 Fred Clarke has been growing orchids for 42 years and has been hybridizing for 38 of those years. With over 34 years as a professional grower and manager in the horticultural industry, Fred applies these skills at his orchid nursery, Sunset Valley Orchids, located in San Diego, California.
He is a passionate orchid grower whose curiosity in orchids is broad and varied. Although developing Cattleya hybrids has been his sustaining interest, he is also actively creating new Paphiopedilum and Aussie Dendrobium hybrids plus some others to be named if they work out!
His pioneering work in Catasetum intergeneric hybrids led to the development of several notable hybrids, most recently the grex, Fredclarkeara After Dark, which produced “the blackest flower ever witnessed”. This grex has received over 100 awards worldwide with nine FCC’s and thirty AM’s from the AOS judges!
Fred is an Accredited Judge in the Pacific South Judging Region of the American Orchid Society. His plants have received hundreds of quality awards from the American Orchid Society.
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news in brief
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 NEW GOLDEN CIRCLE MEMBER [Submitted by OSSC President Ryan Langton on 12/21/2021] According to the Society's bylaws, "The purpose of the Society shall be to foster and encourage the education of its members with respect to the culture, growing, hybridization, preservation, and perpetuation of native and hybrid orchids of every variety." It also reads: “The Golden Circle membership may be granted to members who have demonstrated extraordinary dedication to the aims and success of the Society over an extended period of time.” Since the Orchid Society of Southern California’s inception in the 1940’s, there have been a small number of Golden Circle Award recipients. The level of dedication and commitment to our society required to receive this level of award has been displayed by very few and esteemed group.
Since becoming a member of OSSC in 2002, Carol Beule has immersed herself into the society in so many ways -- at the monthly meetings, the annual auctions, past picnics, and in the design and construction of the society’s displays at the annual Huntington International Orchid Show for many years. She began serving in the role of First Vice President in 2013 and has continued since, scheduling speakers and arranging for plants to raffle every month. She has found some outstanding guest speakers (including herself) through the years and has even graciously hosted out of town speakers at her home. She has attended several of the World Orchid Conferences. She has become an expert on the genus Neofinetia and even uses her artistic skills as a costume designer to make ceramic pots in which to grow them. She has generously donated her pots and plants to the annual auction for many years, helping to bring in auction proceeds. Carol is a natural teacher, educating and guiding people interested in becoming better orchid growers, to which many can personally
attest. To top it all off, she has done all this while managing to become a fully accredited Judge with The American Orchid Society.
Consequently, for all these reasons and more, Carol Beule has been nominated by the Orchid Society of Southern California’s Board of Directors for the distinguished honor of the Golden Circle Award and her nomination was approved unanimously. We heartily congratulate her and thank her for many years of faithful contribution to the Orchid Society of Southern California.
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 IN MEMORIAM [Submitted by David Dassey and Alberto Ossa on 10/25/2021] Long-time OSSC member Lucille Raskoff Banks passed away in Sept 2021 at the age of 96. An OSSC member since 1972, Lucille served on the Board of Directors several times, ultimately as President in 2009-2010. For many years she operated a retail orchid nursery –Orchids, Etc.-- out of her home in the Hollywood Hills with a diverse collection of orchid genera, and enjoyed traveling around the world on orchid expeditions. Lucille was a member of several other local societies including San Fernando, San Gabriel and
the Species Society, and put up a display at the annual East-West Orchid Show at the Otani Hotel for many years. She was also a founding member of the Five Cities Orchid Show in Arroyo Grande. Lucille’s broad knowledge of orchid growing was always appreciated, and we will miss her.
- IN MEMORIAM [Submitted by OSSC Past President Krystine Chaparro on 9/27/2021] Norma Skinner passed away on the morning of September 2, 2021 at the age of 92. Norma was a long-time member, recipient of the Diamond Award of Excellence, and past Treasurer of the Orchid Society of Southern California. As a good friend of mine, I remember when she first came to one of our annual June auctions; Carol Beule and I took her under our wing. That day after bidding on some great cattleyas, which were her favorite orchids, we signed her up to start her membership in OSSC. Ever since she always enjoyed attending the meeting as long as she was able. Norma was in the banking business for 36 years and raised her hand to fit right in as Treasurer of the OSSC. She kept us in check and balance with ease. She has been a great asset to the membership and board and we will all miss her.
- OSSC’s FIRST ORCHID YARD SALE [Submitted by OSSC Treasurer Wendy Fisher on August 26, 2021] OSSC had its first official yard sale on Sunday, August 8th. With no experience in orchid yard sales, James Roberts, 2nd VP, Carol Buele, 1st VP, and Ryan Langton, President, set about organizing a yard sale. (Kudos and applause to these officers.) This wasn’t just a passing fancy. There were good reasons for an Orchid Yard Sale. First off, we haven’t had a lot of in person meetings in the last year and a half (it’s easy to count to ‘one’) so there was no contributing plants to an opportunity table. Then an estate donated an orchid collection. Carol, David, Junaid, and Erin went to retrieve it, loading up four cars full of orchids (and leaving a lot of undesirables behind). Then, of course, what to do with all the plants when we weren’t having meetings or an auction. David took almost 50 plants to babysit, Carol 15, Erin 20, and Wendy 3, and Junaid delivered 35 to Alberto (I apologize if I missed someone – this is going from my memory). After over a year, the babysitters were tired and wanting to have time to pay more attention to their own plants (and make room for new orchids). In addition, other members had spent the last year and a half caring for their own orchids which resulted in extra divisions taking up valuable space in their growing areas (and leaving no room for new orchids).
