Yep, I just got the space taken care of by making a larger grow space. I am starting to like oncidiums more and more and they do so well for me :)

Our society will be involved in the mesker park zoo's orchid extravaganza.

As far as major shows go, I guess the only one within driving distance would be at the Missouri botanical garden. Their conservatory is gorgeous but I've never seen their orchid show.

At the last show i attended in September, I contacted the vendors beforehand and got something from a few of them. Only two small impulse buys from windy hill; everything else was planned.

I almost broke my budget for a neostylis Lou Sneary 'Bluebird' but somehow I resisted. I have regretted it since... :)

I'll be at the OSOGSL show next weekend at Mo Botanical Gardens (which coincides with the beginning of MoBot's show). Saturday I volunteered to be a judging clerk, which means me getting downtown by 6:30 am, ugh, but I love being a part of and helping where I can within my society. Should be a great show. If you've never been you should really try to make it. MoBot is such a beautiful venue. Beats the hell out of a convention center or hotel.

Thanks for the warning! What a bummer it would be to bring home something new and beautiful only to have it become a problem!

Sounds like helping out is a great chance to enjoy all the plants up close. :)

Hi Avantgardner,

I was wondering if you could explain a bit more about this event. So the STL Orchid Society has a show/sale that is AT the Missouri Botanical Gardens during THEIR show?

Does that mean it is a separate show taking place within the larger Missouri Botanical Garden show?

I guess it is not important, if I pay to be admitted to the Garden, I suppose I will also be admitted to the Orchid Society show?

Volunteering for the OS shows is a great way to learn how to identify, class, and label plants properly if you get in on the day everyone brings the plants in for display. We used Orchidwiz to help us identify any questionable plants and verify the rest with proper names on the tags. If you class a plant wrong it might be excluded so theres a lot riding on the initial day. Cant put a white phal in the harlequin class ya know. It will get tossed from judging.

Being a clerk for the judges is good also as it gives you an idea of what they are looking for in the flowers. Sometimes a clerk will be asked to break a tie. Otherwise clerks listen and handle the paperwork, ribbons, and placement of awards. Lots of walking and more walking and more walking. They might look at 2 plants 10 times and of course they are opposite ends of the mall. Put your Tennis shooose on would be clerks .

Also if you help build the displays and win, you get an award too in our OS...I got 2 crystal engraved orchid plates :biggrin:. Didnt expect that at all.

In fact my 1st show I wasn't going to bring my plants just volunteer and was convinced by others not to be shy. So I went back home and got my little plants and came out of the show with 3 Blue Ribbons, a Red, and a White. I remember someone laughed at me before the show when I told them I was going to win some blue ribbons and after the show I had 3 and they weren't laughing at me.

But the shows are a lot of fun and I need to join the OS again. I took the year off last year to deal with my dad who passed away in march. Then I moved and promptly got all my orchids beat my hail, wind, rain and rats. Been beat down. Ive moved 4 times since I started at OB a few years back. DONE!!!

So this year Im going to sit out again and give myself some time to settle down in my home and get my plants all back on track. We(me and my plants) are very tired and need some rest..

You all have fun :waving

@Cambria, the OS show is on Saturday and Sunday (January 31st and and February 1st) the opening week of the Orchid Show at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It is separate from their show and in a different room, albeit those rooms are next door to each other.

You do have to pay general garden admission to gain entrance to the OS show and sale, but have to pay a bit more for entrance to the Garden's Orchid Show.

Hope that helps resolve your questions!

RJSquirrel sorry to hear about all your troubles, sounds frustrating. But at least it seems you're going to get your down time and recover. Best to you with that!

Thanks for that information regarding that side of volunteering. I just attended my first society show - although I'm not currently a member anywhere - and I've never thought I'd be interested in having plants judged, at least not until I'm more experienced and my plants are sweet specimens!! But while at this show I saw a Paph. Odette's Vision with two blooms and I thought, "Hey, mine looked that good I think!" Now I don't think that plant won an award but it got me thinking...In fact my plant had two blooms at once, they died and a third one came up. This last flower has been in bloom for about two months now! Couple weeks ago I thought it was finally giving up but then it didn't. I don't know if it was a cold thing or if it was thinking about it then I watered/fed and it was happy again, though a bit deformed now.

I enjoyed this show and may consider entering should the day come that I have a worthy plant. I only walked away with four plants! Vuyl. Melissa Brianne 'Dark', Paph. Venustum, Zglm. Louisendorf (I do believe this is actually the same as my Zglm. Rhein 'Moonlight' however mine is the peloric kind, and this new one is two plants in one the second being partially or pseudo-peloric ???), and Phal. Stuartiana. Zglm. is in bloom with a third short spike; Venustum and Stuartiana are in spike/bud; Vuyl. was bare root with two decent sized new growths. The latter is a division with three pbulbs in addition to the two newbies. Btw, I wasn't going to get Zglm, but then I broke down and went back for it. For those who don't know Venustum & Stuartiana are minis...how could I resist?

Will share pics from show and of plants soon. Anyone else been to any shows yet?

Our area shows are coming up! I volunteered so far to bring some food and to work all day Saturday if they cannot get others. Enlisted two of my daughters and dad to help. :)
It is usually quite cheap to join an Orchid Society. Ours is $20 for a year and, in November, you get a free orchid that would cost at least that much so it is a really good deal. You don't have to attend meetings but they sometimes have very good speakers that are really worth it.

I was able to go to the Fort Lauderdale Orchid show last Sunday. We were returning from a cruise and were right down the road so of course we had to check it out. It is only my second show and my husbands first. It was wonderful looking at all the orchids. I only bought a few but two are a different species for me. My husband took some pictures so I thought I'd post some.