Canadian Orchid Congress Newsletter - VOL12.4

Thank you everyone for helping to make the C.O.C. Speakers Tour such a success. Francisco Miranda was so impressed with the welcome he was given, he would like to do it all again in 2001. Several societies have already indicated their interest in having Mr. Miranda return. Please let me know your feelings on this no later than end December. If I have not heard from your society by then I will assume you do not wish to take part in the tour. The tour would be approximately the same timeframe as 2000. This time the tour would start in western Canada. I cannot predict what the cost would be. It would depend on the airfare and the number of societies taking part. I will keep you posted.

As we are now well into the show season, please send your show results to our Editor, Jerry Bolce. It would be very interesting to see what awards are being won at the different shows. I understand a FCC was won in Ontario, I am sure Jerry will report on this.

I hope many of you are planning to send a representative to Victoria for their Show and the C.O.C. Meeting. The date is March 2nd to March 4th. Delegate registration and judging is on Friday March 2nd, show March 3rd and 4th. The C.O.C. meeting is Sunday March 4th, from 9:00A.M. until 12 noon. I urge every society to send a delegate to this meeting, it is to every society's advantage to have a say in the future of the C.O.C.

With the Holiday Season almost here your Executive and Editor wishes you and yours a Happy Holiday Season. May you have Good Health , Prosperity and may that special plant bloom for you this year.

C.O.C. Show and Meeting 2001

Mar. 1, 2001 - Thursday
Set-up starting at 1:00 P.M.

Mar. 2, 2001 - Friday
AOS judging in morning
Ribbon judging in afternoon
Evening - Reception - Cost $10.00 to non-registrants - included in registration package

Mar. 3, 2001 - Saturday
Open to public
Three lectures for registrants
Evening - Banquet Costs $25.00 to non-registrants - included in registration package

Mar. 4, 2001 - Sunday
Open to public
C.O.C. Meeting in morning
Two lectures in afternoon

Registration cost for delegates:
$65.00 prior to January 31, 2001
$85.00 after above date

COC Newsletter on the Web

Please mention in your society newsletter that the COC Newsletters are available on the web at:
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/OrchidSNS/cocnews.html

Treasurer's Report

C.O.C. MEDALS

In the year 2001, as a millenium celebration all the C.O.C. medals will be sent to the societies mounted on a shield. These will be a no cost to the societies. Please get your medal as usual from Ken Girard in Calgary.

FRASER VALLEY ORCHID SOCIETY SHOW

This was a very successful show, with good attendance and good sales. There were 23 AOS Nominations and 7 AOS Awards given. The Fraser Valley O.S. is a small society which covers the Fraser Valley in B.C. AOS judging takes place on Friday, with a pre-view and buffet dinner, which the Fraser Valley Orchid Society is noted for on the West Coast. We see a lot of unusual species at this time of year making this a very interesting show.

The Toronto Judging Centre

It was a long way to establishing the centre involving lots of individual dedication and assistance. First came a burgeoning interest in growing orchids in Ontario which resulted in the founding of the Southern Ontario Orchid Society in 1965 and the present eight other societies throughout the region as the hobby grew. SOOS became affiliated with AOS in 1966. Early SOOS shows while not AOS judged were heavily supported by US growers such as Zuma Canyon Orchids, Hausermann Orchids, Rod MacLellan Co. and especially Margaret Ilgenfritz who all sent in substantial cut flower displays that served to wet local hobbyists' appetites. The Michigan and Saginaw Valley Orchid Societies each with their own AOS judged shows were also early stimulants to SOOS members getting involved in American Orchid Society events.

In 1972 the Great Lakes Supplemental Judging Center for the Mid America Judging Region started up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Inge Poot and I attended the opening session and many subsequent sessions as observers. This experience resulted in Inge Poot organizing a flower quality study group within SOOS thus starting informal judges training in Southern Ontario. A number of our present AOS judges were members of this early study group. Bob Turner was the first study group member to be officially admitted as a student to the AOS judging center in Ann Arbor with Colin and Gerda Ferrington and Margaret Baird not far behind.

