Palomar Orchid Society

Home
United States
Carlsbad, CA
Palomar Orchid Society

Directions Website Contact the organization

The Palomar Orchid Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the understanding and cultivation of both hybrid and species orchids.

The Palomar Orchid Society, incorporated in December of 1965 and now based in Carlsbad, CA, was formed when a few people banded together to talk about orchids. We then grew and bloomed into the roughly 200-member group of orchid enthusiasts that we have today. We represent everything orchid in North San Diego County! Come and join us!! The Palomar Orchid Society meets at 6:30 pm the FIRST WEDNESDAY of every month at the Gowland Meeting Room of the Carlsbad City Library (see http://www.palomarorchid.org/content/george-and-patricia-gowland-meeting-room.html)

11/03/2026

Jose Carlos Lopez will speak at our general meeting on Wednesday, November 4 at 4:00 p.m. Pine Ave. Community Center, Activity Room 108. 3209 Harding St., Carlsbad, CA

We welcome back one of our favorite speakers, Jose Carlos Lopez from Sunset Valley Orchids who will speak on “Bifoliate Coerulea Cattleyas” on November 4 at 4:00 pm.
Cattleyas are one of the easiest genera to grow in Southern California, with bifoliates making excellent candidates for both outdoor and indoor growing. This talk covers basic culture and explores bifoliate coerulea species and hybrids, from small to tall! Starting with the species, we will explore their traits and influence on breeding. This program has been updated to include some of today’s most noteworthy hybrids.
Carlos is a shared speaker with the San Diego County Orchid Society and he will be giving his talk "The Four Seasons of Cattleyas" at 6:30 pm in Balboa Park on Tuesday, Nov. 3. You can watch his talk on Zoom by contacting Alex at [email protected] for the link or attend in person at Casa Del Prado, Room 101.
Carlos is an accredited American Orchid Society judge who has been cultivating orchids for over 14 years. His orchid venture began at thirteen years old when he started following his father to work at Sunset Valley Orchids. Before he knew it, he was volunteering at the nursery—helping clean orchid flasks, repotting orchids, and doing small tasks. Carlos eventually became more involved in the nursery's operations and maintenance, and he began participating in orchid shows. He is currently the manager of Sunset Valley Orchids and has years of experience with Cattleya, Catasetum, Australian Dendrobium, and Sarcochilus.
Sunset Valley Orchids will be providing this month's Opportunity Table.

10/22/2026

The San Diego County Orchid Society's Fall Orchid Show and Sale takes place this weekend at Balboa Park. Event includes a juried show, vendor sales, and more. For details, visit https://sdorchids.com/up-coming-show/. See you there!

10/06/2026

The 10th Annual Huntington Orchid Show and Sale will take place this weekend. A beautiful show in a beautiful location. Admission to show is included with general admission ticket to library. Go to huntington.org/orchid-show for details. Don't miss it!

10/05/2026

Guest Speaker Lou Jost will speak at our general meeting at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at the Pine Avenue Community Center Activity Room 108, 3209 Harding St. Carlsbad, CA

We are pleased to welcome Lou Jost, at our meeting on Wednesday, who will be sharing his talk "Adventures in Discovering, Describing, and Protecting New Andean Orchid Species". Ecuador is the richest country in the world for orchids. During his 30 years there, Lou explored remote mountains and jungles, searching for new orchid species. He will talk about this search, particularly focused on miniatures, especially Lepanthes, one of the most diverse genera of orchids. He will feature some of the more than sixty new species he discovered, not only miniature orchids, but also big Sobralias and Maxillarias and spectacular new trees, a couple of amaryllis relatives, and others. He'll also talk about the task of ensuring that these new discoveries survive in the wild, and how he and his friends protected the mountains where most of these discoveries were located.

Lou is a shared speaker with the San Diego County Orchid Society and will be giving his talk "Why are Orchids so Diverse? Clues from the Distribution of Andean Miniatures" on Tuesday, October 6th in Balboa Park. You can watch his talk on Zoom (contact Barry Reder or Alex Nadzan at [email protected] for the link) or in person at Casa Del Prado,
room 101.

Lou was born in Wisconsin and did graduate work in physics at the University of Texas. After a couple of years of that, he fell in love with the tropics and worked odd jobs to finance long trips to the forests of Mexico, Costa Rica, and eventually Ecuador where he settled down. He co-founded Fundacion EcoMinga in 2006 to protect the orchids and other species that he discovered. During that time he also revolutionized how ecologists quantify biodiversity, and fixed some foundational errors in population genetics, thanks to his training in mathematics.

