Photo: Tim Culbertson, May Speaker

May Members’ Meeting

For our May meeting, we will meet on Saturday the 9th. We’re so pleased to welcome Tim Culbertson for his talk, “Amazing Soft-Leaved Orchids.”

Soft-Leaved Orchids are easy to grow and flower, are vigorous, and have low cultural demands beyond the needs for heat and water.  Genera in this group, including Pescatorea, Cochleanthes, Bollea, and Huntleya, are under-represented in collections of mixed genera; their beautiful (and often blue) flower colors argue favorably for their inclusion, as does their tendency to produce specimen plants quickly when grown well. 

Tim Culbertson Bio

Plants have always been one of Tim Culbertson’s passions. Tim began growing orchids as an offshoot from working at Longwood Gardens in Philadelphia just after college. From the very beginning, it was all about Paphiopedilum orchids for Tim, particularly awarded and select clones of historic importance. Tim currently manages the Paphiopedilum orchids at Sunset Valley Orchids, and does hybridizing in a wide range of genera. Tim is an accredited judge with the American Orchid Society and has served in various capacities with orchid societies in California and on the East Coast. Tim loves meeting other people who like orchids too, and so he often travels to shows, vendors, and peoples’ greenhouses to see the latest and greatest in new hybrids and to get the best orchid gossip. In addition to Longwood, Tim worked at the Smithsonian Institution tending to their orchids, and for years for the United States National Arboretum, collecting rare plants and documenting cultivated species and hybrids for their herbarium. 

Agenda

11:00 am Meet and Greet, Pullman Room

11:15-11:45 Mentors’ Circle breakout discussion, Pullman Room

11:55 am Please have your plants and tags on the display tables for judging

12:15 pm Plant judging starts

Cast your vote for People’s Choice

12:30 pm Business meeting and annual election or the IOS Board of Directors, Alsdorf Auditorium

1:00 pm Tim Culbertson on “Amazing Soft-Leaved Orchids”

2:30 pm Meeting adjourns

Please note: Recording of Illinois Orchid Society meetings, presentations, or speakers is prohibited without prior written consent from the Society.