PAST SPEAKERS
Speaker: Ron Kaufmann
Ron has been extensively involved in orchid conservation. He is chair of the AOS Conservation Committee and the San Diego County Orchid Society Conservation Committee. He also helped to found the Orchid Conservation Alliance and serves on the boards of the OCA, EcoMinga Foundation (a conservation foundation based in Ecuador) and the Orchid Digest Corporation. Ron has has travelled extensively to view orchids in the wild in Asia and South America, particularly Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia.
Ron’s interest in orchid conservation meshes well with his formal education, which includes a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in Biology and a Ph.D. from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, in Marine Biology. Ron joined the University of San Diego faculty in 1997 and is a Professor of Environmental and Ocean Sciences. Since 2015, he has served as the Associate Dean for Programs and Curriculum in the College of Arts and Sciences. His areas of specialization are ecology and environmental biology, and his scientific work includes studies of Antarctic and deep-sea ecosystems as well as marine communities in coastal Southern California. He teaches courses in biology, environmental studies and marine science, as well as interdisciplinary courses that are team-taught with colleagues in the humanities.
Ron has been growing orchids for more than 25 years, starting with a reed-stem Epidendrum and progressing to a collection that contains mostly species orchids as well as select hybrids. Ron grows most of his orchids in a 36 x 24 foot greenhouse and several outdoor shade-covered areas around his house in San Diego.
Speaker: Alan Koch
Alan Koch owns and operates Gold Country Orchids where he specializes in miniature and compact Cattleyas. He started growing orchids in 1969 when he was given Cymbidiums by an aunt. While in college, his interest in other orchids grew, especially when he realized outdoors in Southern California was an ideal environment for many species.
He has moved five times as his orchid obsession has led to the need for more growing space. With the last move, he purchased 10 acres of land in Lincoln, California for his 300,000 orchids. He is recognized as an expert in the Brazilian Cattleya alliance and a trend setter in miniature Cattleya breeding. Alan has been published in both Orchid Digest and American Orchid Society magazines as well as in the proceedings of the World Orchid Conference. He is an internationally known speaker.
Repotting workshop with Jordon Winter.
Jordon Winter, Krull Smith’s head grower will be doing a workshop on repotting cattleya orchids. The workshop is open to all but if you would like to participate in the workshop there is a $15.00 fee for the orchid and pot.
Speaker: Julien Baruch
Speaker: Francisco Miranda
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.
Speaker: Mac Rivenbark
Mac owner of Mac’s Orchids and Asian Orchid Source will be our speaker.
Mac and his Filipina wife started an orchid business over 20 years ago after many fascinating trips to the Philippines. With extensive study Mac has become an expert in Philippine and other Asian orchid species and has grown and bloomed over 300 different types.
Mac has served our country in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was the past president of the Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society and enjoys giving lectures and educating others about orchids.
For presentation he will bring and show some amazing orchid plants that grow great here in Florida and explain where and how they grow and the type of care needed. This interactive presentation has a lot of information for both beginner and experienced growers. Gathering advice and information from many large commercial orchid growers and from hundreds of amazing private orchid collections. He will answer questions during this culture lecture as we all learn from one another. He will have an assortment of great orchid species and hybrid plants for sale.
Speaker: Ron McHatton
Topic: Q&A
Ron McHatton, Ph.D. is a chemist by training and is currently the American Orchid Society Director of Education and Regional Operations. Prior to that position he was Apopka production manager for Kerry’s Nursery, one of the largest wholesale orchid nurseries in the United States. In addition to his professional positions Ron is an accredited AOS Judge.
Speaker: Art Chadwick
BIOGRAPHY
Art holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State and an MBA from James Madison University. He founded Chadwick & Son Orchids Inc in 1989 with his father who has been growing orchids since 1943.
‘The Classic Cattleyas’ is widely considered to be the definitive book on large-flowered Cattleya species and was written by Art and his father. Martha Stewart favorably reviewed the book and had both Chadwicks on her TV Show.
Art has the distinction of naming Cattleya hybrids after the wives of the last five U.S. Presidents and personally presenting the flowers to most of the honored recipients. He is a ‘regular’ on the orchid society speaker’s circuit and has been fortunate to give lectures internationally (Western Australian Orchid Conference, World Orchid Conference in France). He is looking forward to speaking at the World Orchid Conference in Ecuador in 2017. Each month since 2002, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has published Art’s orchid advice column. The Winston-Salem Journal now also runs the popular column.
