January Meeting: Miniature Cattleyas

     Our January meeting will be on Sunday, January 12th. Setup and schmooze time will begin at 2:00 PM, with the meeting starting at 2:30 PM. Our featured guest is Suzi Porter of Porter's Orchids in Lansing. Suzi will speak on the species and hybrids that makes up a "Mini-Catt" as compared to their larger cousins, and on their culture. Suzi is an American Orchid Society Judge, and has been working with the Mini-Catts for several years. Various cattleyas as well as other orchids will be available for purchase.

     For those who paid their dues by the end of this year, we will have our special drawing of a gift certificate from Taylor Orchids and an orchid seedling. We will also have our usual raffle table, so please bring any extra divisions you may have. Remember, many of these plants will end up with beginning growers, so please be sure your donations are healthy and pest-free.

Mid-Michigan Orchids Open House!

     Jack Shumaker has invited the members of the Ann Arbor Orchid Society to an open house at Mid-Michigan Orchids at 5077 Mt. Morris Road, in Mt. Morris MI on Sunday, January 19th at 1:00 pm. Jack and Gus grow an interesting assortment of orchid species and hybrids, some of the species they collected themselves on various trips. Rumor has it that Jack supplies more than enough good food and spirit for all.

     To get there from Ann Arbor take US-23 north to I-75. Take Mt. Morris Road, exit 126 (after all the Flint exits) and turn left (west). The first stop sign will be at Linden road, go through this intersection, and the house is the first driveway on the left side. This is about one hour's drive from Ann Arbor. You may call Jack at (810) 686- 3083 if you have any questions. If anyone wishes, we will arrange car pooling at the January meeting.

Announcements

     AAOS Study Group: The first meeting of the Ann Arbor Orchid Society's Study group will be held at Maria and Glenn Lehr's house on Saturday, January 4th at 10:00 AM. This month's subject matter is Phalaenopsis, and while the primary focus will be on culture, any information relating to Phalaenopsis such as species and their natural habitats, hybridization, or even what Phalaenopsis grow on Romulus will be welcome. We would like people to come prepared with even a little information, but if you don't think you know anything about them yet, come prepared to learn!

     There are several good books that have information on Phalaenopsis as well as other orchids for future sessions in our society library. There are also many good articles to be found in the AOS Bulletins. The more recent years are being housed by Alex Challis. You can reach him at (313) 971-6186 or e-mail Alex at Ice-Penguins@juno.com. There's also The Web.

     To get to the Lehr's, take I-94 west to M-52 and head south into downtown Manchester. Turn right (west) onto Main Street. Turn left onto Macomb Street, which will be the fourth street on the left, and is just past the city park. Head south on Macomb to Sandborn and turn right. Sandborn is a dirt road. The Lehr''s house is on the right side, and you'll see the Christmas lights inside the greenhouse. The address is 19220 Sandborn. If you have any questions, call Glenn at (313) 428-8182. Hope to see you there.

     Greater Lansing Orchid Society Meeting will feature Randy Robinson on "Orchids of Ecuador." The meeting will be on January 18 at 7:30 PM in Room 225, second floor of the Natural Resources Building. This is on the southwest corner of Wilson Road and Farm Lane, across from the greenhouses, on MSU Campus in East Lansing, MI. The area is north of Mt. Hope Road, east of Harrison and west of Hagadorn. Enter the parking lot from Farm Lane. Use the door by the small loading dock on the parking lot (south) side of the Natural Resources Building. The door will only be open from 7:00 pm to 7:40 pm. Because of a building security policy the door is locked at about 7:40 pm. They will be having their annual business meeting, as well as a raffle and silent auction.

Michigan Orchid Society Meeting

     Dr. Guido J. Braem, University of Giessen, Germany will be speaking on "The Genus Cattleya," on January 19 at 2:30 pm in the First Baptist Church of Birmingham, 300 Willits, at Ring Road, across from Jacobson's. There is free parking in the municipal lot on Sundays.

     AAOS Library Display - HELP! On February 1st, we'll be setting up an educational display in the lower level of the Ann Arbor Public Library. The display will be housed in eight lighted, glass-fronted cases. The cases are about one foot deep, seven feet high, and six or eight feet wide, with glass shelves. The purpose of this month-long display will be to educate laypeople about AAOS, orchid growing in Ann Arbor, various aspects of the orchid hobby, and the study of orchids in general. Can you loan the society any orchid-related items for our display? We need to borrow some of your various orchid-related collectibles: pins and jewelry, stamps, porcelain, paintings and other graphic art, photographs, cross-stitch, clothing, antiquarian orchid books, handcolored engravings, color lithographs, and any other orchid related items. We will not have any orchid plants in the exhibit. All loaned items will be handled very carefully and all will be safe behind glass in locked cases. If you have some visually interesting material to loan or if you'd like to help set up this display, please contact Neal Foster at 994-3331, x264 (w) or 663-0756 (h); e-mail: nealfost@umich.edu OR neal_foster@nbs.gov. On Tuesday, February 4, we will host a reception at the library from 5:00 pm until 8:30 pm. All AAOS members are invited to attend. This will be in the multi-purpose room adjacent to the exhibit area.

     Greater Lansing Orchid Society will be hosting their 14th Annual Orchid Show on February 22 and 23 in the Plant and Soil Science Conservatory on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing. Setup is on Friday, February 21. The AAOS is putting in a 100 square foot display, our largest yet, so we will need lots of orchids for this show. Please call either our exhibit designer Lynn O'Shaughnessy at (517) 546-8303, or Glenn Lehr at (313) 428-8182 if you would like to volunteer your services for set-up or if you have orchids available.

     If you have never helped with an exhibit before, this will be a good opportunity to get involved. We will need help with putting sheet moss and labels on the orchids, and many other easy odd jobs. If you are providing orchids in bloom, please start grooming your plants now, so that they look their best for the show.

     We belatedly thank Susan Jerrine Nichols of GLOS for her generosity in donating to AAOS several complete volumes of the AOS Bulletin which we sold at our picnic in July. Although "Jerry" works at the Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor, she has been very active of GLOS for many years; she lives in Fowlerville.

Q & A Column

     There has been a request by several members to start a question and answer column in our newsletter, so we will start one just as soon as we get questions we can answer. Our current crew of local orchid experts, or reasonable facsimiles thereof, will answer any and all questions as related to the orchids or their culture. No question is too trivial if you are having problems. Send your questions to newsletter co-editor Alex Challis, 4104 Thornoaks Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, or e-mail them at Ice-Penguins@juno.com or icepengwyn@AOL.com.

     AOS Judging Center changes will go into effect beginning with the January monthly judging. The Great Lakes Regional Center will still meet at Matthaei, but has moved from the auditorium to room 139, half-way down the main hallway. An educational period will begin at 11:00 am with slides of recent AOS awards from around the country, followed by brief presentations on different topics. AOS judging will commence at 1:00 pm, so please have any entries on site by 12:45 pm.