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Hi, It’s Me Again
Hello Orchid fans. sorry I have not put a letter in the mag for some time, what with all the work in the garden, orchid house hot and cool sides. Now that I have a bit more time I will get down to update you all.
Trial of the Bulbophyllums. I have now mounted on tree fern with sphagnum moss, hung in the warm side which is 20-25c with humidity of about 70 - 80%. Plant "A "is doing well but " B " Plant is not so good. Looking at a Phalaenopsis which is in flower, sometime back the middle leaves rotted so I put Cinnamon powder on the rotten bit, the plant then put up a spike as it went up it formed a leaf, on it went to have 3 branches with now 2 flowers and lots of buds to come, will this be a one off or will it go on to better things?
With my Orchids in the garden I have a Spiranthes Odorate "chadds ford " this has white flowers, should be in flower around August, this one has been in flower from September, the generic name . Spiranthes means "Twisted Flowers", derives from the Greek Speira meaning twisted or coiled, Anthos meaning flower, Autumn Lady's- Tresses, looks like platted hair.
One of the jobs this time is to bring all my cymbidiums in now that the air temperature is down around 10c, have been outside from May, watered every week, what a lot of new growth, is this bulbs or flower spikes I hope they are spikes. Last January I re-potted all my Pleiones 1part bark, 1 part coarse Perlite, 1 part Pumice, 1 part chopped sphagnum moss, with this mix it was too open, the pseudo-bulbs didn’t make good roots the p-bulbs are very loose, not good. Next January a new mix will be made .
Well all Orchid lovers this is all for now . I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year ,
your one and only Nut Case
New York International Orchid Show By Peter White
If there is one thing you can be sure of when inviting speakers then you Know when the name Peter White appears a good evening will be had, and our last evening did not disappoint.
Peter has travelled the world for orchids and orchid shows but one he loved was the now defunct New York International Show. It was first held at the Winter Gardens between the twin towers. No charges for entry could be made as this was a public thorough fare so no revenue could be collected to help the Greater New York Orchid Society Show organisers make any money. The orchids traders came from all over the world and were charged $3000 to sell plants.
With the destruction of the twin towers the show was moved to The Rockafeller Centre. It had to be held after Easter because up until then the area was a ice-rink for general public use, up to a quarter of a million people used it while it was open and even Peter was tempted to have a go, but only round the edges .
A marquee was erected at a cost of $750,000 of which three quarters of the price was for insurance but again no charge for entry could be made as it was also a shopping arcade. It was sponsored for 5 years but The Greater New York Orchid Society were not making any monies.
Peter advised to fly to New York via Heathrow to JFK airport then take a yellow cab (and only a yellow cab) the 40 minutes drive to down town Manhattan. Hotels can cost up to $300 a night so if you are thinking of going contact Peter he can tell you where to stay. Peter said as far as safety was concerned he felt safer over there than here in some parts of London.
A slide show of the points of interest was the start of Peters program with the usual tourist places all being shown. All the Black buildings seen in the various pictures were under the ownership of Donald Trump and as to the empire state building Peter said top to bottom in the lift is 58 seconds but to walk the steps takes 3 hours and 55 seconds.
The whole ice-rink once removed is carpeted and 20 to 30 societies move in with their displays plus traders. As to prices for orchids Peter went on to say that where we can pay a few pounds for a Phalaenopsis over in New York shops they can start for $150 so this makes ours very cheap, mind you at the show they can start at $40.
Judging is done in a variety of ways, there are prizes for best greenhouse grown plant or best home grown plant and here again Peter pointed out the quality of the plants grown was very good. The Best Plant can win a $5000 prize. As long as the orchid when entered into the show is registered as an entry then it is ticketed differently so as the judges know which ones are to be judged.
In America they do not have Miltonias as we do here they still use the old name Miltoniopsis and Peter showed slides of some really good quality plants and was able without a script to name each one.
A Lycaste ‘Park Ridge’ Peter commented on had a flower eight and a half inches in size. A Dendrobium ‘Oriental Smile’ being in flower for ten to fourteen weeks
One company Carmella Orchids sold orchids to the value of $90,000 in just 4 days now that is some serious money but just think how many plants they had to have on hand to make such a sum.
The stands to the orchids themselves were all photographed and shown to us and explained as Peter had seen them and his knowledge of the orchids was amazing not only from remembering the names but also popping in the odd cultural bit of information.
This show now no longer exists but was one Peter remembers with affection and admiration and like a lot of people was sorry to see close.
Outside of shows there are Orchid farms to visit and one Peter went to was in Santo Barbara, The Santa Barbara Orchid Estate. Here orchids can be seen by the mass quantity but one display that stuck in Peters memory was a 27 foot long show and it only consisted of ten plants, now we know the Americans like to do things in a big way but this must have been BIG.
Peter also had with him plants for sale and there was a lot of wallets opened for the quality Peter had to offer . I got a new book also Phalaenopsis Species written in Japanese and English and I must say for the price it is a super hard back book and worth adding to any collection.
Our thanks as a society go to Peter for taking the time to come and give of his knowledge and experiences and we are most grateful.
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November 09 Abridged |
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Angraecum Sesquipedale |
