Meetings held in 2025

The Palomar Orchid Society generally meets at 4:00 pm the FIRST WEDNESDAY of every month in the Gowland Meeting Room of the Carlsbad City Library. The George and Patricia Gowland Meeting Room is located in the Carlsbad City Library on Dove Lane, just off El Camino Real in southern Carlsbad. The address is 1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad, CA 92011.

February 2025 - Fred Clarke ‘Cycnoches, Mormodes, Catasetums - Recent Trends’

Fred ClarkeFred Clarke

We are pleased to host one of our favorite and well-known speakers, Fred Clarke. Fred’s talk will focus on the amazing world of Catasetinae.  The talk entitled‘Cycnoches, Mormodes, Catasetums - Recent Trends’ will provide a detailed look at the best of today's breeding and new directions hybrids are taking including themaking of Fredclarkeara After Dark.  Finally, Fred will cover the best practices for growing these remarkable plants. 

Cycnoches, Mormodes, and Catasetums are three related genera from the Tribe Cymbidieae. Individually, each has been considered an orchid oddity, or “botanical”,of interest mainly to the seriously addicted enthusiast. These plants have a brief deciduous period in winter, when the plants need a definite dry rest period bordering on neglect. These robust orchids are native to lowland tropical forests in Central and South America and are usually grown in warm or intermediate conditions. Commercially, Catasetum, Cycnoches (or ‘Swan’ orchids) and Mormodes (or ‘Goblin’ orchids) have occupied a small market niche on the edge of a sea of Cymbidiums, Cattleyas, Phalaenopsis, and Dendrobiums. Until recently, they have not attracted much attention from hybridizers, but in the past several years some spectacular hybrids have been produced, receiving great acclaim and an increasingly large collection of awards from the American Orchid Society.    Read more »

Date: 
Wed, 02/05/2025 - 4:00pm - 7:00pm