NEXT MEETING

When:           Sunday, December 7, 2008 12:00 pm
                                       
                      

Where:          NTI     709 S. Old Missouri Rd     Springdale, AR

Program:      Program: Holiday Dinner & Awards

UPCOMING EVENTS....

**Sunday, December 7, 2008**:
 Program: Holiday Dinner & Awards

Holiday Dinner !

Our December meeting will not include a program, but will include plant judging and officer election. In lieu of a program, we will have a large holiday dinner and do a Christmas ornament exchange (Maximum$5 value). There will be some great door prizes and lots of friends to share holiday cheer. We invite you to attend. We will hold the election of officers at this meeting for the 2009 year. And to get you excited abou the OSO for next year, below is a preliminary look at what is ahead...

January 25 -- Pests and Diseases including lists of pesticides approved for orchids. We will use an AOS video that shows various pests and common diseases and then have a member discussion about what folks have found works for them. Either the president or I can moderate the group discussion.

February 22--Media/Repotting/Pots Panel Experienced members will discuss their repotting techniques and repotting of various genera. Also, we will have Rexius bark available for purchase. Tom is going to order a bulk quantity and then he and I, and anyone else who is willing, will be rebagging it into 3lb bags. The bags will be available for sale for a great price--members get cheap, great media and the society makes a small profit.

March 22 -- Dr. Glenn Lehr, New World Orchids
Glenn will be presenting on growing species--particularly neos and cymbidiums under lights and in the home. He will be bringing plants to sell and will donate plants to the society for our raffle.

April 26 Panel Spring Summer Growing Tips and Member Questions (may need to change the date due to AOS show in HOuston) The surveys showed that people like these panels, and we'll have experienced growers discuss issues related to summer growing as well as fielding general questions.

May 24 Deflasking , Barbara Larkin will show us her prefected deflasking technique. She will have a detailed powerpoint presentation and then show us hands on how she deflasks. Reportedly she has great success, not loosing a single seedling. Nearly every survey said they would be interested in this topic for a program.

June 28 -- TBA

July 26 David Bird / Bird's Orchids -- Specific topic of his presentation TBA. He'll be back with plants to sell and a great presentation I'm sure. He was the most requested speaker in the surveys, so I'm thrilled we got him back.

August 23 TBA

September 27 Annual Orchid Auction - Bigger and better than ever!

October 25 TBA

November Date -- TBA

December Date TBA Christmas Luncheon & Awards

Please note our website now has a slide show / photo section devoted to the SWROGA 2008 we hosted in Rogers, Arkansas. Scroll down to take a look.

See you in Springdale!

January's refreshment theme will be ' Chilli - Cook off ' . To help with REFRESHMENTS for this meeting, please contact -Jay Jablonski, Phone 479.512.0044 - to let us know if and what you plan to bring.

For people interested in becoming members of the OSO, please feel free to contact Suzanne Hobbs, our Membership Committee Chair. You can reach her at: 479.236.0760 or email suzannehobbs@swbell.net

OSO SWROGA 08 Exhibit During Setup on Friday, May 1.

With the proliferation of orchid related websites, you can now purchase just about any orchid you want from the convenience of your own home. But how do you know what you're getting? Will the plant's quality and size measure up to your expectations? The Orchid Society of the Ozarks puts on several mini-auctions over the course of the year where only plants of the highest quality, donated by our supporting vendors, are offered for sale. By purchasing at one of our mini-auction events, you not only see exactly what you're buying, you can come across grexes to which you may never have been exposed--plants with which you may just fall in love!

Look for updates here regarding the next of these mini auctions for 2008! These auctions are the society's primary means of raising money to fund speaking engagements and shows, so besides the chance of acquiring orchid plants at incredibly reasonable prices, you will be helping the Orchid Society of the Ozarks continue its mission and work.

See you all Sunday, December 7th, 2008 at 12:00 p.m. Come early and if you have the chance, bring a guest! See you at NTI!

SPOTLIGHT ON: Spring SWROGA, April 2008!

‘Twas an event the OSO can be most proud of! (text by T. Larkin)

One Hundred and Fifty-Three Registrants and hundreds of showgoers showed immensely favorable interest in the OSO
SWROGA Show and all the events staged in the 3-day time period at the Embassy in Rogers. This, our second SWROGA,set many records over our last effort in 2005. The show itself was quite a bit larger, contained more exhibits, moreplants, more exhibitors. There were a total of 829 entries for ribbon judging. Many more plants were in exhibits and not entered. AOS judges pulled 32 plants for AOS consideration and gave 12 ards.

The auction and breakfast raffle netted $4,817.00 for the SWROGA which included the jewelry/digital library ticket sales. The Affiliated Societies Breakfast, the NWA luncheon and the Banquet were all well attended with 36/114/116 respectively. The Banquet highlights included our own Jamie Holden on the piano, with some classical umbers he composed himself. Following dinner a Fayetteville-based band ‘Crossfire’ entertained us with their bluegrass style favorites. Special recognition was given by Dr. Ron McHatton, Director of Education & Research for the AOS, at the banquet for the four Educational exhibits that were at the show, saying they were among the finest he had ever seen. Two of the exhibits were from our own members Olin Karch and Doug & Beth Martin. Many accolades from many corners of the country have been bestowed on our group and folks look forward to us doing it again.

Several OSO winners included Suzanne Hobbs, Sarah Waddoups, Doug & Beth Martin,Bruce Brown and Tom & Barbara Larkin (winnings defined later in this article). Of course, a really big winner, was Nellie Yount, winner of the Jewelry Raffle. The AOS Show trophy and The Orchid Digest Trophy went to the exhibit staged by the Orchid Society of Greater Kansas City. The Slipper Alliance Trophy went to Paph. St. Low ‘Windy Hill’, HCC, Windy Hill Gardens, The IPA trophy to Dtps. Musick Surprise, Bryon Rinke. The John Fugedy Trophy for Best in Show went to Max Thompson & Bryon Rinke for their magnificent Angraecum Lemforde White Beauty 'Max' AM/AOS.

Photos in this slide show were provide by Art Evans

FROM THE PAST PRESIDENT'S DESK...

Since its inception in 1996, the OSO has aimed to generate excitement and enjoyment over a fascinating endeavor, orchids and orchid culture, and the OSO membership has acted as a resource of orchid knowledge and camaraderie for any interested individuals and groups who have chosen to take part. We have accomplished our aims and so much more, but those plateaus have allowed us to see even farther--have opened even more possibilities for us which can only be realized through the help of a strong and active membership!



I invite you to spend a few moments here and explore what we have to offer. We have grown quite a bit over the years, and our growth has enabled us to pursue directions we would never have thought possible in our infancy. Some of those directions can be followed through the links above, on your right. Yet, no matter what numbers our membership may have attained, (and, perhaps we have Providence to thank), we have remained a group of fun, caring, and just downright uncommon folk who share a passion for the natural beauty found in the world of orchids.

Enjoy your visits on our website, and, if you haven't already done so, I certainly hope you'll join us and become part of the OSO buzz!

Barbara Larkin

  • Past President 05-06, Orchid Society of the Ozarks