Orchid Society of Greater Saint Louis

09/29/2026

Hi everyone!
Hope you're all enjoying the beginning of fall

Quick note, our meeting is one week earlier than our usual time, so it's actually THIS FRIDAY!

OSOGSL Speaker,
Albert Liu - Associate AOS Judge
Friday, October 2nd, 7 pm

Bulbophyllum macrobulbum and its Relatives

Yitong “Albert” Liu is an avid orchid grower, specializing in Paphiopedilums & Phragmipediums, while fostering an interest in miniatures and oddities. He currently nurtures an ever-expanding orchid collection in grow cabinets, indoors, under lights. As an active member of the New Mexico Orchid Guild, board member of the Orchid Society of Greater Saint Louis, and an Associate Judge in the Mid-American Judging Center, most of his free time and travel revolves around orchids. Albert is a Pediatric Nephrologist at the University of New Mexico Hospital following fellowship training at Washington University in St Louis. Albert is also a flautist, having dual majored in music and biology before studying medicine. He has roots in Taiwan, where he went to grade school before moving back to the US for middle/high school and pursuit of a medical degree. He currently has no orchid ties in Taiwan but is open to collaboration.

Zoom Link:
https://wustl-hipaa.zoom.us/j/91652882916?pwd=sbnfhf84K5Fs8tbYcXOIyvODT6W5x1.1

Meeting ID: 916 5288 2916
Passcode: OSOGSL

YouTube Livestream Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_TaEYUCkBo

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09/09/2026

It's that time of month again! Hope everyone had a nice summer break

We're excited to host Brandon Tam from the Huntington Gardens who will be presenting at our meeting this month.
Time: Friday, September 11th, 7 pm

"Growing Large Slipper Orchid Specimens (and principles for similar orchids)" – How to grow large slipper orchid specimens, plus horticultural principles you can apply to other orchids you want to grow to specimen size.

YouTube Livestream Link:
https://www.youtube.com/live/ZiS3x8_RVuk?si=eDqnOJJ4Ei2CCmGW

As the Associate Curator of the Orchid Collection, Brandon curates one of the largest and most diverse orchid species collections in the world, including over 1,500 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, including six First Class Certificates and four Certificates of Cultural Excellence. He supervises numerous public education events, such as orchid shows, judgings, symposiums and conferences. Additionally, Brandon co-curates the Amorphophallus titanum collection of 43 mature specimens and has exhibited over seventeen 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 holds accreditation as a judge from the American Orchid Society and has a history of active involvement, having previously served on the society's conservation committee and as a trustee. He currently holds positions on the Board of Directors and the editorial committee for Orchid Digest Publication.

As the Associate Curator of the Orchid Collection, Brandon curates ...

07/30/2026

Need something to do after you buy all the nice orchids at our auction?
Come learn more about orchids at the Ohio Valley Orchid Fest which also will be the Mid America Orchid Congress meeting

See flyer for more information!

07/29/2026

UPDATE! We corrected the end time for the auction on the flyer! We love orchids but 9 hours of auctioning might be too much!
We're also officially at more than 300 plants on the list

Hi orchid friends,
Hope you have all had a nice summer so far. We've enjoyed some time off, though did have our 75th anniversary celebration earlier this month which was a very fun night.

Now that it's almost August, It's that time of year again! Our annual auction is coming up.

We have almost 300 plants listed so far, with the list growing every day!
Please see the attached flyer for a QR code to see the plant list so far. Feel free to share the flyer.

We can't wait to see you there!

06/12/2026

Hi orchid friends

Sorry for the late notice
We have our usually monthly meeting tomorrow (now today?!)
We’re excited to host Tim Culbertson who will be speaking about complex Paphiopedilums

The usual logistics:
When: Friday, June 12 at 7pm (presentation will likely start around 7:15)
Where: Commerce Bank Center for Science Education/youtube (links below)
What: “Important Trends in Complex Paph Hybrids” with Tim Culbertson

We hope you see you there and as always friends and blooming plants are welcome.

