Bulbophyllum medusae

Mary Gerritsen , Ph.D. currently works as an independent biotechnology consultant, her “retirement” after a long career in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry. However, much of her free time now involves orchids in some fashion or another.

Mary has a large collection of miniature orchids, as well as numerous pleurothallids, paphiopedilum, bulbophyllum, and dendrobium species which she grows outside, in a cool greenhouse or in an intermediate greenhouse . In addition to growing orchids, Mary likes to see and photograph them in their native habitats, and this has led to expeditions to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Southeast Asia, China, various Mediterranean islands, Europe, Madagascar, South Africa, Mexico and other parts of Central America, many countries in South America, as well as various parts of the USA and Canada.

In addition to her interest in orchids and their habitats, Mary has written, with co-author and photographer, Ron Parsons, a number of books on orchids including Masdevallias: Gems of the Orchid World; A Compendium of Miniature Orchid Species; A Bay Area Guide to Orchids and Their Culture; and The American Orchid Society Guide to Orchids and their Culture. Mary and Ron also coauthored a book on a genus of North American wildflowers: Calochortus; Mariposa Lilies and their Relatives. Mary is the chief financial officer of the Orchid Conservation Alliance, serves on the board of directors of Orchid Digest, and is a past president of the San Francisco and the Peninsula Orchid Societies.

Along with Ron Parsons our speaker has written a book for the American Orchid Society, The American Orchid Society Guide to Orchids and their Culture, that every orchid enthusiast should own. It has just been published and some copies are on their way to California. They may not be here in time for Mary’s talk but she is willing to take checks for $25 and this will cover postage and also benefit the Orchid Conservation Alliance. So either bring your check book or cash along with your name and address to have it mailed to you.

The Plant Table will be supplied by our speaker

Doors open at 6:30pm for Show & Tell setup and conversations

 
Karen’s Bio: I have grown orchids for 37+ years and have been a member of the Napa Valley Orchid Society longer than anyone and I used to be the youngest member! I grow a variety of genera in my 16 ft. x 6 ft. greenhouse.  My current favorites are Masdevallias, Draculas and the Cattleya Alliance. My evaporative cooler keeps them pretty happy in the warm months. I love to travel and include orchid society meetings, botanical gardens or seeing orchids in nature as much as possible. I have even enjoyed orchids in the sands of Ireland.

Paul’s Bio: I started growing orchids 20 years ago after my wife gave me a blooming cymbidium.  Knowing nothing about it she saw an ad in the Napa paper for an orchid society meeting so I went to one and haven’t missed many since.  I have about 200 cymbidiums in front
of my east facing house front and a small greenhouse with about 200 mostly cattleya family orchids in the backyard.  Growing orchids is a great hobby and has led to some very nice friendships, among them members of your club, DVOS.

Karen and Paul will be talking about their recent trip to Africa:
Paul and I decided to join an Orchid Conservation Alliance 2 week tour in South Africa. But you can’t go to Africa and not see the large animals, so we added a 5 day safari to the beginning of our stay.  It was thrilling to see the animals sometimes only 10 feet away from our open roofed truck.  We will show you photos of animals and birds, the rocky landscape that is South Africa and of course lots of orchids and other interesting plants.  South Africa is one of the top areas in the world for plant diversity.

Dinner with the Speakers:

Members of DVOS are invited to a no-host, pre-meeting dinner with our speakers, Paul and Karen Olson. We will meet for dinner at 5 PM on Thursday April 11th at:

Aung Burma, 2151 Salvio St Suite E, Concord, CA 94520

This restaurant is a 5-minute drive from the meeting venue. If you wish to attend, please RSVP to dvosshowandtell@gmail.com by 5PM Wednesday, April 10th so that Henry can make reservations.

Upcoming Orchid Events

 Napa Valley Orchid Society 29th Annual Show and Sale

• When:    April 6 – April 7, 2024    10AM – 3:30 PM
• Where:   Napa Senior Activity, Center 1500 Jefferson St.,  Napa, CA 94559

   California Orchids

• Where:  515 Aspen Rd, Bolinas, CA 94924
• Contact Mary Nisbet:  415-713-0203
• Directions:  https://www.californiaorchids.com/httpdocs/events_directions.html
• https://www.californiaorchids.com

Carol Klonowski has been growing orchids since the 1980’s when a friend in Berkeley,California, gave her a cattleya and it bloomed out with three big, dark lavender flowers and an intoxicating fragrance. She built an entire greenhouse in her backyard to accommodate the precious plant, which only led her to buy more orchids. Then another friend gave her a gift membership to the Orchid Society of California and it’s been a serious passion ever since.

