Annual Summer Workshop, August 9, 2025

July 2, 2025
Featured Happenings

This year’s Annual Summer Workshop, to be held Saturday, August 9, will focus on the topic “Orchids That Grow Well in the South (And That You Don’t Find at the Grocery Store).” An all-day event from 8:30am to 4:30pm, the workshop will be held at The Black Lab, 4100 Montrose Boulevard, in Houston.

A Friday night social for all attendees with the speakers will take place at 6pm at Father Ted Baenziger’s residence. Registrants will receive an email with more information.

The workshop will focus on three orchid varieties that grow well outdoors in our unique Southern Gulf Coast climate: biofoliate Cattleyas, Catasetinae, and Bulbophyllums. Speakers include Fred Clarke of Sunset Valley Orchids in California; Bill Thoms, author of Bulbophyllums; the Incomplete Guide from A to WHY?; and local Houston-area growers who will share their own insights into growing these orchids locally.

In addition to the classes there will be AOS judging, plant and book sales, and a silent auction. Lunch is included in the $65/person registration fee, and AOS judging will be held during the lunch break. Please use the form below to register. You may register for the workshop using a credit or debit card by scrolling down. If you prefer to pay at the workshop, please send an email to Don Ghiz with your intention to attend so that we have an accurate head count for lunch.

Workshop Agenda—
Orchids That Grow Well in the South
(And That You Don’t Find at the Grocery Store)

8:30 amRegistration and social
9:00 amOpening remarks: Stephen Gallagher
9:05 amIntroduction of speakers: Don Ghiz
9:15–10:00 amSpeaker: Fred Clarke, “Spotted and Splashed Cattleyas”
10:00–10:15 amBreak
10:15–11:00 amSpeaker: Bill Thoms, “Bulbophyllum Culture’
11:00–11:15 amBreak
11:15 am–1:15 pmLunch, AOS judging, silent auction, sales
1:15–2:00 pmSpeaker: Fred Clarke, “Catasetinae Species and Their Cultivation”
2:00–2:15 pmBreak
2:15–3:00 pmSpeaker: Bill Thoms, “General Orchid Culture”
3:10 pmSilent auction ends
3:20–4:00 pmCulture panel discussion and Q&A

Download a printable version of the agenda

Register your plant(s) for judging

Please note that the venue for the workshop has been changed to The Black Lab at the University of St. Thomas, 4100 Montrose Blvd., Houston, Texas 77006. Parking on Montrose is limited, but attendees may park on the side streets and along Yoakum, the street behind Montrose. Please see the interactive map of the university. The black dot at #10, on the far right, is the location of the venue. Click on the black dot to view a photo of the building.

About the Workshop Speakers

Fred Clarke

Fred Clarke has been growing and hybridizing orchids for more than 40 years. With more than 35 years as a professional grower and manager in the horticultural industry, Fred applies these skills today at his orchid nursery—Sunset Valley Orchids, located in San Diego, California. Fred is a passionate orchid grower whose curiosity in orchids is broad and varied. Although developing Cattleya hybrids has been his sustaining interest, he is also actively creating new Paphiopedilum and Aussie Dendrobium hybrids plus some others to be named if they work out! His pioneering work in Catasetum intergeneric hybrids led to the development of several notable hybrids, most recently the grex, Fredclarkeara After Dark, which produced “the blackest flower ever witnessed.” This grex has received more than 100 awards worldwide with nine FCCs and thirty AMs from the AOS judges! Fred is an Accredited Judge in the Pacific South Judging Region. His plants have received hundreds of quality awards from the American Orchid Society.

Bill Thoms

Bill Thoms and his wife, Doris Dukes, have received more AOS awards for Culture than anyone else in the world. The total is 105 so far in 30 genera with 52 in his specialty area, the Bulbophyllum alliance. Bill is the author of Bulbophyllums: the Incomplete Guide, From A to WHY? as well as an e-book that includes five years of videos covering every aspect of growing different orchid genera; all the articles he has written for magazines around the world; a 1,500-picture photo library in incredible detail; and videos of repotting everything from flasks to dividing giant plants.

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