2026  Speaker line up

January

Giant World of Mini Dendrobium Orchids
Tomas Bajza, Tarzane Group

Tomas will show amazing pictures of various miniature and small orchids, talking about their needs, growing tips and techniques. He’ll show simple setups for your new orchid babies, how to feed them, mount them and care for them.wholesale orchid nurseries in the United States. In addition to his professional positions Ron is an accredited AOS Judge.

Febuary

Pam Waters – Orchids in Bloom

March

I was born in Puerto Rico in a family with horticultural roots. All my family have always grown lots of different plants, so I always loved the plant world. I always enjoyed the happiness that plants bring to this world from the delicious fruits to beautiful flowers that bring joy to our life. My mom always grew orchids and all kinds of flowers that I admired growing up. When I moved out like most people, I started to purchase Phalaenopsis and enjoyed their charming long-lasting flowers. One day I purchased a Venezuelan species for a girl that always wanted a flower from her country. I then came across C. lueddemanniana and that plant really captured my heart with her beauty and fragrance. Since then, Cattleya’s have been my favorite and my addiction. In 2022 Eri’s Orchid Paradise was born, I import orchids from Thailand and grow lots of award winning Vandas also. I have been experimenting with hybridization and doing the lab work myself to keep bringing more joy to this world and learn more about orchids in the process. In my quest to learn more I became an AOS student judge. I have learned a lot about the judging process and hope to pass along some of that knowledge to more people. My goal is to help everyone to have a better chance to get their beloved orchid awarded.

April

Jim and Melana Davison –  Jim-N-I Orchids

Jim and Melana Davison are AOS Accredited Judges with an ever-expanding and diverse orchid collection. Their passion for orchids extends beyond cultivation; they are actively involved in several South Florida orchid societies. Melana currently serves as the President of the Orchid Society of Coral Gables and is a past President of the South Dade Amateur Orchid Club. Jim is a former President of both the Orchid Society of Coral Gables and the East Everglades Orchid Society.

Jim’s appreciation for orchids is rooted in his scientific background. Before his recent retirement, he worked as a Nuclear Chemistry Manager at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant. Melana, on the other hand, is captivated by the aesthetic qualities of orchids, particularly those that appear strange and otherworldly. She owns her own Orchid Maintenance business and is affectionately known as “The Orchidiva.”

The couple is currently preparing a new greenhouse and shade area and have opened their own retail nursery, Jim-N-I Orchids. Together, Jim and Melana have seven grown children and five grandchildren. They reside in Homestead with their two dogs, two cats, and over 5,000 orchids in their personal collection, with many more in their nursery.

May

Members Auction

1. Paid Members may bring up to plants (3) or orchid items related items (still totaling 3), clean & disease free or orchid related collectables. Remember, adding flower photos increases the selling price
2. Arrive by 6:15pm early to register your plants
3. The revenue share is 70/30. For example, if your plant sells for $100 you receive $ 70 & the Society receives $ 30.

June

July

Keith and Dina Emig –  Winter Haven Orchid Nursery

Keith and Dina grow, hybridize and register plants in the Oncidium, Cattleya, Phalaenopsis, Vanda, and Dendrobium alliances, and have created their own genera (Emigara). They have received more than 45 American Orchid Society awards, so far, including nine for their original crosses. Keith’s orchid journey started with a trip to the dentist where, on the receptionist’s desk, was a small plant with three leaves and an inflorescence with twenty blooms suspended in a beautifully presented fashion. He learned the dentist was an orchid hobbyist who grew the multifloral Phalaenopsis. It was on. Orchid fever is infectious, and all possible information and plants were obtained. What resulted was a uncontrollable driving force of endless experimentation to better grow and flower these plants. There is no substitute for the company of other enthusiasts, with whom to share this fever. Soon the passion of combining the attributes of two beautiful plants, by cross pollinating, stimulated his imagination. A flasking case was built, and has been a fixture in their kitchen for over a decade. More than 1,000 seed pods have been flasked to date and it seems each season there is some new cross that has more exciting possibilities. Keith’s passion also drew him to the Ridge Orchid Society in Lakeland and the American Orchid Society, revealing the orchid world’s secrets. Keith has served on the board of directors of the Ridge Orchid Society for more than a decade, including at least seven terms as president. Be sure to check out Keith’s article “Luck of the Draw” in the March 2017 “Orchids Magazine” (p. 208).

