DVOS Annual Holiday Party NOTE NOT ON OUR USUSAL MEETING NIGHT!!

Potinara Smiley-Kiss ‘Wilson ‘HCC/AOS

Potinara Smiley-Kiss ‘Wilson ‘HCC/AOS

It is that time of year again. Our annual holiday party is coming up.

DVOS Annual Holiday Party NOTE NOT ON OUR USUAL MEETING NIGHT!

Thursday, December 18, 2025

Set up 6:00 PM, Dinner 7:00 PM

Pleasant Hill Community Center

320 Civic Drive

Pleasant Hill, CA

Free for all for potluck, but if you’d like recommendations:

• A-G Hot Dish
• H-O Desserts
• P-Z Salads

We will have many of our favorite activities:

• Potluck dinner
• Gift exchange
• We have a liquor license, so you can bring wine or beer if you would like.
• If you’re bringing something Vegan, Gluten-Free, or Allergens, please bring a note card so people know what’s in the dish.

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

Coelogyne mooreana ‘Brockhurst’ Grown by Diane Bond

Our November meeting will feature a recorded AOS webinar by Charles G. Wilson

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

Barkeria spectabilis

Our Speaker in October will be Chaunie Langland with a talk about Barkerias and Comparettias, two epiphytes well worth growing.

Barkerias and Comparettias are both native to the Americas and are not widely grown. Both have long-lasting, beautifully colored flowers that grow on arching inflorescences (for the most part) and are best grown mounted. Chaunie will talk about what they are, how to find them, and how to grow them.

Chaunie has been a hobbyist orchid grower for more than 30 years, is a long time active Peninsula Orchid Society member, an inactive member of both the San Francisco Orchid Society and Santa Clara Valley Orchid Society, and is an accredited judge with the Pacific Central Judging Center (PCJC) of the AOS. She takes award photos for PCJC, which are published in the Orchid Pro database and in Orchids magazine. Chaunie mainly grows a variety of orchids from Latin America, with a few Asian, Australian, and African orchids in a modest greenhouse as well as outdoors in her backyard in Fremont. She can’t grow or display orchids in her home due to the presence of a determined orchid-batting and -nibbling cat!

We will be experimenting with making this talk available remotely via Zoom!

If you would like to watch the talk remotely, please send a request for the Zoom link to dvosshowandtell@gmail.com before noon on Thursday Oct. 9th! We will respond with the link.

The great  Plant Table will be provided by Marnie Turkel.

Barkeria melanocaulon

Dinner with the Speaker

Members of DVOS are invited to a no-host, pre-meeting dinner with our speaker, Diane Bond. We will meet for dinner at 5:00 pm on Thursday October 9th

Aunug Burma
2151 Salvio St, Suite E
Concord CA 94520

This restaurant is a 5-min drive from the meeting venue. If you wish to attend, RSVP to dvosshowandtell@gmail.com by noon on Thursday, October 9, so we can make a reservation for the appropriate number of attendees.

Comparettia speciosa

 

 

 

WE ARE NOT HAVING A MONTHLY MEETING IN SEPTEMBER.

We are having our annual auction instead.

When?

Saturday, September 20, 2025 8:30 AM

Where?

Pleasant Hill Park, 147 Gregory Lane, Pleasant Hill, CA

Admission FREE Open to Public

Access the Auction Catalog

Event Details:

DVOS Annual Auction

• Pleasant Hill Park Picnic Area # 3 (just north of the parking lot in the southeast corner of the park)

• Set up begins at 8:30 AM

• Auction starts at 10:00 AM

• Potluck lunch following auction

• We accept cash, check, credit cards, Zelle and PayPal.

• If you cannot be present in person but would like to bid on items in the catalog, we have appointed Pat Bacchetti to act as proxy and bidder for you. Please contact her at bacpab30@gmail.com no later than September 17 for details.

Join Us for Our Upcoming Orchid Auction!

We’re excited to announce our upcoming DVOS Orchid Auction, and we’d love for you to be part of it!

This is one of the highlights of our society’s calendar — a fun, friendly event where you can discover unique orchids, expand your collection, and support our society at the same time.

Whether you are a seasoned grower or just getting started, the auction offers something for everyone – from rare species to beautiful hybrids, all donated by fellow members and generous growers.

SAVE THE DATE

DVOS Fall Auction and Picnic will be Saturday September 20, 2025

When?

Saturday, September 20, 2025 8:30 AM

Where?

Pleasant Hill Park, 147 Gregory Lane, Pleasant Hill, CA

Admission FREE Open to Public

Access the Auction Catalog

Event Details:

DVOS Annual Auction

• Pleasant Hill Park Picnic Area # 3 (just north of the parking lot in the southeast corner of the park)

• Set up begins at 8:30 AM

• Auction starts at 10:00 AM

• Potluck lunch following auction

• We accept cash, check, credit cards, Zelle and PayPal.