Chadwicks operates 11 greenhouses in rural Powhatan County, a retail store in Richmond, and boards over 13,000 orchids for local clients. The company was recently featured in Southern Living Magazine and the New York Times.
Speaker: Phillip Hamilton
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- Phillip Hamilton – He grew up working in his parents’ orchid nursery, Hamlyn Orchids. Although his Dad’s true orchid passion was with the Jamaican native Broughtonias and their hybrids, Phillip’s passion leaned heavily toward Phalaenopsis, which he has been growing and breeding since the age of eight. In 2013, he formed his own business Bredren Orchids, to facilitate the small-scale sale of some of the more unique Phalaenopsis and Broughtonia species and hybrids he grows and breeds.
Speaker: Melana and Jim Davison
Presentation will be Hecho en Mexico – a discussion about Mexican plants
Jim and Melana Davison are AOS Accredited Judges. They have an extensive and diverse orchid collection that seems to be continuously growing. Not only involved in caring for their orchids, they are actively involved in several South Florida orchid societies. Melana is the current President of the Orchid Society of Coral Gables and past President of the South Dade Amateur Orchid Club. Jim is the past President of the Orchid Society of Coral Gables and the East Everglades Orchid Society.
Jim’s appreciation for orchids stems from his scientific background. Until his recent retirement, he worked as a Nuclear Chemistry Manager at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant. Melana is more interested in the aesthetic qualities of orchids, especially the ones that look strange and other worldly. She owns her own Orchid Maintenance business and is known as “The Orchidiva.” Now that Jim is retired, they have opened their own retail nursery, Jim-N-I Orchids. They have been actively hitting the show circuit and will also be at both Tamiami and the Redland Show this year. Together, Jim and Melana have 7 grown children and five grandchildren. They live in Homestead with their 4 dogs, four of the five grandchildren and 3,000 plus orchids in their personal collection, many thousands in the nursery.
Their interest in the Catasetum genus stems from their personal relationship with Fred Clarke. When they lived in California, they were neighbors with Fred, and he was the guiding force behind them joining the judging system. Although Catasetums are growing in popularity, there are few resources available to Florida growers. Jim-N-I Orchids are a Catasetum enthusiast and we raise them in Florida for Florida collectors!
Speaker: Donna Goodwin
Presentation on Vanda Care and Culture
With a major in English while minoring in Political Science and Business, Donna Goodwin was ready for a career in…growing orchids? Well, not exactly. Her path to this career began with three years of management followed by three years of technical writing, and finally four years of program coordinating. Near the end of that period, she married her college sweetheart and was finally ready for a family. Her husband, Duane, had always had his career in landscaping or horticulture. He grew up with his father tinkering in orchid culture, and finally becoming commercial with his orchid endeavors after retiring. But, Duane’s father, John Goodwin, had made greenhouses that were a bit rudimentary requiring manual labor for heat or cold protection. Basically that meant Duane was stapling on plastic for cold nights, and removing it when the days warmed up, and then back on for cold nights, and back off for warm days, etc. Duane never wanted to be a part of this kind of operation, ever.
But, when their first of two sons was born just months after his father dying of cancer, Duane had second thoughts. He and Donna bought out his brother and sister’s share of the estate and built a greenhouse that is state of the art to grow vanda orchids. They moved back to the old homestead, and Donna quickly learned how to grow vandas and run a retail greenhouse nursery. Their second son was born, and the greenhouse became a big playpen in which the boys could play and have fun.
A second and third greenhouse has been added and Goodwin Orchids has grown into the premiere source in Central Florida for vandaceous orchids. Donna is so thankful and blessed that she has had a home-based business that allowed her to be home with her children during those crucial early years, and to have her children with her after school in the greenhouse or around the grounds. The oldest son, Grant, just finished at UF in December, and their second son, Garrett, will finish this coming December at UCF. Go Gators! And Charge on Knights!
