Welcome to the Palomar Orchid Society Website!

Betty P. KelepeczThe Orchids of the Machu Picchu Sanctuary in Peru

Betty has been an orchid hobbyist in Southern California for over almost 30 years.  She has grown orchids in Long Beach and Huntington Beach, and, since 2003, in the Point Loma area of San Diego.  Betty started raising orchids in the early 1980’s when her husband and co-orchid grower Steve brought home a discarded cutting/keiki of a red Epidendrum he found in a trash bin in the alley beside their home in Long Beach.  He planted the unimpressive and bloomless cutting on a moss-covered rock and confidently predicted that it would bloom beautifully in no time.  When the Epidendrum actually did bloom and, in fact, never since has stopped blooming, the disbelieving Betty became an orchid enthusiast and both of their collection of orchids has since grown with the unwavering passion so often accompanying that first orchid discovery.

Betty and Steve grow a large selection of predominantly species orchids. Their more than 800 plants grow outside in a small greenhouse and in a recently constructed shade structure. Betty enjoys the challenge of replicating the demanding  environments required by species orchids and particularly enjoys the challenge of growing pleurothallids.  Over the last few years she has become a successful Masdevallia and Dracula grower.     Read more »