P.O. Box 382, Maroochydore 4558

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1 Maroochydore Orchid Society Inc. presents, The Observer P.O. Box 382, Maroochydore FEBRUARY 2017 Patroness - Rosanna Natoli President - Duncan McMartin (07) Secretary - Kathy Howatson (07) maroochyorchid1@optusnet.com.au Treasurer - Del Whittaker (07) Editor - Fred Lenz (07) fmlenz@westnet.com.au CULTURAL MEETING Cultural Meeting is held on the 1st Tuesday of the month at the Girl Guide Hall, Beach Road, Maroochydore, 7.30pm. AGM will be held at October meeting. Members and visitors are welcome. All plants to be tabled by 7.30pm for judging. The first Cultural Meeting for 2017 is Tuesday 7 th February PRESIDENT DUNCAN S MESSAGE Welcome to 2017, and a warm welcome it has been. I hope you have all survived it ok and your orchids have too. Our first show for the year is at Buderim in March. This is after our March meeting but now is the time to start getting plants ready. We need to check for bugs and remove any old dead flower spikes. The society will be looking to have a bus trip again this year, possibly in conjunction with Nambour society Some sad news, Del and Richard s son passed away recently and our condolences go out to them. I look forward to seeing you all at the February meeting. INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS At the December Committee meeting the following details were adopted. 1. To encourage members to bring flowering plants along to the cultural meetings, it was decided to re- introduce Banana Dollars. This means that for every plant you bring along to the cultural meeting you will get $1, as well as $3 for 1st, $2 for 2nd and $1 for 3rd in the judge's choice. Then at the December meeting there will be plants that members can bid for using their Banana Dollars. The system will be explained at the February meeting. 1

2 Loraine Hocking has offered to look after this for the club. 2. The cultural table will change. There will still be a Novice section, Species section and a Foliage section but there will now be a Cattleya class, Dendrobium class, Vanda class, Oncidium class and an All Others class. 3. There will also be a new perpetual trophy for the Novice section. ORCHID STANDS A person who has made orchid stands for several years advised he still has enough material to make about 20 stands. If anyone is interested in orchid stands for displaying hanging orchids e.g. Vandas, would you please advise me (Fred) no later than the February meeting. The stands are approximately 1metre high aluminium rod on timber stand and cost $30 each CALENDAR Society Dates: Bold indicates, Maroochydore s STOCQ AGM Gympie Saturday 11 th February OQI meeting Gympie Saturday 11 th February Maroochydore OS Members Only Buderim Uniting Church Hall Saturday 11 th March 8.30am 4.30pm SCOSC Uniting Church Caloundra 6 th April 7 th & 8 th April Maroochydore OS TBA TBA TBA Mothers Day South Burnett OS Wondai RSLHall Saturday 15 th April Gympie OS Gympie grounds Set Up Friday Saturday, Sunday 5th May 6 th & 7 th Ma Caboolture OS Morayfield Hall Set Up Friday Saturday, Sunday 21 st July 22 nd, 23 rd July Maroochydore OS Millwell Rd Community Hall 3 rd August 4 th, 5 th, August STOCQ Meeting Agnes Waters TBA Saturday 12th August Agnes Waters O&FS Agnes Waters TBA Saturday 12 th August Nambour OS Nambour Uniting Church Hall 31 st August 1 ST, 2 nd September Glasshouse Country OS Beerwah Hall Set Up 21 st September 22 nd, 23 rd September Nambour Species Nambour Uniting Church Hall 26 th October 27 th, 28 th October Glasshouse TBA Saturday 4 th November 2

3 Lorraine Hocking receiving the Champion Trophy and the Foliage Trophy from President Duncan Cirr. Graveolens var. Robustum Blomfield Ara Tower Thai Gold Cat purpurata Var. Mandayana Cattleya hybrid 3

