-- Who am I and What Is My Gender?

Reka, female.

-- Where am I? Where do I grow?

Margreid, Italy, though I am a native of Oregon.
I have a south-facing sun room walled in on three sides, the south side
a wall of windows about 10' wide and 10-15' tall on the third and top
floor of our condominium building. I only actively use the lower 4 feet.
Who knows, that may change - I have thought of a system of pulleys...
In addition, I have a cart with four 40cmx60cm shelves, each with two
fluorescent lights. And a few windowsills throughout the rest of the
apartment...

-- What do I grow?

Yikes! My daughter counted my orchids well over three months ago and
ended up with 111. God only knows how many there are now.
I have mainly Phals, but also Catt alliance, Oncidium alliance, Dens, a
few Paphs, a Masdevallia, a Maxillaria, a Ludisia, a Rhynchostylis and a
Vanda. And probably a few others I have forgotten about. My true love
(at the moment) are Phal species and some primary hybrids, which I have
all too few of.

-- The decade of my age?

4th.

-- How long have I been growing orchids?

I got an orchid twenty years ago, even two or three, but the apartment I
had didn't have good windows for orchids. They survived, but nothing
more, until we moved into our condo in 1994.

-- My biggest orchid accomplishment(s)?

Not yet driving my husband out of the house with my expanding collection
and also my moral fortitude in not buying too many more lately!
Not really an accomplishment, but going to WOC in Dijon was thrilling,
even with a 100°+ fever!

-- Miscellaneous Info...

I have helped organize the first orchid club in our area, with a total
of 40+ members since the beginning of the year. I am the secretary of
the club. We organized our first show in the winter of 2005 which
attracted over 3000 visitors. Our next show will take place in a nearby
castle in 2006.
My son helped at the show last year and got along so well with the
vendors that he came home with 7 orchids of his own, including the Epi.
difforme I posted recently on abpo. My kids take active interest in my
orchids, and my husband enjoys the greenery in the sun room, and the
fluorescents on the short winter days (The sun goes behind the Dolomite
mountains looming directly behind our house at 1:30 p.m. right now - but
my favorite day of the year, the winter solstice, is not far away!).


--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html