The New Growers and Improvers Group
What's on next?
Our next meeting on Saturday 21st July will be held at Wayne's collection.
Wayne is a new(ish) Aspley member who has dabbled in orchid growing for some time. He brings amazing specimens to meetings and displays a variety of genus on the show bench. The quality of his orchid plants is only surpassed by his enthusiasm for growing them. He does not profess to have a highly technical approach to orchid culture... one from which beginning orchid growers can learn the basics.
Lynda and Livia
Contact Lynda for more information lrapkins@iinet.net.au 3256 6580
What's been happening?
In June we visited Gary's collection. We were welcomed by our hosts and a large orchid house on the front boundary at the bottom of a steep drive. Gary specialises in species from all over the world. To give these plants the conditions they require to grow well he has set up 3 different climates in his orchid house.... a cooled section for cool growing species, a warmed section for warm growing species and finally a section with no climate alteration. Gary shared some growing tips with us and the additional topic of fungus in orchids was covered with many members contributing to our knowledge bank on the subject. Both experienced and inexperienced growers alike learned a lot by visiting Gary's collection. Thanks, Gary.
We had a delightful morning at Lionel's place on Saturday 26th May. His dendrobiums and cattleys were putting their best foot forward... what a splendid display. To top things off we enjoyed his large collection of anthuriums also. Lionel generously shared his tips for achieving such a display. After an enjoyable morning tea we had an interesting talk from Livia on growing soft canes dendrobiums.
A visit to Marg and Ron’s collection on Saturday 21 April. There was heavy rain on the Friday which continued well into the evening, however on the Saturday morning we woke up to a perfect autumn day. 30 members and 3 visitors attended the meeting and initially we all made our way to visit the orchids which where were in 3 locations. The main shade house housed predominately Cattleyas and Dendrobium hard canes with quite a lot of other genera in small numbers. The soft Cane Dendrobiums were hung on a trellis in the open and thus got the full benefit of all the changes of weather conditions. The 20 or so Phalaenopsis were under cover in a patio area and were grown in Sphagnum Moss. After morning tea Ron gave a very good talk on how he grows and fertilises his orchids. This was followed by a talk by fellow experienced grower on “Preparing Your Orchids for Winter”. This was well accepted, and many members added notes to the 3 handouts provided on the subject. Ellen provided her usual sumptuous morning tea. A very big thanks to Marg and Ron for hosting this meeting.
Steward's Workshop Sun, 11th March
Have you ever thought of supporting your Society by being a Steward for the judges i.e. recording the judging results?
Many of our new growers attended a half day workshop at Lawnton Special School with that in mind. There were lectures and practical activities to help society members get the most out of their Stewarding experience. Stewards work in pairs so that new stewards can be supported by more experienced stewards.
Have you ever thought of supporting your Society by being a Steward for the judges i.e. recording the judging results?
Many of our new growers attended a half day workshop at Lawnton Special School with that in mind. There were lectures and practical activities to help society members get the most out of their Stewarding experience. Stewards work in pairs so that new stewards can be supported by more experienced stewards.
Visit to the Queensland International Orchid Fair on Sat March 3. Here's a comment from one of our visitors to the Orchid Fair... "Had a great morning, so much interest, far too many choices, shopped maybe a little too much but learned some new things as well. Looking forward to next year."
Visit to Kevin's collection on 24 Feb 2017. After a couple of days of heavy rain, the weather cleared for our workshop. Kevin has only been growing orchids for 4 years and has developed an extensive collection in that time. He shared some tips on his success and Lynda gave a talk about the main orchid groups. There were plenty of questions and lively discussion from the floor. Ellen provided a very tasty morning tea. Thanks for your generosity, Kevin.
Visiting the collection of Paul Horgan October 2017
Potting Day at Lynda's place August 2017