She can recall going to monthly meetings at OSC and DVOS where orchid legends such as the late Frank Fordyce and Dick Emory would be available to answer the many questions an eager hobbyist could ask.

Carol has served as Director, Vice President, and President of the Orchid Society of California for most of the past two decades and is currently an Accredited Judge with the American Orchid Society, California Sierra Nevada Judging Center.

The Plant Table will be supplied by Sunset Orchids

The April meeting will a hybrid in-person/Zoom meeting.

Please contact Henry Shaw (dvosshowandtell@gmail.com) if you want the link for the ZOOM meeting. But I would certainly try to be at the meeting in person. Peter will be supplying the raffle table.

Doors open at 6:30 for Show & Tell setup and conversations.

Peter started growing orchids over 40 years ago, but then stopped due to school and starting a career. It wasn’t until about 15 years ago that the orchid “bug” came back, and he is now heavilyinvolved once again! He is an accredited judge with the American Orchid Society, and a hybridizer of mini-catts. He enjoys meeting with other orchid enthusiasts and can often be found at various orchid shows and societies around the country.

Due to limited growing space, Peter likes to specialize in miniature orchids, both species and hybrids, and has received numerous AOS awards. His interests in orchids include Dendrobiums, Angraecoids, and Neofinetias. He is also known as “Mr Sophronitis” as he has a passion for growing and collecting them. He maintains a collection of a several thousand orchids at his home in Southern California in 3 small greenhouses, outdoors, as well as an offsite greenhouse.

          When:  April 13, 2024  9 am – 4  pm

          Where:  515 Aspen Rd, Bolinas, CA 94924

          Contact Mary Nisbet:  415-713-0203 Directions: 

           https://www.californiaorchids.com/httpdocs/events_directions.html

           https://www.californiaorchids.com

DVOS monthly meetings will continue to be held in a “virtual” (Zoom) format through at least April 2022.  Once again, we are taking advantage of this format to let us hear from another noted orchid expert,  Dr. Robert Griesbach, who will speak on the history of orchid breeding, a topic with which he is intimately familiar.

Dr. Griesbach earned a B.S from DePaul University in 1977, and a Ph.D. in genetics from Michigan State University in 1980.  After receiving his Ph.D., he joined U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), retiring after 40 years of service in 2020.  He spent his first 25 years at USDA-ARS executing a broad-based research program in plant genetics, focusing on the genetics of plant breeding and of flower coloration.  During his last 15 years at USDA-ARS, he was the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Technology Transfer, providing leadership on policies, procedures, and programs to facilitate the adoption USDA research results by the private sector. In 2006, he was elected a Fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science for his research contributions to horticulture.   In 2010, he received the American Horticulture Society’s H. Marc Cathey Award for his scientific contributions to gardening and horticulture, and in 2020, the Federal Laboratory Consortium awarded him its Harold Metcalf Award for his contributions to Federal technology transfer.

He has been an active member of the American Orchid Society since 1979, serving as an Accredited Judge, member and chair of the Research Committee, past-Trustee. and past-President.  He is also a member of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Orchid Registration Authority Committee.  He regularly serves as a mentor to graduate students, as well as middle- and high-school students. He has been an instructor various workshops his office conducted in high schools, providing a primer on genetics, and presenting his popular talk, Thanking the USDA for Dinner. 

Beyond his scientific achievements, Dr. Griesbach served as an unofficial historian for the USDA and has published several papers on the history of the ARS’s scientific research, including a 2013 USDA publication describing the highlights of the first 150 years of the Agency’s programs for introducing and breeding new plants, which, although it does not mention orchids, is a fascinating read.

To attend Dr. Griesbach’s presentation, please follow the instructions below.

• RSVP to dvosshowandtell@gmail.com no later than April 13^th.
• After you RSVP, you will receive the sign-in link and other final information before the meeting. Be sure to look for an email message from the e-mail address above. You do not need to respond to that message.

• Before the event, please check to be sure you have the latest version of the “Zoom Client for Meetings” from: https://zoom.us/download. There are frequent updates.