It's been about a year since we have all introduced ourselves to each other
here on rgo, and I know we have newcomers (including new regulars) since
then.

If you are a newcomers, or if you did not respond the last time, or if your
answers to "What do I grow?" or "Where do I grow?" or "biggest orchid
accomplishments" have changed quite a bit in the meantime, please please
respond!

Even if you have responded before, here are a few reasons for you to reply
again: newcomers may not know you yet, not everyone searches the archives
and even if they did this kind of thread is not as easy to find since the
title contains only common search words and newcomers won't know which terms
to use to search for this.

In November 2001 Kye posted a message containing a set of questions to
encourage fellow rgo'ers to introduce themselves. I think that this is worth
doing on a regular basis. So here are Kye's questions with my revised
answers:
---------------------------------------------------------
-- Who am I and What Is My Gender?

Joanna, pregnant female. :-) The baby's gender will be male, and his name
shall be Robert. Only 3 more weeks till the anticipated delivery date -- and
time has started to move very slowly now.

-- Where am I? Where do I grow?

Fairfax, Virginia (Washington DC area, USA). Windowsill and shelves of a
condo (shaded eastern and northern exposures with supplemental grow
lights). The ground floor condo we moved to this summer provides very high
humidity (earlier this year it was 60-90%, now that the heat is on it is
down to 'only' 40-80%).

-- What do I grow?

32 Phals/Dtps, 9 Paphs, 2 miniature cattleyas, 1 cochleanthes amazonica, 1
Phrag, 1 Burrageara and 1 Psychopsis.

47 orchids total, 21 of these were acquired in 2004, and 16 of them are 2005
acquisitions.

-- The decade of my age?

3rd.

-- How long have I been growing orchids?

Started in April or May 2001 with an orchid that was a wedding present, and
was
decapitated accidentally with the window blinds a week later, and so I
acquired a second to be able to truthfully say "yes, the orchid is doing
beautifully" on the phone to the gift-giver of the first one. 3.5 years
later, both of these orchids are doing well, and are both in double spike at
this time.

-- My biggest orchid accomplishment(s)?

Spikes, spikes, spikes! Most of my orchids are doing very well, many are in
spike, and quite a few in multiple spike (4 spikes on one of the Phals), and
I've had 5 Phal keikis thus far. In 4.5 years of growing orchids, I have
killed
only one so far -- though I anticipate that a few more may die next year
unfortunately, a few are not doing well, and with the baby I will probably
neglect them more, so only the sturdy ones will continue to do well. Since
many of them are sturdy Phals though, I hope that most of them will be ok
even with benign neglect.

-- Miscellaneous Info...

I am originally from Poland, and then Austria, but I have lived half my life
in the US. I work as a Web developer (kind of, although by now my job seems
to have shifted more toward tester -- Quality Control being really
important,
and me being very thorough and detail-oriented by nature). I am married to
David, who is a very considerate orchid addict's spouse, and a very
considerate spouse of a pregnant woman too. I think he will make a very good
father. I will need to start thinking about child-proofing my orchid
collection in time before the little guy becomes mobile.

Best,
Joanna

Hey, what about a picture on abpo?


On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 23:22:36 GMT, "J Fortuna"
wrote:

It's been about a year since we have all introduced ourselves to each other
here on rgo, and I know we have newcomers (including new regulars) since
then.

If you are a newcomers, or if you did not respond the last time, or if your
answers to "What do I grow?" or "Where do I grow?" or "biggest orchid
accomplishments" have changed quite a bit in the meantime, please please
respond!

Even if you have responded before, here are a few reasons for you to reply
again: newcomers may not know you yet, not everyone searches the archives
and even if they did this kind of thread is not as easy to find since the
title contains only common search words and newcomers won't know which terms
to use to search for this.

In November 2001 Kye posted a message containing a set of questions to
encourage fellow rgo'ers to introduce themselves. I think that this is worth
doing on a regular basis. So here are Kye's questions with my revised
answers:
---------------------------------------------------------
-- Who am I and What Is My Gender?

Joanna, pregnant female. :-) The baby's gender will be male, and his name
shall be Robert. Only 3 more weeks till the anticipated delivery date -- and
time has started to move very slowly now.

-- Where am I? Where do I grow?