4 Kathy and members at the Christmas break up THANKS A big thank you to John and Lavina Rees for coming along to our December meeting and conducting a Trivia Night. Everyone enjoyed the orchid questions, some of which were easy and others that made us think we knew very little. But they provided an opportunity for much discussion and the newer members had orchid facts clarified and explained. Again, thank you. LIBRARY An orchid book library is available at the Girl Guide Hall for all members to use. Please ensure borrowed books are signed out by our Librarian, Joe Merieca. FUTURE INTERNATIONAL /AUSTRALIAN CONFERENCES AND shows June TQOC 70 TH Birthday Conference & Townsville Stadium August WA Orchid Spectacular Conference & Rendezvous Hotel Scarborough November 22 nd World Orchid Conference &, Guayaquil Ecuador July Orchids in the Foothills, 21 st AOC Conference &, Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium, South Windsor NSW September STOCQ Orchidfest Rockhampton OS 4

5 SUPPER ROSTER FOR 2017 Please put 2 names beside each month. This makes sure we have supper even if someone is away. February: March: April: May: June: July: August: September: October: November: Kathy Howatson, Bill Letcher Joanne McLoughlin, Maureen Irvine, Richard Bryan, Peter Henssler Robyn Volz, Joe Mercieca Ian Walker, Loraine Hocking, John Salway Kev Rimmington,,, FRAGRANT ORCHIDS Some of the best ways of describing odours are: Camphoraceousa, Floral, Musky, Peppermint, Ethereal, Pungent and Putrid. In 1993 Roman Kaiser described 4 basic orchid scents according to olfactory & chemical criteria whitefloral, rosy- floral, ionone-floral and spicy- floral. White- floral is a fragrance found frequently with white flowers. Among orchids this group would include the genera Aerangis, Angraecum and Brassavola. Rosy-floral scent is found in some Miltoniopsis. Spicy-floral group is Masdevallia Grandulosa and Cattleya Eugene Casey Cinnanon Stick. White and yellow flowers are known to account for 60% of all fragrant flowers. The order of strength of the scent by colour is white, bluish white, pale pink, mauve pink, pale yellow, yellow and purple. Flowers bearing blue, orange, red/brown generate little or no scent. Some orchids smell strongest for only a few hours in the morning while night pollinated varieties yield their scent in the evening. If the flowers are fragrant during the day they usually reach their peak when it is warm and in the mid part of the day. Cold gloomy days put a dampener on fragrance. 5

6 The fragrance tends to hang in the air longer on humid days. With some orchids it takes a few days before the scent can be detected. Rainfall tends to dilute the oils and thus you have a weaker fragrance. A robust healthy plant will produce a strong scent. The South African OS has these criteria for judging orchid fragrance: Intensity- How strong is the fragrance? Diffuseness- Can you smell the fragrance from a distance or only close up? Pleasantness- How pleasant or unpleasant is the fragrance? Elegance - How well rounded and perfumed is the fragrance? Here a few orchids with fragrance - some nice, some bad: C. forbesii-bubblegum ; Brassavola nodosa freesia; Caditia taylori - vanilla ; Aerangis citrate - lemon ; Dendrobium glumaceum curry; Blc Rio s Green Magic - citrus ; Bulbophyllum beccarii - dead elephants; Bulbophyllum ambrosis - honey; Brassia verrucosa - musk; If you wish to look further into this topic a good book to peruse is Fragrant Orchids - A Guide To Selecting, Growing and Enjoying 2005 by Steven Frownie. Life is short take the time now to smell and enjoy your orchids. Thanks to Bev Hopgood from Bribie OS for help with this data. FUTURE NEWS ITEMS If you have any relevant orchid news worthy of advising all members please it to me no later than the 3 rd Saturday of the month.( fmlenz@westnet.com.au) Disclaimer: While the Editor endeavours to ensure the reliability of this newsletter, neither the Editor nor the Maroochydore Orchid Society Inc. can assume any responsibility for the information or advice given to readers of The Observer. 6