Alaska Orchid Society

10/21/2024

Tomorrow night, Tuesday, October 22. The Alaska Orchid Society will have an in-person meeting at Congregation Beth Sholom, located at 7525 E Northern Lights Blvd in Anchorage. We will begin gathering at 6:30 PM with the meeting actually beginning at 7 PM.

For current info, please send an email to: [email protected]
You will be added to our monthly newsletter.

Tomorrow nights' program will be a webinar from the American Orchid Society originally presented nationally in September 2024, entitled: Greenhouse Chat by Ron McHatton.

Mr. McHatton has a multitude of interesting subjects. The topics covered are as follows: Paphiopedilum strange markings on leaf; Paphiopedilum Erwinia damage; Oncidium repotting; Cattleya distorted blooms; Phalaenopsis pitting in leaves recommendation; Phalaenopsis leaf pitting; Phalaenopsis growing out of the pot; IPR’s and how to use them; AND so much more.

The programs for the rest of 2024 have been listed in the “Mark Your Calendars” section of the club’s website at akorchid.org. I will try to set up some of the programming for the rest of the new year in the next few weeks. Keep checking back.

Any Book Lovers?

The club is disassembling the library by offering the books to members. We are doing this through silent auction. The majority of the books are about orchids, but there are a few that are more about general gardening. The bidding will close on October 27.

For a list of books being offered this month and/or to join our monthly mailing list, and Society, please send an email to: [email protected]

Send a message to learn more

02/22/2023

07/22/2020

Greetings, fellow orchid enthusiasts,

I hope you are doing well and staying safe!

Debbie has the MSU Orchid fertilizer and is eager to sell it. A two-cup bag will go for $5. You will need to arrange a pickup time with Debbie via her email-- directions follow:

Orchid Fertilizer – pick up procedures
Email Debbie at [email protected] with:
your name.
number of $5 bags of fertilizer you want.
Day and time you will be by to pick it up at 1474 Virginia Court (downtown west Anchorage area.)
Debbie will reply to your email and tell you where and when to pick up your order. Do not come before she replies to your email because she may be out of town.
Note that there is construction that blocks the usual way into the neighborhood. Get to “N” Street via W. 12th or 10th Avenues.
Ideally, you have a check written out to Alaska Orchid Society for your purchase. This check can be placed in the bottom black mailbox on Debbie’s porch. If you only have cash, please write a note on the envelope saying who you are and what the money is for and place in the same bottom black mailbox. I want to be able to keep good records.

On another note, the next meeting of the Alaska Orchid Society is scheduled for 6:30 PM on Tuesday, July 28 and will once again be a Zoom meeting. I will send out an invitation about 30 minutes before the meeting is scheduled to begin and will open the meeting about 10 minutes early. The program will be a PowerPoint presentation on “Easy Orchids” and will include lots of orchid pictures of plants with which you can have success.

Thanks,
Wayne Toups
Alaska Orchid Society
277-2157

02/06/2020

Orchids 2020

12/29/2019

Wayne's Bulldog Orchid

12/29/2019

Greetings, fellow orchid enthusiasts,

I hope everyone had a great Holiday and that you remain safe and sound for the New Year! I thought I would give you a little update about our upcoming speaker and the opportunity to order Paphiopedilums and Phramipediums at wholesale prices. I spoke to Graham late last week and he had received only two orders, both from me (0nly one was actually for me). I know there has been a little confusion about the actual process so I thought I would clarify the process a little. Select the orchids you want to order off the website, lehuaorchids.com, and list them on the form Greaham sent (I will attach it to this email in case you can’t find it). Once you have listed the orchids you want to purchase you need to save the form to your desktop or some other place you can find it. Then set up your email to graham@lehuaorchids with the subject “Alaska Preorder” and then attach the Excel file you saved to your email. I would suggest that you CC it to me so we can be sure he receives all the orders. This really is a great opportunity to buy some special plants for a modest price. Don’t forget that January 15th is a hard deadline for submitting your order to Graham.

Now for the bragging part: I have attached a photo of a Paph I have blooming in my living room at the moment so you can remember what you might hope for with these orchids. I have had the plant a couple of years and this is the first bloom. This is one of what used to be called “Complex Hybrids”, but are now generally referred to as “Bulldogs”. They remain perfect in their waxy beauty for about four months. You begin to forget they are real. Enjoy! I will have another Paph fully opened in a day or two and I will share that one as well.

Cheers,
Wayne Toups
277-2157

Paphiopedilum, Phragmipedium and Lycaste Orchid breeding, hybridizing and growing for the orchid resale market.

10/20/2019

Greetings, fellow orchid enthusiasts,

The next meeting of the Alaska Orchid Society will be next Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at the BP Energy Center at the corner of Benson Blvd and the Seward Hwy. We will begin gathering at 6:30 PM with the program at 7 PM. We will be watching a webinar entitled “Choosing the Best Plants.” There are lots of pictures of good quality flowers and not so good. They describe the plus and minuses of each. I think it is a great tutorial on what to look for when purchasing new orchids. Don’t forget to bring any flowering orchids you might have for Show-and-Tell. As usual, there will be a door prize in the form of a blooming orchid.

Thanks,
Wayne Toups
Alaska Orchid Society
277-2157

08/27/2019

Greetings, fellow orchid enthusiasts,

Good news, good news. We will still be meeting at the Alaska Botanical Garden tomorrow night, Tuesday, August 27 at 6 PM. We just won’t be repotting any orchids as Will and his helpers over there have already completed the process we began in June. So, we will have just a tour of the gardens for our meeting. Bring your cameras and look forward to a good time seeing the mature gardens on the grounds of ABG.

Thanks,
Wayne Toups
277-2157

08/24/2019

Greetings, fellow orchid enthusiasts,

Just a little reminder that we have one last summer meeting before we return to the BP Energy Center. Next weeks meeting is Tuesday, August 27. We will be meeting at 6 PM at the Alaska Botanical Garden to finish up our repotting project for them and then a tour of the grounds to see what is blooming now. It should be fun. I believe we did well more than half of them in June so I expect it to be a quicker process this month. I look forward to seeing you then. Just remember it is at the Botanical Garden and we begin at 6 PM.

Thanks,
Wayne Toups
277-2157

06/22/2019

Greetings, fellow orchid enthusiasts,

I am sure we are all holding our breath that today’s weather lasts through this weekend. What a glorious prelude today has been. I also want to remind you about a couple of upcoming events. I have requested that our group order close out on Sunday, June 23 so I have time to put the order together. The information for ordering is in the email below this one. Also, Tuesday, June 25th is our next meeting and will begin at 6 PM at the Alaska Botanical Garden. We will be repotting orchids for ABG and having a quick tour of the gardens, themselves. It should be a nice evening. I would encourage as many of you as can to join us next week. This is one way our nonprofit group gives back to the community and ABG. I hope to see you there.

Thanks,
Wayne Toups
Alaska Orchid Society
277-2157