Fairfax, Virginia (Washington DC area, USA). Windowsill and shelves of a
condo (shaded eastern and northern exposures with supplemental grow
lights). The ground floor condo we moved to this summer provides very high
humidity (earlier this year it was 60-90%, now that the heat is on it is
down to 'only' 40-80%).

-- What do I grow?

32 Phals/Dtps, 9 Paphs, 2 miniature cattleyas, 1 cochleanthes amazonica, 1
Phrag, 1 Burrageara and 1 Psychopsis.

47 orchids total, 21 of these were acquired in 2004, and 16 of them are 2005
acquisitions.

-- The decade of my age?

3rd.

-- How long have I been growing orchids?

Started in April or May 2001 with an orchid that was a wedding present, and
was
decapitated accidentally with the window blinds a week later, and so I
acquired a second to be able to truthfully say "yes, the orchid is doing
beautifully" on the phone to the gift-giver of the first one. 3.5 years
later, both of these orchids are doing well, and are both in double spike at
this time.

-- My biggest orchid accomplishment(s)?

Spikes, spikes, spikes! Most of my orchids are doing very well, many are in
spike, and quite a few in multiple spike (4 spikes on one of the Phals), and
I've had 5 Phal keikis thus far. In 4.5 years of growing orchids, I have
killed
only one so far -- though I anticipate that a few more may die next year
unfortunately, a few are not doing well, and with the baby I will probably
neglect them more, so only the sturdy ones will continue to do well. Since
many of them are sturdy Phals though, I hope that most of them will be ok
even with benign neglect.

-- Miscellaneous Info...

I am originally from Poland, and then Austria, but I have lived half my life
in the US. I work as a Web developer (kind of, although by now my job seems
to have shifted more toward tester -- Quality Control being really
important,
and me being very thorough and detail-oriented by nature). I am married to
David, who is a very considerate orchid addict's spouse, and a very
considerate spouse of a pregnant woman too. I think he will make a very good
father. I will need to start thinking about child-proofing my orchid
collection in time before the little guy becomes mobile.

Best,
Joanna


Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

-- Who am I and What Is My Gender?
I am Toni Carroll- a woman.

-- Where am I? Where do I grow?
I am in South Florida- northern Broward County

-- What do I grow?
I have many Dends naturalized in trees, and am now naturalizing Phals as
well. Lots of Vandas and similar, a few Catts, a few Brassavolas, Oncids
etc. My favorite genus is Encyclia. I try and grow a little bit of
everything that will do well here, so I have a fair number of different
genus plants. I prefer species plants over floof. All of my plants remain
outdoors unless a freeze or hurricane is expected, and the naturalized ones
of course stay out regardless. And although I do feed weakly weekly none of
them have ever been coddled or sprayed for anything. Cosmetic damage is
acceptable 'round here.
I have begun a page of photos here-
http://www.cearbhaill.com/orchids.htm

-- The decade of my age?
5th

-- How long have I been growing orchids?
Casually since 1991. I have been more actively collecting for a couple of
years.

-- My biggest orchid accomplishment(s)?
None.
Except for the somewhat noteworthy fact that I can never recall ever having
had one die.

-- Miscellaneous Info...
We have Irish Wolfhounds and are active in the dog community, take drum
lessons, and also collect 60's Yankee and classic rock memorablia.


--
Toni
South Florida USA
Zone 10b
http://ww.cearbhaill.com

J Fortuna schreef:

In November 2001 Kye posted a message containing a set of questions to
encourage fellow rgo'ers to introduce themselves. I think that this is worth
doing on a regular basis. So here are Kye's questions with my revised
answers:
---------------------------------------------------------

And here are mine:
-- Who am I and What Is My Gender?

My name is Niek Hanckmann, male.

-- Where am I? Where do I grow?

I live in Vught in the Netherlands. I live in a small monastery on a
compound of 19 acres (almost 8 hectares). There we have a heated
greenhouse of 20 square metres of wich I can use half for growing
orchids. The other half is used by the other brothers for succulents,
som not-hardy terrace-plants and for sowing annuals in spring.

-- What do I grow?

I grow aproximatly 100 different species and som 40 hybrids. I am a
generalist, so I just try to grow what I like and what is in my reach. I
have orchids from aerides to trichopilia, from bulbophyllum to vanda,
from angraecum to wilsonara. I have a slight preference for miniatures,
but only because you can grow more of them on an square metre! The
benefit of larger plants on the other had is that the rest of the people
living here can also enjoy them. That makes the time I spend on my
orchids acceptable to them ;-)

-- The decade of my age?

