A non profit organization established in 1945, HOS is The Houston Happenings a recipient of the American Orchid Society’s Distinguished Affiliated Societies Service award Volume 50, Issue 3 March 2020 March Program: What to Expect When you Enter a Plant or Create a Display at an Orchid Show By Sarah How are your Orchids coming to like and make their choices tries. If you see a class that you along? Hope you have lots of to award trophies or ribbons. want to enter, talk to Jay Bal- bloom spikes and blossoms in Page 4 of the schedule has a chan at the March 5 meet- Inside This anticipation of the HOS Orchid sample of the form to be filled ing. When I was a newcomer, I Issue: Show and Sale April 4-5, 2020. out to enter each plant for judg- made exhibits several times Several HOS members will pre- ing. If you are unsure how to using the plants of another sent the March program to classify your orchid, there will member who did not have time advise and encourage everyone be an expert at the registration to make an exhibit, because I Presidents Post 1 to share the love of orchids at desk Thursday and Friday to never had enough blooming our annual show and sale. help you. Of course, you will orchids to create a full exhibit. Creating an orchid show need to provide as much infor- This was a great way to get my March Tips 2-3 begins with publishing a sched- mation as you can for your feet wet and have a feel for the ule that lists the events available. plant, especially genera and requirements to make a suc- Holly Miller created this year's parent names. Surely, I do not cessful exhibit. HOS Show 4 schedule and posted it on the need to remind you that each The important thing to re- HOS website: http://www. plant should be groomed to member is this is for fun and Membership 4 houstonorchidsociety.org/ show its best qualities. education. Hoping everyone will assets/show -schedule-for- From the schedule, individu- enjoy the program on Thursday, registration-2020.pdf. The be- als or groups can enter designs March 5 and look forward to Plant Table 5 ginning of the schedule lists all of varying complexity. Remem- working together at Memorial the classes and categories for ber to complete a form to enter City Mall from April 2nd each kind of orchid so the judg- the exhibit for judging. Page 14 through teardown on Sunday Texas Native 6-7 es will be able to compare like lists the classes for design en- afternoon, April 5. Orchid Presidents Post Tamiami IOS 8 City Mall in April and join in on of events in this newsletter for Bill the preparation and camarade- their show dates. rie of putting up exhibits and Not much else to say right AOS Webinars 9 Hello, everyone. participating in a show. While now except Spring is almost you’re there, treat yourself to a here, starting on March 19th, I have to start by saying how new plant or two – you’re wor- the vernal equinox. I hope your Houston Judging 10 impressed I was with the large thy. Jay Balchan, Holly Miller, orchids are waking up and are Center number of new members who and many others have worked spiking after an early, but seems joined the society last month. hard to make this venue and like short winter. I know in my Welcome New Comers, look- show a big hit in the last two orchid tent (it ain’t a green- ing forward to meeting all of years. Let’s make it even bigger house) there are signs every- you soon! Plants on the plant and better in 2020. I appreciate where that Spring is approach- tables at our February meeting everyone’s effort and hope you ing rapidly. My Bletilla striata and were spectacular. Keep bring- will thank them when you have Daffodil in the landscape are in ing in your flowers and showing the opportunity. full bloom two weeks early this off your plants for the rest of us The orchid show season is year. Enjoy it, because in only a to admire. That’s what makes kicking in for many of the other few short months, we’ll be every monthly meeting an or- local societies as well. If you get wishing it were Winter again. chid show and a social event to a chance, take a short road trip enjoy. to visit their shows, meet other Best, Please don’t miss the oppor- orchidphiles and see what they Bill tunity to get out to Memorial are growing. See the schedule Page 2 Volume 50, Issue 3 March Tips - Growing Dendrobiums By Father Ted Last month I talked about Phalaenop- include species such as aphyllum, which sis. This month I have some suggestions loses its leaves and can be purple or about Dendrobium. white; pierardii; and anosmum. The I have been growing them since I latter, curiously, is fragrant although the cannot remember, with some success, name means “no scent”. it blooms in the and quite a few failures. I have mostly concentrated on species and I’ll talk about those first, but also about hybrids, because they tend to be easier to grow. The genus is huge, with over 1000 species, spread throughout eastern Asia, from China through the Philippines and archipelagos West of there, into Austral- Den. thyrsiflorum is also prolific ia and East to some pretty small islands with flowers, but the pseudobulbs are in the Pacific. With my students at the elongated and not “chunky”. Each cane is University of St. Thomas, we performed able to produce one, two, or more inflo- some DNA sampling of 20 or so species rescences. They need more water, and made phylogenetic (parent) trees. strong light, and have to be root-bound The farthest species, geographically and to do well. Spring blooming, this one genetically of them all, comes from the takes up lots of room. islands of New Caledonia and has had a Smaller, but of a most delicious gold- number of names: D. munificum, aka en color is Den. aggregatum (this is the D. muricatum var. munificum, aka trade name. the real name is Dendrobi- Inobulbum munificum. This is a slow um lindleyi or Den. jenkinsii). It is growing, squat, one- or two-leaved spe- shorter, and very compact, unifoliar (one cies that has some peculiarities. First, it leaf), slow growing, but prolific in has many, many flowers. Second, these blooms. There are two drawbacks: it Spring on leafless canes that are pendent. must have a dry period of about three The flowers can be quite large, to 10 cm months: NO WATER; and then, the wide (4”). The center color is quite in- flowers, which bloom all at once and do tense, even in the semi-alba variety, and not last more than two weeks. The pho- it smells faintly like roses to me. These to is of a truly fabulous plant: species are widespread throughout tropi- cal Asia and need copious watering once they start to flower, for about six months to let the new canes grow as long as possible. The leaves will tell you when to slow down and stop by turning flowers fold up at night, an unusual trait. yellow and falling off. If water is not with- Third, the pseudobulbs have long, promi- held, the plant produces only keikis (baby nent hairs that point upwards and give it canes) and no flowers. Pot size is best a strange appearance. They like wet, then kept very small, but baskets are also OK. dry, watering and not too much light, but more than Phalaenopsis. They can bloom anytime, but mine are late Spring. I love my Den. glomeratum (aka Some other species also bloom only sulawelense) and have given away off- after a dry period, like all the shoots to my sister and to friends. It has “nobile” (pronounced NO bil EE). These bunches of striking fuchsia-pink flowers The Houston Happenings Page 3 March Tips (continued) on second year canes and it can be pen- Dockrillia, a synonym. It has pure white My final note is a Dendrobium hybrid dent or erect, depending on conditions flowers in a “frothy” bunch. Mine has not for which I break the rules and let grow (the canes tend to droop quite a but for bloomed like this one, but I have hopes: I out of the pot so the roots are about 4 me). It likes a small dry period of about a just need to wait a bit. It is mounted and ft. long (1.3 m), which I have wrapped month. The flowers are long-lasting - not needs plenty of water, but can take dry around and set in a basket: it has ten as long as D. cuthbertsonii (which we periods in its native climes. The leaves canes, and I finally looked up the parents cannot grow here) - but up to a month! look like pointy, small cucumbers, with a after I had it for ten years: D. Inner Har- long central valley. mony x Uniwai Royale. Since that cross had not been registered in 2017, I named it for my sister, Den. Susan Davis. It will never get an award, but I love it, for sentimental reasons. Sixteen flowers on two inflorescences, and the photo to follow shows it as pink, but in reality, it is much redder. It flowers in late summer.