. Whatever your setup; outdoor growing, greenhouse growing, or windowsill growing Dave and Glenn will share some tips and advice for successfully blooming your plants. Now is the time of year when many plants are pushing out spikes so there should be some nice specimens for show and tell, as well as photos of some of their prize plants. If you are in need of some tropical plant glamour the cattleya certainly delivers. This is a great opportunity to hear from some veteran growers so come prepared with all your orchid questions.

Feast your eyes on those petals! Rhyncolaelocattleya Goldenzelle ‘Lemon Chiffon’ AM/AOS grown by Dave Tognalli on our December show table.

Don’t forget to bring along your blooming plants for this month’s show table. It’s always exciting to see what’s coming into bloom, looking forward to an awesome show table! See you there!