APRIL 2006
COS NEWSLETTER

NEXT MEETING
Tuesday 25 April 2006 at 19h45
                Athenaeum, Newlands

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MEMBER NEWS
Happy Birthday greetings in April go to Ellie van der Hoven (11) and Hendrik van der Hoven (20) and wishes for early May birthdays to Thomas Ellis (5) and Jenny Kavarana (6). Have a happy day.
We send our condolences to Susan and Percy Olfsen on the death of Susan’s mother. Susan has commuted to and fro to Johannesburg for a long time to regularly visit her ailing Mom. Please know that our thoughts are with you as you adjust to the loss.
Our thoughts and prayers are also with Manfred Waltner who has had another setback and stint in hospital.
Please notify Susan Olfsen if you have a change of address - residential or email.

MARCH MEETING
The President’s, Treasurer’s and Librarian’s report for 2005/2006 were presented at the AGM and filed with the Secretary along with the minutes of the Annual General Meeting.
The new Committee for the coming year 2006/2007 is as follows:

President	Michael Tibbs
Vice-President	vacant
Past President	Hendrik van der Hoven (3 months)
Secretary	Susan Olfsen
Treasurer	Jacques Jefthas
Show Chairman	vacant
Librarian	Percy Olfsen
Newsletter Editor	Wendy Gersie
Members	Jonathan Dennis
	Clif Eva
	Margaret James
	Gerry Walden

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who made themselves available. As can be seen there are 2 posts vacant. Are you able to fill these positions or help in any way? Please speak to a Committee Member if you are as we cannot successfully run the Society without these important roles taken care of.

Our speaker for the evening was unfortunately unable to attend the meeting but has been rescheduled for our May meeting, so be sure to be there.

CAPE JUDGING REGION
The May judging meeting will be on:

Date and time	13 May 2006 at 2.30pm
Venue	6 Pivot Close, Creek Street, Lakeside.
Host	Stuart Sutherland telephone no. 788 7517
Topic	Cymbidiums: The important species and their breeding characteristics.

Please confirm with the host if you will be attending the meeting.

Contact Sheila Smith at 558 5820 if you have a plant for award judging. The judges need 48 hours notice for judging, but all details can be obtained from Sheila.

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS
THIS WILL BE YOUR LAST NEWSLETTER IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR 2006.

Please contact Jacques or Susan as soon as possible, their contact details are at the end of this newsletter to renew your subscription.

It was agreed at the last Committee meeting to discontinue the annual issue of laminated Membership cards. Appropriate receipts for subscriptions would, of course, still be issued.

COS SHOW
The dates for our Show are 16 to 18 June 2006 at the Cloete Cellar, Groot Constantia.
Plant acceptance and judging will be on Thursday 15 June 2006 (times to follow). Please prepare your plants for judging and display and take advantage of the opportunity to sell extra divisions at the Plant Sales Table.
The 13th SAOC National Conference and Show is in White River from 4 to 10 September 2006 so prepare your plants for then too. The COS will be taking your plants to enter at the Show and to use in the Cape Orchid Society display. Have you registered and made your plans to go? This is not a pre-requisite to entering your plants, but you will not forget or regret the experience!

COMMENTS FROM THE PLANT TABLE
Our thanks go to Bes Gous and Greig Russell who commented on the lovely selection of plants brought for the Table.
The Gersie's Paphiopedilum Lynleigh Koopowitz was a lovely plant with a beautiful first flowering pale pink bloom with a strong raspberry scent from the deep maroon staminode. The plant will give pleasure even when not in flower because of its good leaf markings.
Frans & Bes Gous's Miltonia Lanikai had a pale mauve lip with speckled petals and sepals (a bit like a Zygopetalum) and good petal width. Their Dendrobium bigibbum var. compactum x Little Diamond was a nice small plant with 8 flowers on a young plant. The flower was an attractive deep lavender with darker veining.
Don’t throw out your "odds and ends of roots". Ann Gray’s Stenoglottis longifolia was a lovely display of a group of these left-overs after repotting the main plant in July 2004.
Eric Harley's Angraecum Lemforder White Beauty was a treat to see and smell! Transporting these plants is a nightmare as the flowers bruise easily so Greig thanked Eric for sacrifice in order to enrich our experience of seeing it.
Jacques Jefthas queried whether his Miltonia Anne Warne ‘Alii’ was correctly named, thinking it may be Miltonia spectabilis. It was correctly named as had it been Milt. spectabilis it would have had only a single flower and not the 2 it had. A very well grown plant - congratulations.
Jenny Kavarana was very pleased to have her Aerides lawrenciae 4n x Vanda denisoniana var. alba flowering at last after having it for nearly 10 years! The cross was made in 1991 expecting yellows but this plant has a superb white flower with a soft pink lip, good texture and a perfume - the Aerides species seems to have predominated. The flower was beautifully symmetrical with the lip possibly sticking a little too straight up in the air. An award-worthy flower! Jenny’s Paphiopedilum callosum x roebelinii had lovely crisp colour and attractive mottled leaves. Her Brassolaeliocattleya Murray Spencer ‘Arm Roy’s Dark Star’ FCC/AOS had 7 flowers which resulted in them being a bit bunched. The colour was a deep magenta. A well grown plant mounted on Spanish moss.
Volkmar Schmidt’s Miltonia cogniauxiae makes a beautiful specimen plant once established but it is a difficult plant to grow. Volkmar’s Gomesa crispa is also a good specimen plant candidate and his is well on its way with nicely spaced flowers and well grown.

PLANT TABLE  - February 2005
Use this monthly list as a reference to the flowering season of specific orchids and also to contact the grower if you have the same or similar plant that is maybe not doing so well for you.

Plant of the Evening
1^st  Aerides lawrenciae 4n x Vanda denisoniana var. alba from Jenny Kavarana
2^nd Miltonia Lanikai from Frans & Bes Gous
3^rd Paphiopedilum Lynleigh Koopowitz from Eberhard & Wendy Gersie

Most Difficult to Grow
Miltonia cogniauxiae From Volkmar Schmidt

Member’s Choice
Paphiopedilum callosum x roebelinii from Jenny Kavarana, chosen by Mustapha Benjamin

COS NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE ON THE WEB
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02 Feb | 02Mar | 02 Apr | 02 May | 02June | 02july  | 02aug | 02sep | 02oct | 02nov|
03jan  | 03feb | 03mar |03apr |05sep|05oct|05nov|06jan|06feb|06mar   ----         Back to TOP

CAPE ORCHID SOCIETY
P O Box 3347, Cape Town 8000, South Africa 
 
NPO (Tax Exemption) Number: 930009225 ?


President: Michael Tibbs  Tel. 072 446 6272
E-mail:
Vice-President: vacant
Past-President: Hendrik van der Hoven  Tel 021-790 2443
E-mail:
Secretary: Susan Olfsen Tel. 855 5701
E-mail:
Treasurer: Jacques Jefthas Tel. 021-511 4508
E-mail:
Librarian: Percy Olfsen, Tel. 855 5701
E-mail:
Newsletter editor: Wendy Gersie Tel 021-712 8721
E-mail:
Show Chairman: vacant
Members:
Jonathan Dennis, Tel. 952 4570
E-mail:
Clif Eva
Margaret James, Tel. 713 1376
E-mail:
Gerry Walden, Tel. 021-447-3850
E-mail:
COS Website: http://www.capeorchidsociety.co.za/     ñ