August 2009                                         online at: www.geocities.com/north_dade                                                      Page 2

Orchid Landscaping with a Twist

By Amy Werba

In July, Peter Kouchalakos of PCK Orchids gave a great lecture and brought beautiful orchids and bromeliads for the raffle table. Here are some great tricks for adding orchids in your yard’s landscape. Light is the #1 issue, with the southern exposure being the brightest. Western exposure is best for cactus, since it is hot. Use a mix of orchids, bromeliads and ferns when planting, not just one type. Establish the plants outside of pots or baskets – attached epiphytic plants directly to trees using 14 inch cable ties (black ones seem to last longer). You can attach 2 or 3 straps together when placing orchids on larger tree trunks.

Once the orchids are in your landscape, spray the foliage with fertilizer at least once a month. You can make little bags using time-release pellets using pantyhose (again black is best since it blends into the landscape). When adding orchids, place several in the same area, working in odd numbers of 3,5,or 7, and try to select plants that bloom at different times, so some are always in bloom.

To deter pests, spray with insecticidal soap or dish detergent. Plants on trees will weather a little but will begin blooming beautifully, once established.

Peter also gave us a few tips to prepare our orchids for Hurricane season.

Water your plants thoroughly BEFORE bringing the plants inside. Keep a fan running to improve air circulation, while your plants are inside. And after the storm, get them outside as soon as you possibly can. If you have a power outage, consider using a battery-powered fan on your plants – but be sure you buy the fan BEFORE the storm. After a storm – forget about finding a battery fan within 100 miles! Also keep a kit with insecticide and fungicide on hand. Spray the plants before and after with fungicide, such as Dithane or Thyomil to prevent problems.

If you leave plants outside on a bench, get some orange construction fencing and literally wrap your bench and the plants (after you lay the tall ones on their side) using bungees, rope or cable ties to secure the fencing material.

Keep generators away from your orchids. The ethylene gas from the exhaust can kill – plants should be at least 30 feet away – be sure they are not downwind from the generator exhaust.

This ‘n That

Sept. Meeting Date changed

Since the fourth Monday in September is the end of the Jewish High Holiday, Yom Kippur, we have changed our meeting date to Monday September 21^st at 7:00 PM. Please make note on your calendar.

Blue Ribbon Winners-July ‘09

July Plant of the month –

 Anachielium radiatum

Species/rare/fragrant

 Enid Rosenthal

Other Blue Ribbon Winners:

Bl. Yellow Bird

Frances Abascal

Onc. Shelob Webmaster

Frances Abascal

Cattleya Laelia  – Mary Paans

New Member in July ‘09

    Welcome to new member:

Barbara Benis

Barbara is the daughter of Mildred & Norton Benis. Norton served as President in 1965-67 and 1989-1990. Mildred was a lifetime member. Welcome!

    Thanks to the 3 members that renewed.

 Bring a guest to our regular monthly meetings. You & your guest will receive a free raffle ticket!

Sunshine--

Get well wishes to Pamela Segal and

Caroline Turner – our refreshments specialist!

New Website Coming

We will be changing websites in September and are asking for assistance from anyone who has experience building websites. This is a one-time job for anyone savvy with a computer. Contact Amy Werba to help out.

Welcome to 2 new board members!

In June and July 2009, we had 2 of our members attend board meetings – Helena Parris and Frances Abascal. At the end of the board meetings each member was asked if they would like to join the board. Both members said “YES!”. The NDOC board is glad to have these two lovely women join up. Frances has volunteered to help purchase plants for the mini-auction, and Helena will be head up our Sunshine committee.  

Feeling a little jealous? Any member can sit in at a board meeting. If you enjoy the evening and want to continue attending board meetings and help out, you may be invited to join the board. It’s a great way to become friendlier with the officers and learn more about what happens behind the scenes of each meeting. Contact any officer if you are interested in attending a board meeting.