On behalf of our Society, I want to thank those who donated plants to the sale (we had at least 12 who donated – I’d list their names but I’d feel bad if I missed one) and the plant “baby-sitters. Special thanks to Donna Ballard and James Roberts who spent most of their Saturday cleaning and virus-testing plants to make sure the plants we sold were healthy. Carol and Ryan also worked tirelessly on Saturday, cleaning, pricing, and organizing. Harry S contributed a big supply of pots to sell. Thanks to Ted Augustyn for creating a wonderful flyer to post on our website and on Facebook & Instagram. Ted also put extra advertising on Facebook which really got us noticed. And thanks to those who helped with the selling. I could thank myself too, but all I did was sit and take money from our visitors.
I must also thank Ryan and Ariel for volunteering their home for the sale. On Saturday, with a massive number of orchids and Ryan’s beautiful parrots in the house, it was literally a jungle! The unsung heroes of the sale were Ryan’s parents, Jeralynn and Stephen, who were key in setting up the shade areas, bringing in the tables, toting plants back and forth, and being on call to help in any way. (It can be a benefit to have your parents living a couple doors down.) Having glass tables to display the orchids was quite classy. [Side note: the shade and tables were put out on Saturday and the orchids not until Sunday. Ryan had people coming by wanting to know if he was selling tables!]
We started with 182 plants. Shoppers were there before our 8am opening and by noon we were almost out of plants! When the day was over, we had zero plants! The cherry on the sundae was Manny the Mannequin who stood tirelessly out front with his giant “Orchid Sale” sign. Amazing how many did a double take of Manny – at first glance he is quite human. At second glance, one notices there was no lower half to his body!
Our Orchid Yard Sale grossed $2,297.50. Expenses were mainly the cost of the virus test kits, Facebook advertising, and Square credit card fees. We netted $1,999.87 which will cover many months of speaker fees.
We also got three new members because of the sale! Welcome to Carol Jung, Ferelda Bolling, and Ryan Constantino!!
Oh oh… and thanks to those of you who supported the sale by shopping. Couldn’t have done it without you! You got some great deals on orchids. Overall the sale was incredibly successful, not to mention a whole lot of fun!
- IN MEMORIAM
[Submitted by OSSC Webmaster Ted Augustyn, with input from Merle Arnold and OSSC Golden Circle Member Alfred Hockenmaier on May 28, 2020]]
 It is with a very heavy heart that we announce the passing of OSSC Past President and Golden Circle member Dan Dickey. He died on Sunday, May 17 in his Santa Rosa Valley home, accompanied by his partner of 35 years Arnold Merle, after spending seven months fighting stage four metastatic cancer. He was a real “trooper” throughout this entire ordeal enduring four surgeries and many rounds of chemotherapy. Being a very private person, he did not want any notices posted on social media till he was gone.
His lifelong passion was the growing of orchids for which he received many awards and honors, including the Masatoshi Miyamoto Cattleya Alliance Award of the American Orchid Society. He was pleasantly surprised when one of his prized plants appeared on the cover of the Awards Quarterly of the American Orchid Society. Dan also used to regularly exhibit his plants at the annual Santa Barbara Orchid Show and at the East West Orchid Show in Los Angeles. He was an invited speaker at many of these shows and was always willing to share his knowledge of orchid horticulture. Dan’s success with orchids was his attention to detail in every aspect of cultivation. He would spend hours repotting just a few plants having custom, painstaking techniques that ensured his success that few could match. A few years ago, he donated his entire Paphiopedilum orchid collection to the Huntington Botanical Gardens.
Mr. Dickey served as 2nd Vice President, then 1st Vice President of OSSC. He stepped up to the office of President when Leonard Dean, who was OSSC President in 1999 and 2000, left Los Angeles in late summer of 2000. Dan exhibited strong leadership during his tenure of 2001-2002, and continued to proactively mentor the officers who followed him, for which we will forever be grateful. As mentioned, Dan was a Golden Circle member of the society, its highest honor which is reserved for only those very few individuals that have gone above and beyond in support of the society and given so much in their time and energy.
Dan's family and friends will organize a Celebration of Life when Covid 19 restrictions are eased.
- RE-BLOOMING PHALS [Submitted by OSSC Member David Lafond on April 17, 2018]
I have most of my orchids on my outdoor patio, which receives about two hours of direct sun mid-day. Not ideal at all! Not all orchids can handle two hours of direct sun around noon, so my Phalaenopsis are grown indoors by the window in less than ideal lighting. Sometimes we make due with our situations and hope the plants adapt.
I assumed my Phals would bloom indoors, but last year they did not. Phals need cooler temperatures below 77 F to stimulate bloom. The temperature inside my apartment is less than 77 F so I assumed they would bloom indoors if I kept the heat turned off at night during October. They still didn’t send up any flower spikes. Carol Beule told me she keeps her Phals outdoors until Thanksgiving, and the cooler temperatures stimulate blooms. The only way I could keep my Phals outdoors is to carry them outside and night, then take then inside, protected from harsh sun during the day. The “hobby” was turning into a lot of work, so I didn’t do it, assuming the Phals would bloom during winter indoors where my apartment was below 77 F. Around March, my Phals still did not initiate bloom spikes indoors. I was seriously thinking of discarding them if they weren’t going to bloom indoors, so in a last ditch attempt, I decided to take them outside every night, then take them back indoors every day. So far 3 of the 7 plants have bloom spikes started…..a little late is better than never!
I suggest you consult the article “Growing the Best Phals – Part 3” which gives details about temperature requirements to re-bloom Phalaenopsis.
I need to go put my Phals back outside!
Prior articles found in this section are archived here.
other orchid news
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