3rd decade

-- How long have I been growing orchids?

I have been growing orchids for 18 years now. I started on a window
sill, brining the plants outside under a tree in summer. Since four
years I am growing in a greenhouse.

-- My biggest orchid accomplishment(s)?

I am very proud of my dendrobium cucumerinum (is now called dockrillia
cucumerinum). It was one of my first orchids and it is the only one from
the beginning period that is still alive. I bought it flowering in 1987
and it refused to flower for 15 years! Al those years it grew 3 or 4
leaves a year and in winter it lost 3 or 4 leaves as well. Three years
ago it finally established and started growing well. It still isn't a
very big plant, but it is flowering two times a year and growing more
vigorously every year.

-- Miscellaneous Info...

As you might have made up out of the answers above, I live as a
religious brother. My daily occupation is teaching in a school for
psychiatric adolescents. That is a heavy job, so growing orchids is a
very welcome diversion.
And although my heart beats twice as fast when seeing orchids, I do like
everything that has to do with gardening or wildlife.

Greets, Niek

Thats not that bad an idea mate, will start the thread... I assume that you
will post a pic too???

Kye.

"Dave Gillingham" wrote in message
...
Hey, what about a picture on abpo?


On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 23:22:36 GMT, "J Fortuna"

wrote:

It's been about a year since we have all introduced ourselves to each
other
here on rgo, and I know we have newcomers (including new regulars) since
then.

If you are a newcomers, or if you did not respond the last time, or if
your
answers to "What do I grow?" or "Where do I grow?" or "biggest orchid
accomplishments" have changed quite a bit in the meantime, please please
respond!

Even if you have responded before, here are a few reasons for you to reply
again: newcomers may not know you yet, not everyone searches the archives
and even if they did this kind of thread is not as easy to find since the
title contains only common search words and newcomers won't know which
terms
to use to search for this.

In November 2001 Kye posted a message containing a set of questions to
encourage fellow rgo'ers to introduce themselves. I think that this is
worth
doing on a regular basis. So here are Kye's questions with my revised
answers:
---------------------------------------------------------
-- Who am I and What Is My Gender?

Joanna, pregnant female. :-) The baby's gender will be male, and his name
shall be Robert. Only 3 more weeks till the anticipated delivery date --
and
time has started to move very slowly now.

-- Where am I? Where do I grow?

Fairfax, Virginia (Washington DC area, USA). Windowsill and shelves of a
condo (shaded eastern and northern exposures with supplemental grow
lights). The ground floor condo we moved to this summer provides very high
humidity (earlier this year it was 60-90%, now that the heat is on it is
down to 'only' 40-80%).

-- What do I grow?

32 Phals/Dtps, 9 Paphs, 2 miniature cattleyas, 1 cochleanthes amazonica, 1
Phrag, 1 Burrageara and 1 Psychopsis.

47 orchids total, 21 of these were acquired in 2004, and 16 of them are
2005
acquisitions.

-- The decade of my age?

3rd.

-- How long have I been growing orchids?

Started in April or May 2001 with an orchid that was a wedding present,
and
was
decapitated accidentally with the window blinds a week later, and so I
acquired a second to be able to truthfully say "yes, the orchid is doing
beautifully" on the phone to the gift-giver of the first one. 3.5 years
later, both of these orchids are doing well, and are both in double spike
at
this time.

-- My biggest orchid accomplishment(s)?

Spikes, spikes, spikes! Most of my orchids are doing very well, many are
in
spike, and quite a few in multiple spike (4 spikes on one of the Phals),
and
I've had 5 Phal keikis thus far. In 4.5 years of growing orchids, I have
killed
only one so far -- though I anticipate that a few more may die next year
unfortunately, a few are not doing well, and with the baby I will probably
neglect them more, so only the sturdy ones will continue to do well. Since
many of them are sturdy Phals though, I hope that most of them will be ok
even with benign neglect.

-- Miscellaneous Info...

I am originally from Poland, and then Austria, but I have lived half my
life
in the US. I work as a Web developer (kind of, although by now my job
seems
to have shifted more toward tester -- Quality Control being really
important,
and me being very thorough and detail-oriented by nature). I am married to
David, who is a very considerate orchid addict's spouse, and a very
considerate spouse of a pregnant woman too. I think he will make a very
good
father. I will need to start thinking about child-proofing my orchid
collection in time before the little guy becomes mobile.