In her estimation, there could not be a more satisfying career that gives the grower the joy of the beauty of the flowers, and the customer the same joy. And we all know that caring for plants is the oldest occupation known to man. In September of 2019, the Goodwins celebrated a Centennial celebration in honor of Duane’s great grandparents and grandparents. Yes, that’s over 100 years at the same location on the west side of Leesburg. Duane has been to Thailand nine times to visit nurseries and continue to obtain the finest vandas in the world! We supply vandas to the Universal Studios in Orlando, the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC, and we have sold plants to the New York Botanical Garden and to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
Speaker: Dr Courtney Hackney
Presentation on “Orchid Triage – How to Save your favorite orchid”
Dr. Hackney is Emeritus Professor of Biology and the former Director of Coastal Biology at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. Previously he was Professor of Biology and Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Courtney began growing orchids in the Florida Keys in 1962, while working for a small orchid nursery and has continued his interest in both orchid hybridizing and orchid culture since then. He grows many different genera, but his favorite is the Cattleya Alliance. He has about 500 mature cattleyas and even more seedlings, but his favorites are classic clones, some of which appeared in orchid collections over 100 years ago. He makes 8-10 hybrids and species sib crosses per year in various genera.
He wrote a Growing Tips column for 20 years, which ended in December 2013. Growing Tips appeared in newsletters around the country. He has also published in the Orchid Digest. In 2004, he published “American Cattleyas”, the culmination of a decade of study and interviews, which summarizes in old photographs and print how all of the modern cattleyas came to be. The book also describes what we know about cattleyas and cattleya hybrids, how to grow them, and what to expect from modern hybrids. During the past decade he has been researching the coerulea (blue) color form of cattleya species and hybrids. His article on how to predict success of coerulea Cattleya hybrids is nearing completion.
He and his wife Rose live in Jacksonville, Florida adjacent to a tidal swamp. Rose retired as a professional artist in 2017, but continues painting for fun. Epi magnoliae (conopseum) grows in trees of the swamp in his backyard. His orchids reside in a brand new 24’x25’ Florida shade house adjacent to the swamp.
Speaker: Fred Clarke on “Becoming an 80% Grower”
Fred has been growing orchids for 42 years and has been hybridizing for 38 of those years. With over 34 years as a professional grower and manager in the horticultural industry, Fred applies these skills at his orchid nursery; Sunset Valley Orchids, located in San Diego, California. He is a passionate orchid grower whose curiosity in orchids is broad and varied. Although developing Cattleya hybrids has been his sustaining interest, he is also actively creating new Paphiopedilum and Aussie Dendrobium hybrids plus some others to be named if they work out!
His pioneering work in Catasetum intergeneric hybrids led to the development of several notable hybrids, most recently the grex, Fredclarkeara After Dark, which produced “the blackest flower ever witnessed”. This grex has received over 100 awards worldwide with nine FCC’s and thirty AM’s from the AOS judges!
Fred is an Accredited Judge in the Pacific South Judging Region. His plants have received hundreds of quality awards from the American Orchid Society.
His presentation is on“Becoming an 80 Percentile Grower” Ever wonder what the most important requirements are for growing the best orchids? Learn about the underlying reasons of how and why orchids grow as they do. Then explore the fundamentals and advanced growing techniques to best grow them. Orchid plant culture is explained as you have never heard it before. Learn how to become an 80 percentile grower, expect to be wowed by this talk!
Speaker: Carri Raven-Rieman on Phalaenopis species.
While still pursuing her career as a model and actress in Manhattan, Carri’s involvement with orchids began 40 years ago with her first Phalaenopsis orchid. Having served on the Board of Directors of the well-known Greater New York Orchid Society for over 20 years, she has also served on several American Orchid Society committees, among them being the Education Committee, Membership Committee & the Public Relations Committee.
In 1990 Carri was one of the original “gang of five” who founded and formed the 29-year old International Phalaenopsis Alliance, Inc. (IPA), serving first as Membership/Corresponding Secretary, then First Vice President, President and currently as Regional Director for New England, New York & eastern Canada. In 2004 Carri was honored with the IPA Award of Distinction for her contributions to the world of Phalaenopsis Orchids.
Since becoming an Accredited American Orchid Society Judge in 1998, Carri has also had the privilege of judging both national and international orchid shows. Beginning in 2007, she has traveled to Taiwan each year to serve as an AOS Judge for their annual Taiwan International Orchid Show (TIOS), with the 2019 show being her 13th anniversary year of judging that amazing show. She also served as a permanent member of the AOS/TIOS Coordinating Committee in charge of organizing AOS judging for this annual international show.
