February 2023 – Brandon Tam

Brando TamWe are delighted to welcome back our friend Brandon Tam, Orchid Collection Specialist at the Huntington Library, who will take us through a virtual tour of The Huntington’s Orchid Collection. As the Orchid Collection Specialist, Brandon curates one of the largest and most diverse orchid species collections in the world, including over 1500 unique species and 3,600 different varieties across 280 orchid genera. He oversees day-to-day horticultural operations, including acquisitions, propagation, conservation, and supervision of over 40 orchid volunteers. Under Brandon's stewardship, The Huntington has won over 100 awards from the American Orchid Society. He supervises numerous public education events, such as orchid shows, orchid judgings, and conferences. Additionally, Brandon co-curates the Amorphophallus titanum (corpse flower) collection of 43 mature specimens and has exhibited over ten blooming specimens. Brandon started as the Orchid Collection Specialist at The Huntington at age 16 while concurrently earning his bachelor's degree in plant science from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, which he completed in 2015. Brandon is an extremely knowledgeable orchidist whose presentation is not to be missed, especially if you’ve never visited the extensive gardens of The Huntington.

Brandon’s talk will be streamed via Zoom for those members who are unable to attend in person. The zoom link will be included in the email for the newsletter and is the same link we have provided for last year’s meetings. The February Opportunity table will be provided by one of our local orchid growers.

The February Opportunity table will be provided by one of our local orchid vendors.

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, founded in 1919, is a collections-based research and educational institution open to the public, housing world-class library, art, and botanical collections. Its mission is to support research and promote education in the arts, humanities, and botanical science and to display and interpret its extraordinary resources for diverse audiences. Encompassing about 130 acres, the botanical gardens feature living collections in 16 stunning themed gardens with more than 83,000 living plants including rare and endangered species, and a laboratory for botanical conservation and research.