This month’s plant table will consist of orchids from Ontario Orchids and 808 Orchids Kalapana

09/17/2026

Come to our society orchid fundraiser this Saturday, September 19 from 10am-2pm at the Carlsbad City (Dove) Library. We will have a large variety of blooming and unbloomed orchids from Sunset Valley Orchids, Andy's Orchids, Ontario Orchids, 808 Orchids Kalapana as well as several from our own members for sale at good prices. Come early for the best selection. Representative pics of some of the orchids for sale are shown below.

09/10/2026

Don't miss Andy's Orchids Fall Open House taking place this weekend! https://andysorchids.com

09/04/2026

Join us at our annual orchid sale, which will take place on Saturday, September 19 at the Dove Library in Carlsbad, CA from 10 am - 2 pm. Members will be on hand to answer questions about orchid care and cultivation or to help you choose the perfect orchid for your growing environment. Great prices and a great selection of plants - Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Phalaenopsis, and more! Don't miss it!

08/31/2026

Alan Koch “Modern Trends for the Cattleya Grower”
Wednesday, September 2, 2026 at the Pine Avenue Community Center, 3209 Harding St., Carlsbad, CA 4 p.m.

This month we are excited to welcome back Alan Koch, who will be sharing his talk “Modern Trends for the Cattleya Grower”, where he will be covering what’s new in Cattleyas around the world.

Alan is a shared speaker with the San Diego County Orchid Society and will be givinghis talk “Mini Vandaceous Species and Hybrids for the Home Grower” on Tuesday, September 1 at 6:30pm in Balboa Park. You can watch his talk on Zoom (contact Barry Reder or Alex Nadzan at [email protected] for the link) or in person at Casa Del Prado,room 101.

Alan Koch owns and operates Gold Country Orchids where he specializes in miniature and compact Cattleyas along with other miniature species. Alan started growing orchids in
1969 with three Cymbidiums given to him by an aunt. While in college he became interested in other orchids and dis-
covered many would grow outdoors in Southern California. He has moved five times as his orchid obsession has led
to the need for more growing space. With the last move, he purchased 10 acres of land in Lincoln, California for his
250,000 orchids.

Alan is recognized as an expert in the Brazilian Cattleya alliance and a trend setter in miniature and compact Cattleya breeding. Alan has been published in the Orchid Digest, the American Orchid Society magazine, as well as many international publications. He also has been published in several proceedings of the World Orchid Conference.

He is an internationally known speaker who was pleased to be the keynote speaker for the 2025 Asia Pacific Orchid
Conference in Taiwan. He is a past member of the AOS Judging Committee and Research Committee, as well as an
Emeritus Judge, and is Training Coordinator for the California Sierra Nevada Judging Center. Alan also served two
terms on the Orchid Digest Executive Committee and three terms on the Board of Directors, as well as two terms as a
Trustee for the AOS. He was the First Vice President for the International Phalaenopsis Alliance for three terms. Alan is
also well known for the many AOS auctions he has done.

08/03/2026

August Speaker: Jack Zhu: “An Adventure in Asian Cymbidium’s Natural Habitat”
Carlsbad Senior Center, 799 Pine Ave., Carlsbad, CA
Wednesday, August 5, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.

This month we're happy to welcome back Jack Zhu, who will present "“An Adventure in Asian Cymbidium’s Natural Habitat” recounting his recent trip to Eastern China. During the journey, Jack and his tour guide ventured into the wild to explore the natural habitat of Asian Cymbidiums. Jack will share insights on the local weather conditions, forest trees, and companion plants found in these areas.

Jack is a shared speaker with the San Diego County Orchid Society and he will be giving the same talk on Tuesday, August 4th at 6:30pm. You can watch his talk on Zoom (contact Alex or Barry for the link) or in person at the Casa Del Prado in Balboa Park, room 101.

Jack Zhu is a prominent orchid cultivator, commercial nursery owner, and an accredited American Orchid Society (AOS) Judge within the Pacific South Judging Region. As the founder of Fang Hua Garden, he specializes in the importation, preservation, and curation of diverse Asian orchid genera, with a particular focus on Asian Cymbidiums (Guolan) and Paphiopedilums. Deeply immersed in the rich cultural history and traditional aesthetics of traditional orchid appreciation, Jack has successfully bridged Eastern horticultural standards with Western judging paradigms, garnering more than forty AOS awards for his exceptional Asian Cymbidiums.

Jack will be supplying the opportunity table this month.

07/21/2026

San Diego County Orchid Society's Summer Show and Sale takes place next weekend. Event includes a juried show, vendor sales, and more. Visit sdorchids.com for all the details. See you there!

Address

3209 Harding Street
Carlsbad, CA
92008

Website

http://www.palomarorchid.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Palomar Orchid Society posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.