October 2011 - Mary Gerritsen, PhD

Borneo, Land Beneath the Wind

Discover orchids in their native habitats on the island of Borneo. Mary visited the states of Sabah and Sarawak (Borneo) for nearly a month in November of 2009, and this talk will feature a travelogue of her treks on Mt. Kinabalu, Mt. Alab, Long Pasia, Mulu National Park, Fairy Cave, and Bako National Park. Her trek to Long Pasia was featured in the October 2010 issue of Orchids magazine

Speaker Biography:

Mary Gerritsen, Ph.D. is an independent biotechnology consultant who has been growing orchids (mostly species) on and off for more than 30 years, and since relocating to the San Francisco Bay area in 1997 started to collect small cool growing miniature species such as Masdevallias, Porroglossums, Lepanthes and other assorted tiny gems. She loves to see orchids growing in situ, and has made it her mission over the last few years to see as many as possible, with trips to see and photograph orchids (and other flora as well) in Canada, USA, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, China, Germany, Rhodes and Crete, Australia and Borneo. She is the co-author of two botanical books: Masdevallias, Gems of the Orchid World, and Calochortus, Mariposa Lilies and their Relatives, with fellow San Francisco Orchid Society member and well known photographer, Ron Parsons. Mary is now working on a third book "Miniature Orchids" with Ron Parsons. Mary is a member of the American Orchid Society, the San Francisco Orchid Society, the Pleurothallid Alliance, the Orchid Conservation Alliance and Peninsula Orchid Society. She has served as the vice president and president of the Peninsula Orchid Society (San Mateo), and is currently president of the San Francisco Orchid Society.

October's culture class will be given by Peter Nguyen. Peter is a longtime orchid grower and hybridizer, who hails from Orange county. He has been growing orchids for over 15 years and specializes in members of the cattleya alliance. Peter will share with us his experiences growing orchids in charcoal/perlite/peat moss media. Peter was the individual who first introduced Alex Nadzan to this growing medium, which is better known to fellow POS members as the "orchid rescue" mix. Peter also will discuss water quality as it relates to using this medium. This is a culture class not to be missed.