Palomar Orchid Society

Welcome to the Palomar Orchid Society!

The Palomar Orchid Society, incorporated in December of 1965 was formed when a few people banded together to talk about orchids. We then grew and bloomed into the roughly 200-member group of orchid enthusiasts that we have today. We represent everything orchid in North San Diego County! Come and join us!!

The Palomar Orchid Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the understanding and cultivation of both hybrid and species orchids. We welcome members of all levels to join us for orchid fun and learning! Our mission is to promote interest in the appreciation of orchids and to provide an opportunity for their display and the exchange and dissemination of information relating to their culture.

Next Monthly Meeting

Next general meeting: August 5, 2026

The Palomar Orchid Society generally meets at 4:00 pm the FIRST WEDNESDAY of every month in the Activity Room 108 of the Pine Avenue Community Center located at 3209 Harding Street, Carlsbad, CA 92008.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For June, July, and August of 2026 the meeting location and time have changed: due to a conflict in scheduling, we are temporarily meeting at the Senior Center (799 Pine Ave, Carlsbad, CA 92008) adjacent to our current Pine Avenue Community Center location with the meeting running from 5-8 pm. There is ample parking and the meeting room is slightly smaller but will work for the 3 months listed. Starting September, we are back at the Community Center and the regular time slot from 4-7pm.

July 2018 – Debby Halliday

Wed, 07/11/2018 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We are pleased to welcome back Debby Halliday as our July speaker. In her talk titled "All About Phalaenopsis", Debby will be talking about Phalaenopsis and how to be successful in growing and reblooming them. She will also give a repotting demonstration. These days Phals are often a person’s first orchid and, if they can grow and rebloom them, they will always enjoy orchids. Debby will focus on discussing how and where these beauties grow naturally so that people gain an understanding of the plant’s needs rather than just trying to memorize a list of Do’s and Don’t’s. This lecture… [Continue Reading]

June 2018 – Karen Muir

Wed, 06/06/2018 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We are pleased to welcome back Karen Muir who will speak on ‘What Makes a Good Paph’. Karen is an expert on Paphiopedilums, also known as Slipper orchids, and her talk will describe the better tried and true parents for good general paphiopedilum breeding and what they have contributed to good paphs. Karen also will include her experiences on orchid culture for successful growing of this fascinating class of orchids. Karen’s visit is being co-sponsored with the San Diego County Orchid Society. She will be speaking Tuesday evening on ‘Dendrobiums of Asia’ and all are welcome to attend her talk… [Continue Reading]

April 2018 – Culture Class Panel

Wed, 04/04/2018 6:30pm – 9:30pm

With the influx of new members and the onset of the spring and summer growing season, our April meeting will be devoted to select aspects of orchid culture as well as addressing specific questions meeting attendees may have for the expert panel. This program is an exciting opportunity for both new and long-term POS members to learn about or become re-acquainted with the fundamentals of orchid culture presented by our own panel of advanced POS hobbyists, who have many years of experience in growing a variety of orchid genera. The expert panel consists of Merle Robboy (watering and fertilizing), Jerry… [Continue Reading]

March 2018 – Thomas Mirenda

Wed, 03/07/2018 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We are happy to welcome back Thomas Mirenda of the Hawaii Tropical Botanic Garden. 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 "Herding Catts: A Beautiful Walk through a Difficult Phylogeny" a talk which overviews the most popular orchids, the cattleyas and their relatives. The cattleya alliance has recently undergone a very confusing and unpopular revision by taxonomists. Tom's talk will seek to clear up some of the controversies on this interesting class of orchids.Tom's… [Continue Reading]

February 2018 – Andrew Cameron

Wed, 02/07/2018 6:30pm – 9:30pm

Our society is happy to welcome Andy Cameron, Ph.D., from California Institute of Technology. Andy will be speaking to us on the importance of genes and chromosomes in orchids. The title of his talk is "Steamy Stories: How Genes and Chromosomes Do Their Dance." In the present era of genomics, concepts involving DNA, genes and chromosomes are offered to explain many of the everyday processes that we, as orchidists, find fascinating. How do genes affect the shape and colors of orchid flowers? What can the number of chromosomes tell us about our favorite cymbidium hybrids? The relevance of these questions… [Continue Reading]

January 2018 – Fred Clarke

Wed, 01/03/2018 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We are delighted to welcome back one of our favorite and most accomplished speakers, Fred Clarke. Fred will speak to us about "Orchid Flower Judging" and will gear his talk to amateurs who would like to learn how AOS judges evaluate flowers and what criteria are used to award plants. The talk will be interactive and he will use some of the plants that are brought in by members for our show-and-tell to demonstrate what constitutes an awardable plant. Fred is an ideal person to speak on this topic since he is a long time accredited American Orchid Society Judge… [Continue Reading]

November 2017 – Arnold Gum

Wed, 11/01/2017 6:30pm – 9:30pm

It is a pleasure to welcome back Arnold Gum to our society. Arnold will present a travel log on his trips to Taiwan, as a guest of the Taiwanese government, to judge the Taiwanese International Orchid Show. Arnold also spent some time exploring Taiwan including looking at some of their wild orchids, visiting orchid nurseries, and having wonderful meals with the Mayor of Tainan (in the South of Taiwan) and the President of Taiwan, visiting amazing temples, the national museum, the pottery museum, and of course, shopping. Arnold will review the highlights of his trips to this orchid rich part… [Continue Reading]

October 2017 – Ron Parsons

Wed, 10/04/2017 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We are happy to welcome back Ron Parsons to our society. Ron will be speaking on the Orchids of Sichuan, China. In June of 2012, Ron was fortunate enough to attend a tour in the province of Sichuan, China led by the late Holger Perner and his wife, Wenqing to see Cypripediums and other native orchids in habitat. They traveled through the northern reaches of the province, seeing some of the most spectacular scenery and wildflowers Ron has ever seen. They visited two World Heritage Sites of such natural beauty, and traveled through different ethnic regions (although most of the… [Continue Reading]

September 2017 – Peter Lin

Wed, 09/06/2017 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We are delighted to welcome back Peter T. Lin to our society. Peter is one of our favorite speakers who will be talking about the Genus Dendrobium. He will present a fast paced PowerPoint presentation on this fascinating genus of over 1000 species! The title of his presentation is "Genus Dendrobium: a Family Portrait of Dendrobium Species"Dendrobiums are primarily found in Asia, New Guinea and Australia. There are many different classifications within the genus, with species ranging from tiny miniatures to huge giants. They grow in climates ranging from hot and steamy lowlands, cool and moist mountain ranges, to seasonally… [Continue Reading]

August 2017 – Curtis Gean

Wed, 08/02/2017 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We are delighted to welcome to our society Curtis Gean of Sierra Vista Orchids, Sanger, CA. Curtis will speak on ‘Laelia anceps – the Color Forms and Their Influence on Hybridizing’. He will address the various results when using L. anceps as a parent. Curtis will answer your questions and provide the plant opportunity table with emphasis on the topic of his talk. He also will have a few plants for sale. As a small quiz, Curtis has included a pic of L. anceps along with two anceps hybrids, Hybrid 1 and Hybrid 2. Attendees should try to figure out… [Continue Reading]