On Saturday, May 25, we will visit Gordon's large and impressive collection. During this workshop each participant will pot up three Dendrobium seedlings which they will then bring along to subsequent workshops to compare their growth in different growing mediums. Cost is $2 per plant. A great opportunity to learn heaps!
Lynda and Livia
Contact Livia for more information liviadoidge@gmail.com
What's been happening?
Lynda and Livia
Contact Livia for more information liviadoidge@gmail.com
What's been happening?
On May 18 nineteen keen orchid growers attended our "Beginning with Orchids" workshop held at Aranbeem Orchid Nursery. Nursery owner, Ross Maidment shared some pointers about the basics of growing orchids as well as some historical and horticultural background behind these beautiful flowers. The new growers went home with a free plant to practice on thanks to Aspley Orchid Society and Aranbeem.
13 April
A good crowd drove over the river to visit Barry's large collection of orchids and bromelaids. Most impressive was the two controlled atmosphere Phalaenopsis houses as well as the large specimen orchid plants in the open bush houses. Barry shared his wisdom by explaining to us the finer points of watering an orchid collection. He showed us his special watering frame (pictured) for watering his large number of Phalaenopsis quickly. He demonstrated how to measure if you have the optimal amount of fertiliser in your water. He does this by measuring the electrical conductivity of the solution with an EC meter (pictured) which is placed in the solution. Also pictured is a simple way of elevating plants which have pendulous flowers. The cards being held up by some attendees are reminders about the conditions that will change the frequency of watering. Ann and Livia provided a lovely morning tea. The workshop was certainly worth the drive.
17 March
17 March
17 March
Sat16/Sun 18 March
What we thought was a problem turned out to be an opportunity when plans for our visit to Nev Bone's collection had to be changed at short notice. Thank you to Margaret and Stephen for allowing us to use their home for our workshop on Saturday. The unexpected bonus was a lovely downstairs space when the weather was showery and the beautiful tropical garden that surrounded it. This included their 20 year old king ferns, the family 40 year old gerbras and Margaret's mother's orchid house. The workshop topic was 'Fertilising your Orchids'. Some of the attendees went on to visit the Plant Fair nearby at Doomben Racecourse.
Then on Sunday we did get to visit Nev's collection. In spite of having just returned from a holiday, Nev's orchids were in good condition thanks to the automatic watering system that runs off 30 megalitre tanks. Nev's main message for our new growers is ORGANISATION! Have all your materials organised with access for immediate use when needed. Next Nev treated us to a walk through his bush block where he has attached his spare orchids to trees. Val put on a lovely morning tea which was supplemented by Ellen's delicious biscuits. Thanks ladies.
What we thought was a problem turned out to be an opportunity when plans for our visit to Nev Bone's collection had to be changed at short notice. Thank you to Margaret and Stephen for allowing us to use their home for our workshop on Saturday. The unexpected bonus was a lovely downstairs space when the weather was showery and the beautiful tropical garden that surrounded it. This included their 20 year old king ferns, the family 40 year old gerbras and Margaret's mother's orchid house. The workshop topic was 'Fertilising your Orchids'. Some of the attendees went on to visit the Plant Fair nearby at Doomben Racecourse.
Then on Sunday we did get to visit Nev's collection. In spite of having just returned from a holiday, Nev's orchids were in good condition thanks to the automatic watering system that runs off 30 megalitre tanks. Nev's main message for our new growers is ORGANISATION! Have all your materials organised with access for immediate use when needed. Next Nev treated us to a walk through his bush block where he has attached his spare orchids to trees. Val put on a lovely morning tea which was supplemented by Ellen's delicious biscuits. Thanks ladies.
Feb 23, 2019
Thank goodness the forecast cyclone did not materialize for our first visit of the year. We got to enjoy Livia's tropical garden, her tillansia collection, her orchid collection and her delicious cooking at morning tea. She also shared the strategies she uses to successfully grow prize winning orchids on her narrow block. Lynda shared a technique for growing Bulbophyllums, then covered the basic orchid genera for the beginning orchid growers who attended. It was a great start to the year.
Nov 3, 2018
Warm summer weather graced us for a visit to Rosa's collection on Sat 3rd November. Unfortunately the warm weather had put an end to our hopes for a great display of Indian dendrobiums as most of those flowers were spent. But we were not disappointed and the photos represent some of the other plants that were flowering beautifully. As well as sharing her collection of orchids with us, Rosa shared some pearls of wisdom and her large coffee cake. Many stayed on for a talk on 'Preparing your Orchids for Summer' . There were requests for more info on setting up flowers for show bench presentation. This will be a topic for the New Year. Till next year... Seasons Greetings
Oct 20, 2018
On 20 October, eighteen people braved the Gateway to learn how Steve grows his orchids. On the previous evening his Cattleya schilleriana had won Champion Orchid at the Mt Coot-tha Show. Congratulations Steve. Steve grows mainly species Cattleyas in his two orchid houses. One is a standard shade cloth covered house and the other is covered in mostly polycarbonate sheeting. Steve demonstrated how he is constructing a fogger which will introduce humidity into his orchid house as well as reduce the temperature in hot weather. Six lucky growers won a Tolumnia orchid in a raffle that Steve provided. It was an informative morning.
Sept 15
Over 30 people came along to learn about re-potting orchids on our annual Re-potting Day in September. New growers enjoyed looking through Michael's 3 specialty orchid houses. Lynda gave a demonstration then learners visited one of 8 different stations where helpers gave advice on how to repot their orchid. Helping these learners were Aspley Orchid Society members Trish, Peter, Ian, Glenys, Gordon, Livia, Michael and Lynda. The Society also provided all materials for a small cost. Thanks to Sylvia and Bob for setting up the trade table. Margaret, Livia, Louise and Ellen provided a sumptuous morning tea. As you can see, It took quite a team to hold this event. Well done Aspley.
Aug 18, 2018
In August, twenty-five of us gathered to see Dave's collection of Dendrobium speciosum or King Orchids. Over time Dave has collected specimums of the many varieties of this orchid that occur all across Eastern Australia. We were able to observe the differences in the flowers of these varieties. Dave also showed us other flowering Australian native species from the tiny Dendrobium lichenastrum to the renamed Dendrobium teretifolium. After a delicious morning tea, we finished up looking at some colourful Australian native hybrids. Immediately afterwards, many of us traveled to the Australian Native Orchid Show at Strathpine. The auditorium was filled with the fragrance of thousands of Aussie native orchids and the venue provided an opportunity to purchase plants for our own collections. Thanks for a great morning Dave.
July 21
In July we visited Wayne's collection. Wayne has well grown orchids in his beautifully landscaped garden as well as in two "open" style orchid houses. The annex to his lower orchid house provided an area for repotting and materials storage and it was the envy of many of us. 38 of us squeezed onto Wayne's his back deck to hear his tips. Among other things, he explained how he uses expanded clay balls as an orchid growing medium. The Society also gave an additional talk on watering orchids. Livia, Louise, Wayne and Ellen provided a delicious morning tea and Don and Wayne provided the keen growers with some plants for sale. Thanks for sharing your expertise, Wayne.
June 16
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.
May 26, 2018
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 cane dendrobiums.
April 21, 2018
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.
March 11, 2018
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.
March 3, 2018
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."
Feb 24, 2018
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.
Oct 2017
Visiting the collection of Paul Horgan October 2017
Aug 2017
Potting Day at Lynda's place August 2017