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.

September 2020 — Arnold Gum (online presentation)

Tue, 09/01/2020 7:30pm – 9:30pm

We are delighted to welcome Arnold Gum as speaker for our Tuesday, September 1st Joint SDCOS/POS Zoom meeting starting at 7:30 pm. Arnold will present a talk on Cattleya (Guarianthe) skinneri, the national flower of Costa Rica, also known as the Easter Orchid. Arnie was recently honored to be invited to judge a Cattleya skinneri show in Costa Rica. In his talk, Arnie will review the quality growth in recent C. skinneri line breeding and will look at one clone in particular: ‘Angela’ FCC. He says that the advancements in size, flower count, color, and form are amazing. He will… [Continue Reading]

August 2020 – Fred Clarke (online presentation)

Tue, 08/04/2020 7:30pm – 9:30pm

One of our most favorite speakers, Fred Clarke, will be speaking on "Cattleya mossiae, the queen of Venezuelan Cattleyas" at our joint Zoom meeting on Tuesday, August 4th at 7:30 pm (details to follow via email). Fred will present a beautiful expose of C. mossiae in the wild with amazing pictures of thousands of flowers covering the trees. Once the most popular corsage flowers for Mother’s day, C. mossiae is now rarely seen in collections and cut flower trade. Fred’s PowerPoint presentation will feature magnificent pictures of C. mossiae in the wild as he discusses the habitat and the perils… [Continue Reading]

July 2020 – Peter Lin (online presentation)

Tue, 07/07/2020 7:30pm – 9:00pm

Peter T. Lin will be presenting a fast paced PowerPoint presentation on the fascinating Dendrobium genus, which consist of over 1000 species! For details on how to attend this online presentation, please contact info@palomarorchid.org.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 dry savannas. Many are quite temperature tolerant and can be grown outside in frost-free areas. Peter will review a few of the important… [Continue Reading]

March 2020 – Orchid Culture Meeting

Wed, 03/04/2020 6:30pm – 9:30pm

Our March meeting will be a continuation of last month’s culture meeting when we focused on cymbidiums. Since we are in the early stages of the orchid growing season, this month’s topic will concentrate on growing and repotting other types of orchids including members of the cattleya alliance, oncidiums, dendrobiums and phalaenopsis, the basics of which should be applicable to many other orchids that our members tend to grow. Our meeting will continue with two of our very experienced growers, Alex Nadzan and Ken Campbell. Alex will demonstrate repotting and dividing of cattleyas and related orchids as well as phalaenopsis… [Continue Reading]

February 2020 – Orchid Culture Meeting

Wed, 02/05/2020 6:00pm – 9:30pm

We are now in the midst of the cymbidium flowering season and, thus, our first culture meeting of the year will be devoted to growing and dividing/repotting of these beautiful and easy to grow orchids that are ideally suited for our Southern California climate. Our first culture meeting will feature two of our very experienced growers, Jerry Spencer and Alex Nadzan. Alex will begin the session with reviewing general information on getting ready for the upcoming growing and repotting season that should help both beginners and more seasoned growers prepare for the busiest part of our orchid growing season. He… [Continue Reading]

January 2020 – Mary Gerritsen

Wed, 01/08/2020 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We are delighted to welcome back Mary Gerritsen from the San Francisco Bay area who will speak to us on ‘Miniature Orchids and How to Grow Them’. Mary defines miniatures as those species whose individual growths are smaller than 6 inches not including the inflorescence. These compact orchids are a popular choice for orchid hobbyists with limited growing space. In contrast to many of their larger counterparts, many miniature orchids are attractive in or out of bloom. Mary’s lecture will cover many of her favorite species as well as discussing the challenges and rewards of growing miniature orchids. Mary is… [Continue Reading]

November 2019 – Peter Lin

Wed, 11/06/2019 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We are very happy to welcome back one of our more popular speakers, Peter T. Lin. Peter will share with us a power point presentation on the Japan Grand Prix International Orchid Festival, also know as the Tokyo Dome Show. This annual orchid show, held at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, attracts over 300,000 visitors. With thousands of orchids featured, the show displays range from the very large displays to miniature dish gardens, to individual plants. Even the Vendor Sales area is like a Orchid show! One of the highlights of the show is the display of Asian Cymbidium species,… [Continue Reading]

October 2019 – Alan Koch

Wed, 10/02/2019 6:30pm – 9:30pm

It is a distinct pleasure to welcome back Alan Koch of Gold Country Orchids in Lincoln, CA. Alan will be speaking to us on ‘Cattleyas 365, 24/7’ where he will provide us the knowledge on how to build a cattleya collection that will flower all year long and tell us how to grow them. Alan will highlight the species that have been used by hybridizers for years to control bloom time and his talk will be adapted to our climate conditions. He also will provide the plant opportunity table including some of his novel hybrid cattleyas and related orchids. Alan’s visit… [Continue Reading]

September 2019 – James Rose

Wed, 09/04/2019 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We are delighted to welcome back James Rose of Cal-Orchid, Santa Barbara to speak to our society. James and his wife, Lauris, are the owners of Cal-Orchid, a very successful and favorite nursery of many of our members. James is a highly experienced orchid nurseryman who will share with us his ’10 Favorite Orchids’, which encompass a large variety of orchid species from around the world. James talks are always educational and highly entertaining so I urge our members and friends to attend his talk. James also will provide our plant table.James is being sponsored jointly by POS and SDCOS,… [Continue Reading]

August 2019 – Arthur Pinkers

Wed, 08/07/2019 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We are happy to welcome back Arthur Pinkers to our society who will speak to us on ‘Heat Tolerant Oncidiums’. Arthur will inform us that these are a wonderful group of orchids that come from South and Central America and the Caribbean providing a diversity of size, shape and color. He will explore some of the species that provide warmth tolerance in hybrids and the hybrids themselves as we look at members that would be better suited for our Southern California environment. Arthur also will explore the cultural requirements these orchids need to be successful in our area. Arthur’s visit… [Continue Reading]