In 2018 & 2019 the TIOS Show chose to focus exclusively on preparation of International Judging for the 2020 WOC in Taichung, Taiwan, for both Ribbon & Medal Judging, without the inclusion of AOS judging. She has been privileged to be invited as a VIP, along with two other fellow AOS judges (Carlos Fighetti & Alan Koch), to serve as a Team Captain for those two shows & work with TOGA on all the details involved in judging the now rescheduled 2020 WOC.
As a small commercial grower for 35 years, Carri focuses her orchid business, the orchidPhile, on being able to offer her clients the newest in cutting-edge Phalaenopsis species and hybrids in addition to other orchid genera which grow happily under the same conditions as Phalaenopsis. Of increasing importance to her clients is vivid color, heavy substance flowers that will provide them with long-lasting displays, fragrance and multitudes of flowers with more compact growth and spike habits. In the last two years she has also seen Taiwan’s increased interest in breeding some new & more unique intergeneric hybrids utilizing Phalaenopsis as one parent.
She participates in orchid shows year ‘round, along the east coast, New England & eastern Canada, creating an exhibit at each and managing her sales tables. She also has traveled across the country & around the world as an international speaker to orchid societies & Symposiums on various topics involving the genus Phalaenopsis.
At last count her collection numbered in the thousands, ranging from very young plants to orchids in full bloom. So despite her BA from Northwestern University in pursuit of what her parents considered an important stepping stone to an “important career”, she maintains that we never really know where life is going to take us!
Speaker: Dr Martin Motes
Central Florida Orchid Society will be hosting its first virtual program for members on Monday evening July 13th! The renowned Dr. Martin Motes, a second generation orchidist who has been growing and hybridizing orchids for more than 60 years will be talking with us about “Temperature Tolerant,Low light Vandas”. Dr. Motes’ experience is extensive, and his presentation is sure to be interesting, educational and fun for all attendees. CFOS members should keep an eye on their email, where you’ll receive a more detailed review of Dr. Motes accolades as well as the information needed to join in on our first virtual presentation.
Topic: 12 Months of Orchids
Speaker: Peter T Lin of Diamond Orchids
Peter is an avid orchid hobbyist, hybridizer, and AOS judge. He reside in Southern California and grows orchids in 3 small greenhouses. He grows primarily mini-catts, Sophronitis, Dendrobiums and miniature species. Peter started growing orchids over 35 years ago, but then stopped due to school and starting a career. It wasn’t until about 14 years ago that the orchid “bug” came back and he is now heavily involved 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 thousand or more orchids at his home in Southern California in 3 small greenhouses, outdoors, as well as an offsite greenhouse.
12 Months of Orchids – Building a collection with blooms every month of the year.
Peter Lin will be presenting his newest talk on: 12 Months of Orchids. This presentation will show you how to build an orchid collection to have blooming plants for each month of the year.
Speaker: Ron McHatton
Topic: Q&A
Ron McHatton, Ph.D. is a chemist by training and is currently the American Orchid Society Director of Education and Regional Operations. Prior to that position he was Apopka production manager for Kerry’s Nursery, one of the largest wholesale orchid nurseries in the United States. In addition to his professional positions Ron is an accredited AOS Judge.
Speaker: Steve Balderson standing in for Paul Storm
Topic: Laelia-Schomburgkias & Myrmecophilias
Steve Balderson – proud husband, father, full time landscape/fertilization Sales person and all time orchid enthusiast.
Shady Tree Nursery was founded in 2014 by Steve and Nancy Balderson. Shady Tree Nursery is a humble backyard greenhouse that specializes in mounted orchids mostly cattleya alliance with some other oddities growing in the mix. Steve has used his 19 years experience in the green(landscape) industry and love of nursery’s to turn a few sales under tents to a 600 sq ft commercial greenhouse with repeat customers from around the state. Steve and Nancy are both AOS and Central Fl Orchid Society members and enjoy volunteering for all their events.
Shady Tree’s goal is to create friendships and offer high quality orchids as well as sharing their knowledge and love of these amazing plants with their customers.
Speaker: John Odom
Topic: Encyclias
Speaker: Vern Bloch
Topic: Brassovolas
Biography
I’m a retired navy pilot who got into orchids after leaving the service in 1987. Two years later Helen & I became owners of the Palm Bay Orchid Range. We participated in many orchid shows around the state. We sold the nursery in 2004, but continue to do business on a small scale. For the past 25 years I have regularly conducted programs for orchid societies ranging from the Florida Keys to North Carolina & west to Hawaii. My main interest has always been the cattleya alliance.