August

Francisco Miranda –  Miranda Orchids

Francisco Miranda was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1956. He has been growing orchids since 1979, the same year he got his degree in biology, and in 1981 he began his taxonomic studies of the orchid family. During 1981, he lived from March to November in the city of Manaus, in the state of Amazonas, which is in the middle of the Amazon region. In 1982, he returned to Rio de Janeiro, where he began making field trips to Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, mainly to try to find rupiculous Laelia species in their natural habitats.

Between 1983 and mid-1985, Francisco went back to Manaus, where he began his work on his master’s degree and continued to make extensive field trips to Rondonia and the area of the future dam of Tucuruí, in the state of Pará. From the hundreds of herbarium specimens prepared, many new species were described in subsequent years, mostly in the genera of Catasetum and Mormodes. In mid-1985, Francisco finished his master’s degree and his thesis, “Section Cattleyodes of the genus Laelia,” and continued to make frequent field trips to the habitats of the Brazilian Laelias.

Francisco’s years of orchid field research have resulted in many new described species and several scientific papers in reviewed scientific journals of Brazil, the United States, and Germany, and also two books. The first one, published in Japan, of which he wrote about one-third, includes orchids from the eastern coast of Brazil plus the central region and mountains of Minas Gerais and Bahia states. The second book, published in 1996, covered the subject of the orchids of the Brazilian Amazon region. These two books are not taxonomic treatments, but rather illustrated guides on very interesting Brazilian areas.

Since 2001, he has been a qualified Taxonomic Authority for the American Orchid Society, specializing in the determination of Brazilian orchids, mainly of the Cattleya alliance.

Since moving to the United States, Francisco has concentrated even more on giving lectures throughout the U.S., Canada, and also in Brazil. More recently he resumed his taxonomic work and is guiding tours to Brazil on a more regular basis with the main objectives of orchid observation, photography, and conservation awareness.

September

Julien Baruch, Krull-Smith Orchids

Julien Baruch has been growing orchids his whole life, but his orchid knowledge really accelerated in 2014 when he joined the Sarasota Orchid Society. Julien went on to intern at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens for The Million Orchid Project before moving to Apopka, Florida to work at Krull-Smith, where he has been learning from Frank Smith and working on the nursery’s hybridizing program with him. Today, Julien also manages Krull-Smith’s sales, website, and social media. Julien is an associate judge for the American Orchid Society and is an avid orchid lover of all types – species and hybrids alike.

October

Phillip Hamilton of Bredren Orchids

Phillip Hamilton and his father, Claude Hamilton, are the international experts on Broughtonia orchids and are the reason we have their incredibly colorful hybrids in our lives. Born and raised in Jamaica, Phillip inherited his father Claude’s passion for orchids and grew up working in his parents’ orchid nursery, Hamlyn Orchids. After years of experience in hybridizing at two major production orchid nurseries in Florida, Phillip formed his own business in 2013, Bredren Orchids, to facilitate the small-scale sale of some of the more unique Phalaenopsis and Broughtonia species and hybrids he grows and breeds. Since 2017 he has managed Bredren Orchids full time with the generous help of his wife, Liz

November

Serena Roman, Lady Vanda Orchids

Like most growers, Serena started out as a hobbyist just like you. The name Lady Vanda started with my grandma. Once my collection got a bit out of hand, she started calling me ‘Señorita Vanda’ and ‘Señorita de las Orquideas’. The latter is quite the mouthful, so I decided to translate ‘Señorita Vanda’, thus Lady Vanda was born.

Lady Vanda started from my passion for orchids and nature in general. But I love to help others find their green thumb, even when they don’t think they have one. I saw an opportunity to cater to the new generation of orchidists. Most people find orchids intimidating and hard to care for. I want everyone of all age groups to be interested in orchids. I want to help everyone start and grow their orchid collection.