president's message

April 2020

Dear Members,

I hope that you are all staying healthy and have all that you need to make it through this unprecedented time.

 We have cancelled our April meeting at the church hall and will instead host a special live stream with our speaker Peter Lin (April 13th – 7:30pm) for his talk “Brassavola Species and Their Hybrids.” This will be our first time trying out a group conference video platform so please have patience as we get it going. Hopefully all will be smooth. Staying connected seems extra important in this time so please join us either via computer or phone if your computer doesn’t have sound.

We’re doing all we can to keep our society connected at this time. Be on the lookout for more information and email blasts coming to your email inboxes. If you are on Facebook but haven’t yet joined our club’s group, please join us at https://www.facebook.com/orchidssc/. In the meantime, deep breaths while spending time with our orchids is good for the body and the mind. Please take wise care of yourselves and enjoy your beautiful blooms.

 Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any comments, concerns or needs. You can contact me directly .

All the best,

Erin

erin's fun fact

What makes an orchid an orchid? Let’s get back to basics! According to the New York Botanical Garden, and orchid is a flowering plant with “the fusion of the male portion of the flower (stamen) and female portion (pistil) into one structure called the column, often visible protruding from the center.” Easy, right? Take a look at this photo to familiarize yourself with the parts of the flower. Definitions also help!

Sepal—one of the three outer parts of an orchid flower that protects the petals

Pollinia—a solid mass of pollen found in the anther

Column—the fused sexual organ of an orchid flower

Petal—the three petals on an orchid are the true flower; one is modified into a lip

Lip (or Labellum)—a specialized petal, unique to orchids

Ovary—the part of the flower that develops into the fruit

Ovule—a small protuberance in the ovary, capable of forming a seed when fertilized

Stigma—the sticky area of the pistil that receives the pollen

From the Plant Talk blog by the NY Botanical Garden https://www.nybg.org/blogs/plant-talk/