As a commercial orchid grower, I was often asked “What is the easiest orchid for beginners?” My recommendation was, and still is, Brassavola nodosa hybrids. They are easy to grow in Florida, they bloom several times a year, offering a wide spectrum of colors, they are fragrant, and the flowers tend to last fairly well.
This program includes some background on the species Brassavola, with an emphasis on B nodosa; where it is found in the wild, its natural environment, and the recommended growing conditions. It will also cover the prolific use of B nodosa in creating hybrids.
This presentation is all about plants that you, the hobbyist, can acquire at reasonable prices and grow them successfully. For those who wish to try their luck without making a large investment in mature plants, there will be some smaller plants for sale.
Speaker: Thanh Nguyen
Topic: Paphiopedilums
BIOGRAPHY
Thanh Nguyen is the owner-operator of Springwater Orchids (Melbourne, FL). He is an engineer by trade, but also has been collecting and growing orchids for 35 years. His orchid business began in 2001, mainly selling on the internet but gradually moved to orchid shows in recent years.
Thanh loves orchid species. And although he grows and sells all orchid genera, his forte has always been the genus Paphiopedilum. He collects fine plants; grows, sells, breeds, and enjoys sharing his experiences with his customers and colleagues. His passion in paphs resulted in numerous award winning plants and an on-going paph breeding program using local lab work, and local growing environment. His goals are to bring the excellence of a paphs breeding program back to America, and augment the enthusiasm of paph growing by way of sharing his growing experience and educational programs via shows and society speeches. You will see these goals reflected in his breeding program with well thought process to target various audiences; from easy growing/flowering plants to state of the art breeding catered to the most difficult collectors’ interest, in parallel with conservation of breeding species, improving overall plant and flower quality, broaden their growing conditions to make growing paphs a joy, not an aggravation!
Give it a try, and buy a paph seedling!
Speaker: Author Chadwick.
Topic: The Great Cattleya Species of the Cutp-Flower era
BIOGRAPHY
Art holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State and an MBA from James Madison University. He founded Chadwick & Son Orchids Inc in 1989 with his father who has been growing orchids since 1943.
‘The Classic Cattleyas’ is widely considered to be the definitive book on large-flowered Cattleya species and was written by Art and his father. Martha Stewart favorably reviewed the book and had both Chadwicks on her TV Show.
Art has the distinction of naming Cattleya hybrids after the wives of the last five U.S. Presidents and personally presenting the flowers to most of the honored recipients. He is a ‘regular’ on the orchid society speaker’s circuit and has been fortunate to give lectures internationally (Western Australian Orchid Conference, World Orchid Conference in France). He is looking forward to speaking at the World Orchid Conference in Ecuador in 2017. Each month since 2002, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has published Art’s orchid advice column. The Winston-Salem Journal now also runs the popular column.
Chadwicks operates 11 greenhouses in rural Powhatan County, a retail store in Richmond, and boards over 13,000 orchids for local clients. The company was recently featured in Southern Living Magazine and the New York Times.
Speaker: David Genovese
Topic: Grooming Orchids for Exhibition
Topic
David Genovese will be talking to us at the April meeting on “Grooming Orchids for Exhibition…a Tips and Tricks Hands-on Demonstration” We will be going over ways to clean, stake and arrange orchids so that they produce the best wow factor for both home decor and orchid venues such as monthly meetings, shows and other AOS judged events. Members are encouraged to bring a plant that they might want to exhibit so they can participate hands on during this learning activity. Plants in bud or with spikes not yet fully developed are the best to work with. Since 2007 he has a total of 39 AOS awards, including both flower quality and cultural awards, exhibit certificates and two AOS Show trophies!! David’s presented is more of an open discussion with attendees rather than a straight lecture…questions are encouraged!
BIOGRAPHY
David has been growing orchids for 31 years. He grows many genera of plants but his favorites are the Vandaceous, Cattleya and Phalaenopsis groups. Approximately 30% of his collection are species, grown in a green house and in a screen enclosure. In addition to caring for and exhibiting plants, David also enjoys creating new hybrids and sharing with others what he has learned.
He is an active Member of the AOS and CFOS.