Maybe you and 'she' could drive over together, become the jeans and t-shirt
crowd at the formal society. Failing that maybe when next you go to the
formal society you could ask around about other societies in the area.
Maybe there are others, (you never know). I know I was intimidated the
first time I went to my sociey's meeting. No one talked to me and worse yet
no one talked about orchids in the refreshment room so I couldn't even
eavesdrop about orchids!! Even till today I don't go into the refreshement
room for exactly that reason - nobody talks about orchids there. All the
orchid talkers are out looking at the plants on the raffle table and show
and tell table. Another 'benefit' of joining a society is that you get the
newsletter and can join some of the extra curricular activities, like the
BBQ and auction, or a greenhouse tour which would put you in contact with
more vendors. And, while I do buy $200 plants, I still drive down to the
SBOE for the $7.50 plant table. So don't count the local society down until
its out. Plus societies change leadership relatively quickly, so maybe its
changed by now. Heck even the Oakland society has changed its tenor since I
got into orchids. It used to be high falutin' now its just folks. But
don't let me strong arm you. I just think you need more information before
you make a decision. For example, I *still* haven't gotten Tom in Walnut
Creek to get over to the Diablo View OS, so I can't be so great at strong
arm tactics. *G*

K Barrett



"Manelli Family" wrote in message
...

"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
No local society?

There is an orchid society in a city about 30 miles from here. I know
little about it but can surely find out more. All I heard was that the
folks were all quite wealthy, not the blue jeans and T-shirt type, and
thought nothing of paying $200 for a plant. She felt very uncomfortable
and never went back.

Join the club, buy raffle tickets, see if you win any? I
usuallly do the 'Show and Tell' table at my society and I can't tell you
how many blooming orchids I hold up and discuss that were raffle table
plants. There's a wide variety of stuff there, too. The speaker usually
provides a raffle table of the orchids they speak about, so you get a
chance at a bunch of neat stuff. So the financial outlay would be the
club's dues (~$20), and the cost of raffle tickets (~$1 ea). Average
that over a year, see if you come out ahead waiting for Wally World or
going to a club.

It's certainly worth looking into.


Just a thought.

K Barrett