Speaker: Mark Reinke,  –  Marble Branch Farms

Topic: Decoding Dendrobiums: The Suprising Orchids You Thought You Knew!

Why would anyone familiar with orchids be surprised by the genus Dendrobium? Perhaps because the Dendrobium plants most commonly seen for sale are not necessarily what does well under cultivation in our temperate latitudes, but what is easy and inexpensive to mass produce in outdoor orchid ranges at low elevation in Thailand and Indonesia. Yet, these showy plants that often prove difficult to rebloom in our collections represent only a tiny sampling of this widespread and diverse genus that comes from many different climate types, and from sea level to more than ten thousand feet above.

Mark’s program offers a comprehensive introduction to the genus, clarifying some of the native climates and cultural needs of the sections you may already have basic familiarity with, and introducing you to some that are only now becoming more available commercially. Hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised by how many of these new introductions would do well alongside your Phalaenopsis or Cattleya orchids, offering long lasting, colorful blooms without the need for high heat, high light, or annual starving or chilling.

Mark Reinke, and his partner Gary Collier, left Atlanta city life behind more than a decade ago and now own and operate a small commercial orchid nursery in a remote part of the extreme western tip of South Carolina called Marble Branch Farms, where they are propagating their own new and unusual hybrids in the Cattleya alliance and other genera as well. Mark began growing orchids at the age of 12 when his family lived in the St. Petersburg, FL area. He has been a life-long horticulturalist and orchid grower and is active in both the Atlanta Orchid Society and the Western North Carolina Orchid Society. He has served in many capacities for the Atlanta society over the years including being president twice, and continues to write plant descriptions and cultural information for their newsletter. Mark will have plants for sale at the meeting, including some of the more recently available Dendrobium species and hybrids Mark will be talking about in his program.

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

Speaker – Dr. Courtney T. Hackney                                                                                                           

Topic – Growing and Flowering better Cattleyas

Join us for this month’s program as Courtney will be presenting a talk on his favorite genus, Cattleyas. Dr. Hackney is Emeritus Professor of Biology and the former Director of Coastal Biology at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. Previously he was Professor of Biology and Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Courtney began growing orchids in the Florida Keys in 1962, while working for a small orchid nursery and has continued his interest in both orchid hybridizing and orchid culture since then. He grows many different genera, but his favorite is the Cattleya Alliance. He has about 500 mature cattleyas and even more seedlings, but his favorites are classic clones, some of which appeared in orchid collections over 100 years ago. He makes 8-10 hybrids and species sib crosses per year in various genera.

Courtney will have Orchids for sale.

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

Speaker: Monroe Kokin
Topic: “Orchid Growing Tips for Southwest Florida”

At the Venice Area Orchid Society’s 7 p.m. April 4th meeting
Monroe has a collection of more than 1,100 orchid’s specializing in bulbophyllums.
Monroe was president of the Sarasota Orchid Society for more than nine years and was show chairman for 13. He is also a life member of Central Florida Orchid Society in Orlando and is a member of Central Jersey Orchid Society.

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

Orchid Envy will be selling a variety of orchids and supplies at our april 4th meeting