president's message

August 2020

Dear Members,

Do you miss our in-person society meetings? I know I sure do! I miss chatting with you, seeing your amazing blooms on the show table, awesome opportunity plants, and so much more. We even had to skip our annual orchid auction in June that OSSC had done for so many years. This is certainly a surreal time.

While we look forward to returning to meeting in person someday, our Zoom meetings have been wonderful and certainly have their benefits – no traffic, early nights, and the potential for new speakers from out of town or even out of state! We must march on and appreciate the bright side where we can! Thanks to all who have braved modern technology to connect in this new format. Please join us and stay connected with everyone who shares our passion for orchids!

Thanks to all who sent photos of your plants in bloom to David for the newsletter; we hope you truly enjoy feasting your eyes on the exquisite beauty we all love so much.

Sending you my very best wishes,

Erin

erin's fun fact

If you’ve ever taken a trip to beautiful Hawaii, you likely would have been adorned with a gorgeous flower lei upon arrival. While there are a number of sweet smelling and vibrant flowers used for leis, the most popular is our illustrious dendrobium! Due to the wonderfully sturdy flowers and fine range of colors, dendrobium blossoms are held in high regard in the world of lei making. The Hawaiians call orchids “okika” and have been using dendrobiums for lei making for over 200 years!

According to www.hawaiiflowerlei.com, there are a few things to know regarding lei etiquette. “There are a few “unspoken rules” one should know when receiving a lei for the first time. A lei should be a welcomed celebration of one person’s affection to another. Therefore, always accept a lei, never refuse! The proper way to wear a lei is gently draped over the shoulders, hanging down both in front and in back. It is considered rude to remove a lei from your neck in the presence of the person who gave it to you, so if you must, be discreet.”

Feel like plucking off all of your dendrobium flowers to make a necklace of affection? Hmmm, perhaps we will leave that to the Hawaiians and look on with appreciation!