Monthly Meeting

We welcome back Tom Biggart to POS this month.  Tom will be speaking on the culture of orchids of North Thailand.  He will be discussing climatic issues and how to adapt these plants to our situation.  The second part of his talk will highlight some of the orchid species that he encountered during his trip to Thailand.

Tom Biggart is the owner and head grower of Granite Hills Orchids in El Cajon, CA (a small town 15 miles east of San Diego).  His nursery is a hobby-based business, which means he doesn’t make a living growing plants.  It is more of a labor of love!  Tom loves plants in general, and orchids are his main passion.  He is very interested in encyclias and has a large collection of encyclia species and hybrids. The Australian cool growers are a current interest as well as Brazilian rupicolous laelias.  

Tom is a retired elementary school teacher with orchids as his new students.  He would love to have anyone stop by to talk orchids should one be in the San Diego area.

The past few years he and his wife, Neal, have gotten interested in ceramics.  In typical Biggart fashion they now have a throwing building, a glazing building, and a kiln yard with 3 kilns.  His pottery is designed primarily for plants and can be seen at most of the local orchid shows and at the nursery.  He would love to talk orchids and pottery with anyone interested!

Tom will provide the opportunity plant table this month.

Marni Turkel: Photo by John VarigosWe are delighted to welcome Marni Turkel to our society. Marni will speak on "Coelygyne, Dendrochilum and Related Genera".  Her talk will cover the 9 horticulturally significant genera of the 21 or so that comprise the subtribe Coelogyninae. These include not only Coelogyne and Dendrochilum, but also Pleione, Chelonistele, Pholidota and others. She will discuss the diversity within the different genera, show both common and rarely seen species as well as discuss their habitats and how they relate to cultural needs.

Marni Turkel is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and has been growing orchids since 1980. She grows in three greenhouses in Santa Rosa with approximately 1000 sq. ft. of growing space. Her main interest is in cool-growing miniature species but plenty of larger plants have crept into the collection as well. Marni has been a contributor to Orchids magazine with her series called 'Well Worth the Space' and 'Give It a Rest'. Her articles have been translated into Dutch, German, Portuguese and Swedish for international publication. Photographs of her plants have been feature in articles noted orchid publications including Orchids Magazine, Orchid Digest, Richardiana, The Orchid Review, and The Australian Orchid Review. For the last few years she has been sharing her photographs and knowledge on orchidsforum.com.    Read more »

Ron ParsonsWe are happy to welcome back Ron Parsons to speak on “Orchids of Southeastern Australia” and share with us the excellent photos taken on his trip.  Ron describes his Australian experience as follows: ‘For five weeks of the austral spring of 2011, from early October to mid-early November, I traveled through southeastern Australia. My trip started on the island state of Tasmania (the north and northwest part) where friends took me out to see and photograph orchids I would not have found on my own. From there I traveled to Victoria where I was taken to Grampians National Park in the west, the Anglesea Peninsula west of Melbourne, and Wilson’s Promontory to the southeast of Melbourne, where again many exciting orchids were found. Next stop was Canberra for a few days, then to areas both north and south of Sydney in New South Wales where many fantastic ground, lithophytic and epiphytic orchids were seen. My incredible trip ended with several days spent on the beautiful isle of Bruny Island, southeast of the capitol of Hobart, an island off an island off an island!’ 

Ron is considered by many to be one of the finest flower photographers in the United States. His photography and encyclopedic knowledge of orchids is known both nationally and internationally. He has been photographing orchids, wildflowers, and almost every other kind of plant for over 25 years, and he has taken thousands of photos of orchids, wildflowers and other rare plants.   Read more »

Paul TuskesThe Palomar Orchid Society is pleased to welcome back Dr. Paul Tuskes. Paul’s presentation will be on “Encyclias and their relatives”.

Encyclia and related genera occur from south Florida to Brazil and live in a wide range of habitats and elevations….. meaning they are ideal for everybody.  He will focus on the best plants for the San Diego area and some of their hybrids.

Paul has been growing orchids for 30 years and his photographs have been used in various books and journals.  He serves as an AOS orchid judge and co-founded with his wife Ann the orchid species study group of the San Diego County Orchid Society. He was one of the first members of that society’s conservation group, which received a Conservation Achievement award from the American Orchid Society.

Ron MidgettWe are pleased to welcome Ron Midgett of New Earth Orchids, NM, as our speaker for February.   Ron is an accomplished orchid hybridizer who will be describing his cattleya hybridizing efforts with a talk entitled   ‘Beyond Sc. Beaufort – A 20 Year Odyssey in Cattleya Breeding’.  Ron’s visit is being co-sponsored by POS and SDCOS, thus he will be talking about his experiences with oncidium hybrids at SDCOS on Tuesday evening with the talk “Oncidinae Intergeneric Hybrids—What Are They and How Do I Grow Them?”.  He also will be providing the POS opportunity table and have some of his novel cattleyas crosses available for purchase.

Ron began growing orchids in 1969 in an orchid-rich environment of Southern California. Since then, he has grown orchids in many different regions of the US and in the Caribbean for 3 years. Currently, Ron resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a breeder with an emphasis on Cattleyas, Paphiopedilums, and Oncidinae. Several cultivars from his crosses have received AOS awards.  

In 1990, Ron founded the New England Orchid Company in Franklin, MA. In 2003 he moved his orchid business to New Jersey and changed the name to New Earth Orchid Co., aka, New Earth Orchids. In 2010, New Earth Orchids was moved to Santa Fe, NM.

In addition to Ron’s activities in the orchid business, he has been very active in the local orchid societies wherever he lived. This includes serving as an officer, chairing orchid shows, and running the New England Orchid Fair for 3 years.  Before leaving New Jersey, Ron founded the Jersey Highlands Orchid Society.