August 2024 - Gil Ho, MD "Orchids in Flight: Stanhopeas Around the World"

Gil Ho, MD

It is an honor to welcome back Dr. Gil Ho, our former POS President, who has previously spoken to the society before about Stanhopea species and hybrids. This month, he will be presenting a fun, updated presentation on Stanhopeas based on a new theme. Wait to find out what it is.

For the past 15+ years, Gil has been an avid grower and collector of prominent new world orchids, namely Stanhopea and related genera, and Lycastes in Carlsbad, CA.  Gil is obsessed about anything Stanhopea or Lycaste.  Although he collects some species in the genera, these days he is more focused on growing ever-evolving Stanhopea primary and complex hybrids. As pointed out by Fred Clarke of Sunset Valley Orchids, Stanhopeas have been an area largely ignored by mainstream hybridizers, likely due to the short duration of the flower blooms.  In recent years, small pockets of dedicated hybridizers and growers have been pushing the boundaries of Stanhopea hybridization to new and exciting forms, while continually supporting their commercial value in the orchid trade. In line with this, Gil has been a strong advocate for growing Stanhopeas in our southern California region, because, following a little common sense rules, any grower can be rewarded with vigorous orchid plants producing fantastically abundant blooms. These are really super wonderful plants that every orchid grower should consider having in their collection.

When Gil is not growing orchids, his day job is a neurologist in memory disorders and traumatic brain injury, running two clinics in the greater San Diego area. Gil also owns a small biotech company involved in clinical and translational research into cognitive disease. Gil started growing orchids some 20+ years ago as hobby to get away from work, but as with others, this soon became an obsession. As an extension of his orchid growing, Gil joined the Palomar Orchid Society many decades ago, and went on the serve as President of the society for several years. Since then, Gil has continued to be a strong supporter of the society and orchid growing through volunteering and educating the public wherever he goes. Gil always enjoys visiting the orchid shows and vendors, when possible, to see what others are growing and, of course, to get more plants!

August’s plant opportunity table will be provided by Cal-Orchid, Inc.