In the Month of April we had two events: the Acadian Orchid Society Show in Lafayette, Louisiana, and our monthly judging here in Houston. In the latter there were no awards given, with five plants submitted. In the former, there were three awards given for the Most Outstanding Exhibit, which also got a Silver Certificate, plus one quality award to Phalaenopsis Jungo Magenta ‘Mars’ (Juihbao Red Rose x Ruby Lih Beaty), AM 80, owned by Mary Richardson, photography by Marilyn Holloway:
Thirty-four flowers on a crowded, branched 84-cm arching inflorescence; sepals and petals base color white, blushed and veined rose-lavender variably centrally, framed heavy rose-lavender distally; sepals lanceolate; petals flabellate; lip trilobed, side lobes striped basally, suffused magenta distally, midlobe magenta, callous yellow stippled magenta; column blushed magenta, anther cap white; substance light; texture matte.
The other awards concerned the Acadian OS Exhibit ‘Orchids Spice of Life’ with a score of 85 points:
A multi-tiered tabletop exhibit measuring 255cm tall and 300cm wide representing the show theme, “Orchids—Spice of Life”; plants nicely arranged according to color; exhibit decorations include various bottles of Louisiana pepper sauces, a small pot of “orchid soup,” the exhibit is accented with Spanish Moss and a large anchor rope spanning the bottom width of the exhibit; the exhibit features a wide variety of potted plants from the Cattleya, Miltoniopsis, Encyclia, Maclellanara, Phalaenopsis, and Vanilla genera, and several well-grown mounted plants from the Dendrobium genus; the exhibit received twelve first place ribbons, eight second place ribbons, and four third place ribbons.
Bob Fuchs holding a Lc. Trick or Treat with more than 300 blossoms.
I traveled to San Diego for the AOS Members’ Meeting April 19–22 in San Diego, where it was sunny (of course!) but rather cool, in the 50s for the evenings. The sea breezes came through in the afternoons and made things a bit chilly. There were many awards at the judging in Bilbao Park, a very popular garden in the town, and where the San Diego County Orchid Society held a show for the weekend. Shown are two of the fabulous entries receiving awards from that weekend. The Trick or Treat had 300+ flowers, and in the photo Bob Fuchs (not the owner) is holding the plant.
In May we will meet at the usual place on the 15th of the month. Bring in your orchids for judging, come and see how we do this judging rigamarole, and why not? Get involved with the judging program. There is a raffle with many beautiful plants from Fred Clarke, who owns SVO (Sunset Valley Orchids) in that area of the world.
Phalaenopsis Jungo Magenta ‘Mars’ (Juihbao Red Rose x Ruby Lih Beaty), AM 80
—Mary Richardson
Photo: Marilyn Holloway
Acadian Orchid Society exhibit, “Orchids Spice of Life,” 85 points
Photo: Marilyn Holloway