president's message

November 2018

Hello orchidophiles!

November is here and that means it’s time for our last speaker meeting of the year! I’m astounded by the way time flies! Our November speaker Tim Culbertson is one of our all-time favorite speakers so be sure to come join us and enjoy his fabulous, fun and informative presentation on encyclias.

What a stand out experience at the Huntington Gardens International Orchid Show this year! Kudos to 1st VP Carol Beule and our team of OSSC volunteers for putting together a gorgeous orchid display. A special thanks to members Alfred Hockenmaier (who won Best Vanda and Pleuorthallid) and Richard Rothschild (who won Best Lycaste) for contributing their exceptional plants. Member Marissa Mitchell also deserves very special thanks for assisting Alfred in transporting and handling his abundance of precious plants in bloom!

Due to the teamwork of so many of members, we won numerous awards including Best Overall Display and the Orchid Digest Show Award, but even more exciting was witnessing the delighted smiles of the many onlookers who stood in rapt appreciation of the OSSC orchid collection. Well done, OSSC!

If you’re looking for a great orchid-related field trip this month, take a trip to Santa Barbara for the Cal-Orchid and Santa Barbara Orchid Estate open houses Nov. 3rd-4th. Be sure to introduce yourself to the owners, thank them for their generous donations to our annual fund raising auction, and take home a plant or 7! Also, don’t forget that Dec. 1 is the Sunset Valley Orchids open house in Vista. Fred Clarke says, “Don’t miss this day of plant raffles, fun and food!” Let’s support our awesome donors and local growers!

Carol Beule and I will both be out of town for the November meeting but 2nd VP Donna Ballard and Treasurer/raffle rock star Wendy Fisher will be leading the show! Don’t forget that Wendy will be giving a beginners talk entitled, “Don’t Kill that Orchid!” from 6:45pm – 7:15pm. Hopefully we will bring in some new folks from the Huntington show! I’ll be thinking of you all from Australia very soon!

All the best,

Erin Maxick

a special note from erin

Friends, my term as OSSC President will be ending in December. The Nominations Committee was unable to find a candidate for the position of President for 2019 (see full slate on page 7). The President’s role is to oversee, delegate to officers and representatives, lead the meetings, and (while it’s not listed in the bylaws) I believe to create a warm and welcoming experience for our members. Nearly all of next year’s board is returning from serving in 2018 and are very experienced, making leading the OSSC much simpler for an incoming president. Would you consider being our next president? We would love someone to step into this honorable role! Please reach out to me at pres@orchidssc.org if you would like to discuss! Thank you for considering supporting our fantastic society!

erin's fun fact

Some interesting tidbits about the Huntington Gardens: Arabella Huntington was the second wife of railway tycoon and industrialist Collis P. Huntington. After his death, Arabella married his nephew Henry E. Huntington who was also a railway magnate and the founder of the Huntington Library, Art Collection and Botanical Gardens. She was once the richest woman in America. Henry purchased the Huntington land called Marino Ranch. Today The Huntington houses over 10,000 orchids, 7,000 of which were donated by a single donor; membership consists of 40,000 people per year.