By 1991 there were five certified AOS judges, and five students from the Toronto area active at the Great Lakes Judging Center in Ann Arbor. At the initiative of Bob Turner with the support of Ann Arbor Chairman Ken Wilson an application for a supplemental center in Toronto was made under the sponsorship of SOOS and with the support of all other area orchid societies and orchid vendors. The good will and support of the Great Lakes Center members was evident in the success of this application at the spring 1992, AOS Trustees meeting in Houston, Texas. The new centre started up at the Civic Garden Centre in Toronto, under the chairmanship of Bob Turner on October 3, 1992. That first judging was followed by a reception at the home of the Ferringtons. Right from the start the centre operated independently except for twice a year training and semi-annual business meetings with the Great Lakes Center. The centre's rent and administrative costs were covered by SOOS and the centre had the use of the SOOS library. In 1996 the AOS trustees reorganised the judging system giving the supplemental judging centers the option of becoming independent and permitting the local orchid societies their choice of which judging center they wanted to serve their shows. The Toronto judges chose to become independent while continuing to get together with Cincinatti and Ann Arbor for a once a year training session. The nine societies in Southern Ontario chose to be served by Toronto. In addition the Niagara Frontier Orchid Society in Northwestern New York, Les Orchidophiles de Montreal and the Manitoba Orchid Society have chosen to be served by the Toronto Centre bringing the total number of annual shows to be judged up to ten a year. In 1998 five new judges reached accredited status bringing the total to ten. Several new students joined from Montreal and Southern Ontario. At this time those students have become probationary judges and only two students remain to continue training.

Training is ongoing for all members of the centre as the orchid world is continually changing. The centre runs monthly training sessions and personel is encouraged to attend congresses and major shows.

Throughout the existence of the centre we have had the services of Jay Norris as our photographer. Photography of the awarded flowers and plants is extremely important as it provides the visual record of our work for all of the other centers in the AOS system as well as the subscribers of the Awards Quarterly. Shows should be careful to recruit good photographers and supply their photographers with appropriate space and equipment to produce the excellent awards photographs that are needed.

In the mean time our founding father Bob Turner retired from the chairmanship in 1997 and became a senior judge in 1998. As the orchid world in Ontario and Canada continues to grow the number of trained judges will also need to grow. AOS judging is a volunteer service to the orchid community and as such more hands make lighter work.

Patience Is A Necessity Not Just A Virtue

For a couple of years I unknowingly housed, bred and financially supported a family of weevils that chewed little holes in the youngest pseudobulb or fattest dormant buds then laid an egg inside. These despicable grubs hollowed out many lead buds and stopped some Cattleyas "dead" in their single-minded tracks. One small Cattleya aclandiae hybrid I had mounted on a slab was such a victim and for five years it grew new roots, but nothing else. By this time all but one of the pseudobulbs had lost their leaves. Then this year one of the dormant buds in the oldest inch of the rhizome burst into action and produced a small but healthy growth. Patience is a necessity not just a virtue in orchid growing.

This little ramble all started when I as reading an article, "The Real Red Story", by John Woolf and Lorraine Fagg, in the April 2000 Orchids Australia. In the article it tells the story of Lorraine Fagg saving a small seedling of Sarcochilus fitzgeraldii she found in the wild, which looked like it was going to plant heaven. After several years it bloomed and with each passing year the flowers became pinker until they were red. After about twenty years Lorraine selfed the clone. Some seedlings bloomed a couple of years out of flask, but they were the regular spotted colours. After ten years the solid red clones began to show their first flowers and as years went on the better reds stated to show up. Now nineteen years from deflasking many seedlings have still not flowered and some are still very small. The authors question what exceptional colors will come from these slowest seedlings. Apparently each year the plants that have flowered show richer and redder colours in their successive flowerings. Now, the idea of waiting over twenty years to see what comes out of a cross seems a little much to the average grower. Breeders striving for better and best in a line of plants must have more patients than the average orchid grower. To wait twenty plus years to see what you have made is a record I for one will leave for others. I think watching a seedling grow for five years to flower is enough for me. But, then to each their own levels of patience.

The Toronto Judging Centre

The Centre welcomes interested persons to come and observe the judging. There are opportunities to assist in plant research and administrative chores.

For a list of awards given through Canadian AOS judging check:
http://www.theusualspot.com/max/soos2/

Native Orchids of Manitoba

take the opportunity to view these wonderful slides. The pictures were taken by Lorne and are very, very good. The address is: www.MOSorchids.org

An FCC/AOS AWARD at the COOS 2000 show!!

