Welcome to the Palomar Orchid Society Website!

George HatfieldWe are very fortunate and pleased to welcome George Hatfield as our speaker this month. George will be speaking on ‘Pendulous Cymbidiums’, a topic that he is eminently qualified to address as he has produced some of the best pendulous cymbidiums in the country. George is currently the President of the American Orchid Society and the owner of Hatfield Orchids, a Ventura County, CA based company, initiated in 2005 and focused on the development of high quality and award winning cymbidiums. Some of George’s beautiful cymbidiums can be viewed on his facebook page. George also will be providing the plant table this month.

George’s visit is being co-sponsored by POS and SDCOS. Accordingly, he will be speaking on Tuesday, April 4 to SDCOS on ‘Cymbidium Species’ in Balboa Park and all are welcome to attend. Please see the SDCOS website for details on time and location.   Read more »

Our great society has had an influx of new members over the past year and many of them have asked for a culture class session. Our senior members are more than willing to answer any questions and for the March meeting we will have a panel session with four of our more experienced members answering questions related to orchid culture. Members on the panel are Lisa Humphreys, Merle Robboy, Jerry Spencer, and Helge Weissig. Please write down any questions you might have and bring them to the March meeting.  The more questions we have, the more informative this session will be. As the saying goes: “There are no dumb questions in this world, never be afraid to ask”. 

Lisa Humphreys is co-owner of Lico Orchids & Flowers and has been growing orchids since 1994, with an emphasis on species.  She has been active in the orchid business since 1995, primarily selling hybrid orchids to florists. Lico Orchids specializes in orchids that are easy to grow and have long-lasting blooms.

Merle Robboy, MD, is a long-time member of our society with much experience in growing many plants of the orchid family.  Dr. Robboy regularly presents all of the blooming flowers brought in by our members in the monthly “show and tell” sessions.  His encyclopedic knowledge of most all of the plants and his detailed explanation of their geographical origin, culture needs, and genetic background make these sessions a favorite part of the meetings for many.    Read more »

Fred ClarkeWe are pleased to host one of our most favorite and well-known speakers, Fred Clarke. Fred’s talk will focus on one of his primary passions, Cattleyas. The talk entitled ‘The Modern Cattleya’ will provide a detailed look at the species and latest developments in breeding and growing of this popular class of orchids. Attendees will learn about the best of the best in today’s breeding and the new directions hybrids are taking. Finally, Fred will cover the best practices for growing these remarkable plants. 

Fred is a long time, generous supporter and life member of the Palomar Orchid Society. He has been growing orchids since 1977 and has been hybridizing for 35 of those years. With over 30 years as a professional grower and manager in the horticultural industry, Fred applies these skills at his orchid nursery, Sunset Valley Orchids, located in Vista, California, just north of San Diego. His nursery’s website has considerable information on plants for sale and many beautiful pics of his award winning orchids. He is a passionate orchid grower whose curiosity in orchids is broad and varied.   Read more »

Thomas MirendaWe are delighted to welcome Thomas Mirenda of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., as our first speaker of 2017.  Tom is a highly sought after orchid specialist who is very knowledgeable on many facets of orchid biology as well as on numerous classes of orchids. Tom will be speaking to us on “The Mysteries of Orchid Pollination” focusing on the various adaptations that orchids have developed as pollination strategies, including food, brood site, pollen, and mating deceptions, pseudo-copulation, co-evolution with pollinators, and other methods of species isolation. 

For the last 16 years, Tom has been the Orchid Collection Specialist at the Smithsonian Institution, caring for and curating an extremely diverse collection of orchid species and hybrids from all over the world. He has been active in developing and producing huge educational exhibits using the collection plants and visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors.   Read more »