Author Archives: Jay Loeffler

Speaker – Bill Thoms                                                                                        

Topic – Bulbophyllums.

Englewood Area Orchid Society meets at 6:30 pm on the 2nd Monday of every month except December at Christ Lutheran Church, 701 N. Indiana Avenue, Englewood, Florida.

Internationally recognized speaker, orchid hunter, breeder and grower extrordinaire Bill Thoms will be presenting a talk on Bulbophyllums. This program covers everything you need to know to grow and bloom these fascinating plants, including super pictures of easy-to-grow species and the latest hybrids.
Be prepared to learn more about this fascinating group of plants than you ever dreamed! Bill Thoms and Doris Dukes have been growing orchids around Central Florida for more than 45 years and have received almost every award granted by the AOS as well as more Awards for Culture than anyone else in the world, (105 in over 29 genera, including 48 in the Bulbophyllum alliance and 13 CCEs plus 4 others 90 points or above before they had the Cultural Excellence award.
Many of his crosses are winning awards around the country and the AOS has recently added a yearly award named for him for the best Bulbophyllum exhibited.
The talks are spiced with funny stories and funny associations so whether you grow thousands of orchids, only a few, or none at all, you will have a wonderfully entertaining time and be able to grow anything better. Many of the most important requirements for growing world class plants are made easy to understand and remember.
Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn how to grow these fascinating plants and to hear one of the most knowledgeable, interesting and funny speakers in the orchid world.

Speaker – John Budree                                                                                            

Topic – Growing better orchids in south Florida

Meeting starts 7:00 – Doors open at 6:30.
Venice Community Center

Ramnarine John Budree, was born in Trinidad and migrated to Florida about fourteen some years ago. In Trinidad he grew many different types of orchids and took part in collecting and showing at many shows, but there was always something more. He wanted to learn more about orchids, wanted more of a challenge. He wanted to grow and flower them, of course. So when he came to Florida, he got involved with orchids on a different level. Here he was able to grow all of those types of plants he could  only read about and even meet all of those people that grew and wrote the
articles that he had read in AOS magazines.
So he started on his journey/adventure. He started to go to many of the
shows and what you do when you go to a show, YOU BUY ORCHIDS, which you
know nothing about, in the hope you can grow or flower it [yea right].
He always liked Paphiopedilum but he was told he couldn’t grow them.
This became a challenge to John and he found these plants very
interesting as well. He met some of the biggest and the best at growing
orchids, Jack Schendowich, Warren Kelly {Orchid World}, Bob Skully {Jones
& Skully}, Mr. Frank Smith {Krull-Smith} and Sheldon Takasaki {Carmela
Orchids}. These people really know how to grow orchids but not just
orchids, Paphiopedilum, Cattleya, Phalaenopsis, Dendrobium, and Oncidium,
e.g.. Krull Smith has more AOS awards than any other orchid grower past
or present.
At the 19 WOC., in Miami, in 2008, John had an opportunity to work with
Frank Smith, a excellent grower and very experienced Paph. grower. He
tried to absorb as much of Frank Smith’s knowledge as possible, and did
an exhibit on his own. After that, he started to grow many types of
Paphs. and today he owns over 1750 as well as about 2000 other types of
orchids. Of course, he says, he has also lost count of the ones he
killed. In short he have been growing Orchids for about 35 years, from
flask to flower and has accumulated about 45 AOS awards

Speaker – Dr. Michael Kane                                                          

Topic – Native Orchid Conservation In Florida

Meeting starts 7:00 – Doors open at 6:30.
Venice Community Center

Dr. Mike Kane
Professor of Environmental Horticulture
University of Florida

Mike Kane, a native of Rhode Island, is a professor in the Environmental Horticulture Department at UF in Gainesville where he has teaching and research responsibilities for 34 years. He teaches courses in plant micropropagation and graduate student professional development. His research emphasis is on development of plant tissue culture and greenhouse procedures for production of aquatic, wetland, coastal plants and especially the propagation and conservation native orchids. In 2009 he was elected as a Fellow of the Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB). In 2014 he received the SIVB Life Time Achievement Award. He has a long-standing commitment to mentoring undergraduate and graduate students who have become both competent scientists and teachers. His wife, Roseann, recently retired from her position with the Alachua County School Board. Their daughter, Laura, her husband and 3-year-old granddaughter Madelyn, live in Denver, Colorado. He enjoys spending time with family, gardening, flying (42 years as a private pilot) and riding motorcycles.