Some information about Tim, from Tim!
“Since I was young, one of my passions has always been plants. I began growing orchids in high school, and expanded my collection as an offshoot from working at Longwood Gardens in Philadelphia just after college. From the very beginning it was all about Paphs, particularly awarded and select clones of historic importance, of which my collection numbers in the thousands. While I love finding old, rare stepping stones in paph breeding, I also do a little hybridizing of my own, and growing and flowering my hybrids is very exciting. I was once the youngest accredited judge with the American Orchid Society, and have been a judge now for 20 years; I have served in various capacities with various orchid societies in California and on the East Coast. Recently, I’ve partnered with Fred Clarke to greatly expand the selection of paphs at Sunset Valley Orchids through the acquisition of significant parts of Sam Tsui’s collection at Orchid Inn. I currently manage the Paphs at SVO, and do hybridizing in a wide range of genera including Cattleya, Catasetinae and Masdevallia. I love meeting other people who like orchids too, and doing so often finds me traveling to shows, vendors, and peoples’ greenhouses to see the latest and greatest in new hybrids and species. I like to be involved in plants as much as possible: in addition to Longwood, I’ve worked at the Smithsonian Institution tending to their orchids, and for years for the United States National Arboretum, collecting rare non-orchid plants and documenting cultivated species and hybrids for their herbarium. In short, I really like plants of all kinds.

For your meeting, I’ll be sharing a presentation entitled “Important Trends in Complex Paph Hybrids”. One of my absolute favorite parts about collecting orchids is thinking about their history, and Paphs have an especially rich history. I will share some of the important cultivars still in existence, and stories of their owners, breeders, and movements from one nursery to the next. These stories shed a new light on how we have gotten where we are; they provide a background for modern plants and why they are so important and so special. My home in Southern California has an important role in these stories! By the end of this presentation, you will have a new appreciation of the history of important nurseries and collectors and collections, as well as breeding trends for these types of plants, and an appreciation of their beautiful flowers.”

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

05/03/2026

Hi orchid friends!
It’s that time of the month once again, our monthly meeting is coming up! We're excited to hop Scott McGregor who will be presenting on “Mediterranean Climate Terrestrials”, specifically talking about how to grow European and Australian terrestrials (e.g. Ophrys, Orchis, Diuris, Thelymitra, etc).

Scott McGregor has been growing orchids since he was 12, when a neighbor gave him a plant. That plant had a short life, but the hook was set, and he found books and sources for orchid species while growing up in St. Louis. His collection has changed over time, living in different location around the world, but has always centered around the more unusual species. Scott grows all his plants outdoors, without a greenhouse, just "adding some water and shade" to what nature provides in Southern California. He especially enjoys finding new species that grow well in our climate (many are far more adaptable than most people would believe), and now grows over 500 different orchid species, along with cloud forest companion plants such as Heliamphora and epiphytic Utricularia. He rarely uses chemical insecticides or fungicides, preferring fresh air, beneficial insects and our native tree frogs. Scott retired from the corporate world and stays active on corporate boards and working with non-profit groups that promote science education. He resides with his family in San Juan Capistrano, California.

The usual logistics:
When: 5/8/2026 at 7 pm
Where: Commerce Bank Center for Science Education/Youtube
https://youtube.com/live/LP9EwQtaMw0

As always, don't forget to bring your flowering plants for show and tell. Friends are always welcome.

Mediterranean Climate Terrestrials

05/03/2026

04/09/2026

Hi orchid friends!
It’s that time of the month once again, and it’s extra exciting because our annual show and sale is just around the corner. Because of this we’ll be talking about “Brazilian bifoliate Cattleyas and their hybrids” with our very own Matthew Montoya Rush.

Matthew Montoya Rush is a third-year American Orchid Society Student Judge from the Mid-American Judging Center and former OSOGSL Vice President. He and his partner Albert Liu (AOS Associate Judge) are relatively new, but avid orchid keepers specializing in Paphiopedilums, Dendrobiums, Bulbophyllums, and anything weird and wonderful. Since 2022, they have grown a collection of over 500 species and hybrids and have recently begun hybridizing and growing new seedlings.

The usual logistics:
When: 4/10/2026 at 7 pm
Where: Commerce Bank Center for Science Education/Youtube
https://youtube.com/live/Da-wwU8E7aM

As always, don't forget to bring your flowering plants for show and tell. Friends are always welcome.