An FCC (first class certificate) - that's a gold medal, folks - was awarded to Paph. Vanguard 'Margaret Haydon DVM'. It earned 92 points. Owner: Margaret Haydon of Nepean, Ontario. She's a member of the Ottawa Orchid Society and the gossip is that the Ottawa member who picked up her plant knew it was a winner the moment he saw it!! This is the first FCC for this region and the second for Canada!!

The award description: Paph. Vanguard 'Margaret Haydon DVM', FCC (92 points), primary hybrid of Paph glaucophyllum x Paph rothschildianum. Three very flat well-proportioned and presented flowers from a plant with extremely robust growth. Dorsal and synsepal chartreuse with heavy mahogany stripes and reticulation. Petals straw yellow with bold mahogany spots. Pouch chartreuse overlaid old rose with darker venation. Substance extremely hard, waxy. Owner: Margaret Haydon of Nepean, Ontario.

an AM (award of merit) awarded to Phal. Brother Little Amaglad 'Joyce'. 82 points, owner Ralph Kratky of Glass House Orchids, London, Ontario;

an AM (81 points) awarded to Dtps. Brother Tom Walsh 'Heather Glen'. Owner Glen Alm of Heatherglen Orchids, Grimsby, Ontario;

a provisional HCC (76 points) awarded to Ctsm. Dona Marie 'No Marks' x Orchidglade 'Jack of Diamonds'. Owner Dr. Sal Naqvi of Richmond Hill.

COC Newletter Mailing

A copy of the COC Newsletter is mailed to the President, COC Representative and Newsletter Editor in each member society. The mailing depends on the COC Newsletter Editor having an up-to-date mailing list. If one of these individuals is not receiving a copy or someone else is, please email the correct mailing information to Jerry Bolce at jerry@uwaterloo.ca.

UPCOMING EVENTS

2001

February 10-11: Southern Ontario Orchid Society, Toronto Civic Garden Centre, 777 Lawrence Ave. E at Leslie St., Toronto, Ontario. http://www.theusualspot.com/max/soos2/

February 23-25: Orchid Society of Alberta in the Grant MacEwan College, Millwoods Campus, 7319 - 29 Ave. Edmonton, Alberta Contact:

March 1 - 4: Victoria Orchid Society Orchid Show and COC Annual Convention in the Student's Union Building of the University of Victoria. Contact: Ingrid Ostrander email: ifl@telus.net 250-652-6133

March 10-11: London Orchid Society Orchid Show, London, ON Contact: Judy Worrall, Email:jworrall@ciaccess.com

at the Country Club Center, Nanaimo, BC. Contact: Dora Glover http://www.hedgerows.com/Canada/clubbrochures/CVIOS.htm

March 24-25: Les Orchidophiles de Montreal Show, College de Maisonneuve, 2700 Bourbonniere St., Montreal, Quebec

March 31-April 01: Orchid Society of the Royal Botanical Gardens, the 19th annual Show, 680 Plains Rd., Burlington, ON. Contact: Jim Brasch at jbrasch@mcmaster.ca

April 6-8: The Regina Orchid Society at the Core Ritchie Community Centre, Regina. Contact Bryan Hebb, President, ROS for more information. bhebb@sk.sympatico.ca (306) 586-4789 fax (306)586-4790

April 28-29: The Ottawa Orchid Society show, Nepean Sportsplex, 1701 Woodroffe Ave., Nepean

Sept 29-30: Central Ontario Orchid Society, the lower level of the University Centre Building at the University of Guelph, Guelph

Nov 10-11: Niagara Region OS, Queen Elizabeth Centre, Facer St. (QEW and Niagara St), St Catherines

We welcome your suggestions and contributions. Deadline for each issue is one month before the issue dates previously announced.

Recipients of this newsletter are strongly urged to pass a copy on to other members of their society

Officers of the Canadian Orchid Congress

Treasurer ........ Janette Richardson
306-543-0560
email: dale.richardson@sk.sympatico.ca

COC Web Site:
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/OrchidSNS/coc.html
Please send in your show information - date, location, contact, etc.

news

Contents

C.O.C. Show and Meeting 2001

COC Newsletter on the Web

Treasurer's Report

C.O.C. MEDALS

FRASER VALLEY ORCHID SOCIETY SHOW

The Toronto Judging Centre

Patience Is A Necessity Not Just A Virtue

The Toronto Judging Centre

Native Orchids of Manitoba

An FCC/AOS AWARD at the COOS 2000 show!!

COC Newletter Mailing

UPCOMING EVENTS

2001

Officers of the Canadian Orchid Congress