February 2002
COS NEWSLETTER
NEXT MEETING TUESDAY 26 February 2002
Starting at 19h45 at Athenaeum, Newlands
AGENDA
ORCHID DISPLAYS By Margaret James
There are so many ways to display our orchids at Shows. Many of us feel inadequate and have no idea of where to start or how to plan a display. With tabletop
displays becoming more the norm than the landscapes, a small stand is within the capabilities of many more of us than before. Margaret, with her years of experience, will provide all the
pointers needed to achieve a stunning display even if you only have 4 or 5 plants to work with.
There will be the usual Plant Table, so please remember to bring your plants.
There will also be the usual raffle and the facility to sell plants at the Sales Table.
MEMBER NEWS
Our President, Peter Vurgarellis, is having a birthday on 17 February and Jenny Baber on 28. We hope you both have a happy day. Congratulations to Mike and Sylvia
Byren who celebrate 45 years of marriage on 12 February.
JANUARY MEETING
Our grateful thanks to Louis Vogelpoel who stepped in at the 11th hour and provided an informative evening on the procedures for award judging and
showed slides of some of the recent SAOC Awards. Our Members had the opportunity to learn about award-worthy qualities in orchids and to assess the potential of their plants. Hopefully this will
serve as encouragement to our newer Members and a reminder to those of longer standing.
Thank you to Lambit Kaudla, Arnold Kottler, Eric Harley and Volkmar Schmidt who donated plants for the raffle.
It was great to see quite a few Members who are not able to regularly attend meetings but still remain active in other COS activities.
2002 SUBSCRIPTIONS
If your subscriptions are still outstanding, please make every effort to pay as soon as possible.
OUR SHOWS IN 2002
Our Shows will continue to be in the Sanlam Hall at Kirstenbosch until further notice. The proposed and planned construction for the area has been postponed due to
unforeseen circumstances so the urgent necessity for a new venue has been alleviated.
Autumn Show : Wednesday 8 May to Sunday 12 May
Spring Show : Wednesday 16 October to Sunday 20 October
Please record these dates and groom your plants accordingly.
COS COMMITTEE
Our AGM will be held at the March meeting when nominations will be required for all Committee Members including the specific portfolio i.e. President,
Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, Librarian, Show Chairman and Newsletter Editor. The Committee has been operating without a few key positions this last year and we appeal to each and every
Member to seriously consider the implications to the Society if there are not willing and able bodies to help at Committee level.
SOCIETY OUTINGS
Unfortunately our planned outing to Hermanus has been cancelled.
THINGS TO DO IN GAUTENG
If you are planning a visit to Gauteng, try to incorporate one or more of the following planned events. I am sure you will be most welcome.
The Cattleya – Alliance Seminar on Saturday 18 May 2002 in Waverley, Pretoria. The emphasis will be on easy to grow
Cattleyas for the garden. Contact Pieter de Bruin at (012) 361 6408 (H) or (012) 377 3441 (W) for details.
The African Orchid Seminar on Saturday 30 September 2002 in Silverton, Pretoria. There will be a range of lectures on African
orchids as well as displays and plant sales. Contact Roger Dixon at 082-789 8633 or by e-mail at alchemy@global.co.za for further information.
Roger is also the contact if you are interested in joining a trip to the rain forests of eastern Madagascar to see orchids in
their natural habitats. The dates are 16 to 28 November 2002. A good hands-on experience prior to the seminar. Up-dated details will also be available on the Orchid Society of Northern
Transvaal’s website, http://ont.itgo.com/
The Paphiopedilum Seminar is planned for July 2003. I will keep you informed of details.
A LIFT PLEASE?
We are again appealing to Members to assist in providing lifts for others who either have no transport or are reluctant to drive alone at night to our meetings. It
is really a pity that some of our Members are ‘silent partners’ in the orchid family when there are others who pass their way en route to the Athenaeum. Please let Sylvia ( ph. 794 6439)
know if you require a lift so that we can at least try to make an appropriate arrangement. Please be generous whenever you can in this regard.
YEARBOOK 2002
Please don’t leave the writing and contributions to someone else. I am sure that there are many of our Members who have a wealth of knowledge and
experience to share. I would love to hear from you!
COMMENTS FROM THE PLANT TABLE
There were a some wonderfully useful and instructive comments from Hendrik van der Hoven especially on the species. Don’t confuse the very similar Liparis
remota with Liparis bowkeri. Look for a stolon between the old and new growths and if it is there you have Liparis remota. These plants are found from Knysna to Swaziland and
need a dry winter.
Sarie le Roux’s Doritaenopsis K.S.Blue Lip x Doritis pulcherrima ‘Blue’ had dainty pale lilac flowers that certainly
reflected its name. We were reminded that these plants are now all in the genus Phalaenopsis and no longer Doritaenopsis.
It seemed that Volkmar Schmidt’s Mormodes connowtum brought out all the gynaecological tendencies in our Members if the various
comments on the sexual anatomy of this plant were anything to go by! The bottom line is that within the genus, some species may have separate male and female flowers or in other species the
flowers are protandrous – meaning that the male reproductive organs (stamens) mature before the female (carpels) ones thus helping to prevent self-pollination.
The lovely cream Trichocentrum brandline from Eric Harley had been flowering for over 2 months. It is allied to Comparettia
and Ionopsis.
Louis Vogelpoel warned that one should not cut the stems of Nageliella purpurea as the flowers appear on the old stems.
Volkmar Schmidt brought the cross Cattleya aclandiae x Laelia sincorana, which had been made by Christo Page in Pretoria. The flowers were a pleasing lilac/ magenta. The registered hybrid name
for the cross is Laeliocattleya Julie Cee.
PLANT TABLE – JANUARY 2002
Thank you to Sheila Smith, Hendrik van der Hoven and Eberhard Gersie for their comments and Margaret James for her note taking.
Eddie Eveleigh
Cattleya Marjorie Hausermann ‘York’ AM/RHS
Frans & Bes Gous
Disa uniflora
Masdevallia panguiensis x veitchiana
Epicattleya Matutima
Ann Gray
Liparis remota
Miltonia Lanikai x Brassia Rex ‘Tolansa’ AM/AOS
Eric Harley
Disa cardinalis
Trichocentrum brandtine
Sarie le Roux
Schoenorchis fragrans
Laelia alaori
Cattleya walkeriana
Laeliocatonia Peggy Sun x Mem. Ellen Livman
Doritaenopsis K.S. Blue Lip x Doritis pulcherrima ‘Blue’
Paphiopedilum Magic Lantern
Paphiopedilum Gold Dollar
Paphiopedilum Armeni
‘White’
Volkmar Schmidt
Nageliella purpurea
Mormodes connowtum
Cattleya Julie Cee
Brassolaeliocattleya Mac Holmes ‘Newberry’ AM/AOS
Dendrobium Hawaiian Gem ‘ Carmech’
Rhynchocentrum Ladda Gold
Louis Vogelpoel
Stenoglottis woodii
Nageliella purpurea
Stenoglottis Bill Fogarty
Manfred Waltner
Paphiopedilum callosum
Paphiopedilum Frank Bootha
Diaphananthe millarii
Sysser Waspe
Anguloa clowesii
Ascofinetia Peaches
Plants of the Evening (Jan 2002)
1st Doritaenopsis K.S.Blue Lip x Doritis pulcherrima ‘Blue’
2nd Paphiopedilum Magic Lantern
3rd Schoenorchis fragrans
Once again all these plants were from Sarie le Roux
