Next
Meeting: March 2 at 2:00pm. Helen Hersh is speaking about advanced windowsill
growing. 1:00pm for Greenhouse tours.
Future
Meetings
April
6 - Steve Urick will tell us
of his plans for the Kaplan Conservatory, including the society's role.
May
4 - Purchased plant auction.
June
1- Picnic
President’s Message
Spring
appears to be knocking on our doors. The
Home and Flower Show has come and gone. I want to thank Don for his help in setting up and bringing
plants for the TOS booth, and thank-you to the volunteers who did security.
There was some interest in the society by passersby.
We can discuss at our next meeting if this is a venue we as a society
wish to continue.
March brings us to a show/display at the Zoo.
This will be in mid-March. The
society needs to rally support for Gill and Charles in creating and manning this
effort. Please help in either
providing plants, setting-up the display, manning security or helping with
tear-down. We need to work together
as a society.
Mitzi has been doing a great job with beginner classes, we thank-you for
your work and support.
We are looking forward to a great lecture at our March meeting.
Thanks
Ruta
Mah
Hospitality
The following have volunteered refreshments at the
February meeting:
Peg
& Tom Ward
Tia Voytilla
Dot Pierce
Helen Petro
Kathy Cross
Please
add returning and new members, or change addresses for current members, on your
rosters:
Sue
and Bill Akin, 2803 Annakay Crossing, Midlothian, VA 23113, 804/378-0999,
billakin@verizon.net
Siobhan & Jimmy Miller, 1537
Mirassou Lane, VaBeach 23454, 757/412-2945
j.miller@ verizon.net
Nancy Warren, 2504 Falcon Crescent,
VaBeach 23454, 757/496-4146 stargazer212@gmail.com
Bob
McCombs, 2520 Entrada Dr. Va.Beach 23456, 757/721-7715 mccombsdad@aol.com
Sibyle and George Kerastas, 618 Westminster Reach, Smithfield, VA 23430 757/357-2182 email gwkjr03@yahoo.com.
Also
welcome back Carolyn Christopher, 912 Matunuck Ct. Va. Beach 23452 757/689-3450
and Richard Lake with new phone #434-632-4383
Zoo
Show
Due to recent events in my life Gill Gillespie has graciously agreed to guide the show with my assistance. The zoo is having an “Easter Eggstravaganza” then so we’ve decided to have an “Orchid Eggslosion.” We’ll have details and sign up lists at the meeting this Sunday. See you then.
I am the owner of Hamish Hog Antiques, an antique business specializing
in museum quality furniture and decorative arts from the American aesthetic
movement. I started this business more than 30 years ago.
I’ve
been growing orchids since 1990 when a client started giving me orchids in bloom
for delivering pieces of antique furniture. I got hooked very quickly and the
collection grew rapidly to hundreds of plants, then thousands, as flasks of
Paphs and Phrags were purchased. The
eventual goal was to start an orchid business which became a reality eight years
ago with a move to New Jersey to build a large greenhouse. The result is Mount
Prospect Orchids, specializing in fine Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums, as
well as unusual species. I have
never forgotten my windowsill days and do carry a line of plants that are both
unusual and easy for home growers.
I am Trustee of the Greater New York Orchid Society, which produces the
largest orchid show in the country, now held at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.
I have been a trustee for twelve years. I wrote regularly since 1992 for their
newsletter on home growing culture. When Arnie Linsman, the newsletter editor
passed away I took over his task of newsletter editor for a few years.
I have been in charge of the floral exhibitions at the New York
International Orchid Show for twelve years, now expanded to more than 40 floral
exhibitors.
I was one of the few amateur exhibitors ever granted individual
exhibition space at the New York International Orchid Show. After four years of
amateur exhibits I started Mount Prospect Orchids. I still exhibit at the New
York International Orchid Show, as well as others in the New York area. I have
been giving beginner workshops at the show for twelve years.
I wrote an article for the AOS Gordon Dillion contest for 1994, and came
in second. The judges asked if I would agree to have it published at a later
date, (only winning articles are ever published). It was published the following
spring in the Bulletin, (now Orchids). This article was also recently
republished in the German Orchid Bulletin. I have written six more articles that
have been published in Orchids including one on Paph Parvi’s and one on
Phragmipediums. I write with a slant towards windowsill growers.
I currently have two slide lectures that I have given to orchid societies
around the country including, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Tidewater in Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Delaware, to name a few. I
have been lecturing for more than ten years.
The two current lectures I give are Paphs and Phrags, and Advanced
Windowsill Growing. Both run about an hour. I am also working on two additional
slide lectures Building A Greenhouse and Orchids in 19th Century Decorative
Arts. I hope to have both of these finished by the end of the next year.
I have been married to my husband Charles Sporn for 31 years. We
currently have two black cats, Rothschild, a new kitten, and Tomasso who is 14.