• If you cannot be present in person but would like to bid on items in the catalog, we have appointed Pat Bacchetti to act as proxy and bidder for you. Please contact her at bacpab30@gmail.com no later than September 17 for details.

Join Us for Our Upcoming Orchid Auction!

We’re excited to announce our upcoming DVOS Orchid Auction, and we’d love for you to be part of it!

This is one of the highlights of our society’s calendar — a fun, friendly event where you can discover unique orchids, expand your collection, and support our society at the same time.

Whether you are a seasoned grower or just getting started, the auction offers something for everyone – from rare species to beautiful hybrids, all donated by fellow members and generous growers.

 the park

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

Our Speaker in August will be our own Diane Bond

Diane’s talk will be on Zygopetalum species and their Hybrids in the Bay Area

Diane has been growing orchids in one way or another since high school.  Her interest in orchids led to a degree in molecular biology and an early career in plant biotechnology.  Her collection has grown and shrunk through moves to Oklahoma, The Netherlands, Iowa and finally back home to the Bay Area and a career in DNA sequencing technology.

Her local orchid society is Diablo View Orchid Society where she has held the office of both President and Vice President medizinrezeptfrei24.de and is currently a Board member. She is an Associate Judge for the American Orchid Society.

She currently has one temperature-controlled greenhouse and two outdoor growing areas in Oakland.

The great  Plant Table will be provided by Gold Country Orchids

Zygopetalum mackayiDinner with the Speaker

Dinner with the Speaker

Members of DVOS are invited to a no-host, pre-meeting dinner with our speaker, Diane Bond. We will meet for dinner at 5:00 pm on Thursday, 14 August at

Aunug Burma
2151 Salvio St, Suite E
Concord CA 94520

This restaurant is a 5-min drive from the meeting venue. If you wish to attend, RSVP to dvosshowandtell@gmail.com by noon on Wednesday, Aug 13 th, so we can make a reservation for the appropriate number of attendees.

Zygopetalum Debbie DeMellow x Aganisia cyanea

Zygonisia  Hybrid (Zygopetalum Debbie DeMellow x Aganisia cyanea)

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

Our Speaker in July will be Carol Klonowski

Carol will be presenting a seasonally appropriate talk: Taiwan and Beyond: Summer Blooming Phalaenopsis.

Carol 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 hobby and passion ever since. She can recall going to monthly meetings where orchid legends such as the late Frank Fordyce would be available to answer the many questions an eager hobbyist could ask.

Carol is currently the President of the Orchid Society of California and an Accredited Judge with the American Orchid Society, California Sierra Nevada Judging Center. She is a Trustee for the American Orchid Society and writes for Orchids Magazine.

Phal. violacea var. sumatrana Dark Devil x self

Dinner with the Speaker

Members of DVOS are invited to a no-host, pre-meeting dinner with our guest speaker, Carol Klonowski We will meet for dinner at 5:00 pm on Thursday, July 10th at

Sichuan Fortune House
41 Woodsworth Lane
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

Note that this is different from our usual pre-meeting dinner place! If you wish to attend, RSVP to dvosshowandtell@gmail.com by noon on Wednesday, July 9th, so we can make a reservation for the appropriate number of attendees.

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

Mary Gerritsen

Our Speaker in June will be Mary Gerritsen

Mary will be speaking to us about one of her favorite orchid destinations; Papua New Guinea (PNG) offers an incredible visit to a country that is tangled in time. Her lecture, The Orchids and Tribes of Papua New Guinea is based on multiple PNG expeditions, covers the Port Moresby area (nature parks, the amazing cultural museum, Varirata National Park), the Western and Southern Highlands, Mt. Hagen area, also Mt. Wilhelm, New Britain, and the islands of the eastern cape (Normanby, Fergusson). Fantastic scenery, visits with some of the many tribes, a sing-sing, a moo-moo (traditional pig roast), birds of paradise, and of course, orchids. Expect incredible photographs of orchids in the wild, many rarely if ever seen in cultivation.

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

Dennis Olivas

Our Speaker in April will be Dennis Olivas

Dennis was born on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. As a child, he helped his mother and aunt grow their orchids and got hooked. He joined the Future Farmers of America, and his project was raising and selling these beautiful and exotic plants. In 1980, he moved to the mainland and swore off orchids, but not for long, as he went to Rod McLellan’s Acres of Orchids in South San Francisco. From there, his whole life became one downward spiral. First, he filled his home with upwards of 6,000 plants. Later, he leased greenhouse space for his ever-burgeoning orchid collection. Glutton for punishment, his collection grew to overflow that 3,000 sq. ft. greenhouse in Half Moon Bay.