Best,
Joanna


Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

My responses to Kye's questions:
---------------------------------------------------------
-- Who am I and What Is My Gender?

John Varigos - male of course - wife (Barbara) and two boys who are
definitely not interested in growing orchids and who humour me my obsession!
Photo over on ABPO.

-- Where am I? Where do I grow?

I live in an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia, where the winters are
reasonably mild (definitely no snow and a very occassional mild frost)
allowing for outdoor growing of cool tolerant orchids but the summers can be
a real beast with temperatures on some days over 40°C with less than 10%
humidity. Challenging growing conditions. I have a small heated glasshouse
[3m X 3m - min 14°C] and a similar size shade house covered in 50% shade
cloth. I have finally negotiated with my wife to install a larger
glasshouse which will more than double my area under glass. This will be
installed in Autumn (March April next year). Can't wait - orchid growers
nirvana - more space!!

-- What do I grow?

I am totally into species and have a mixed collection of about 500 from all
continents except Europe and Nth America. I do have a leaning to the
African/Madagascan species, Australian epiphytes and Dendrobiums especially
New Guinea ones. Since my trip to Sicily and several field trips around
Australia, I have also developed an interest in terrestrials and have
recently started trying to grow Australian ones.

-- The decade of my age?

5rd.

-- How long have I been growing orchids?

I started growing orchids nearly 30 years ago when my wife took me to an
orchid show at a local shopping centre. She still rues the day.

-- My biggest orchid accomplishment(s)?

Probably getting a Maxillaria sophronitis to flower after 23 years. Bought
as a seedling, the plant has grown magnificently such that I now have two
mounts covered in growth - but no flowers. Three years ago after many years
of frustration I told it (yes I talk to my orchids) that if it didn't flower
this year it I would get rid of it. Several weeks later I noticed a splash
of red and found a solitary flower. It had met my challenge. Each year
since it has had more flowers - just a late maturer I guess.

-- Miscellaneous Info...

I am a novice orchid photographer and really enjoy looking for orchids in
situ. One of my life's highlights was a trip earlier this year with several
mates to Borneo. There is nothing like seeing orchids in their native
habitat. We are currently planning another trip for 2006, this time to
Thailand, Laos and Borneo (can't wait to get back).

I am pharmacologist and to pay for my excesses I have worked in the
Pharmaceutical industry most of my life. I also have an academic
appointment at Monash Uni Dept of Medicine. My area of expertise is
coordinating large cardiovascular clinical trials. I also love my one year
old chocolate Labrador, Baci.

Cheers

John


--
John Varigos
Melbourne, Australia
__________________________________________
To email me remove "usenet." from my email address.

It will be there when I get organised.

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 13:41:29 GMT, "Kye" wrote:

Thats not that bad an idea mate, will start the thread... I assume that you
will post a pic too???

Kye.

"Dave Gillingham" wrote in message
.. .
Hey, what about a picture on abpo?


On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 23:22:36 GMT, "J Fortuna"

wrote:

It's been about a year since we have all introduced ourselves to each
other
here on rgo, and I know we have newcomers (including new regulars) since
then.

If you are a newcomers, or if you did not respond the last time, or if
your
answers to "What do I grow?" or "Where do I grow?" or "biggest orchid
accomplishments" have changed quite a bit in the meantime, please please
respond!

Even if you have responded before, here are a few reasons for you to reply
again: newcomers may not know you yet, not everyone searches the archives
and even if they did this kind of thread is not as easy to find since the
title contains only common search words and newcomers won't know which
terms
to use to search for this.

In November 2001 Kye posted a message containing a set of questions to
encourage fellow rgo'ers to introduce themselves. I think that this is
worth
doing on a regular basis. So here are Kye's questions with my revised
answers:
---------------------------------------------------------
-- Who am I and What Is My Gender?

Joanna, pregnant female. :-) The baby's gender will be male, and his name
shall be Robert. Only 3 more weeks till the anticipated delivery date --
and
time has started to move very slowly now.

-- Where am I? Where do I grow?

Fairfax, Virginia (Washington DC area, USA). Windowsill and shelves of a
condo (shaded eastern and northern exposures with supplemental grow
lights). The ground floor condo we moved to this summer provides very high
humidity (earlier this year it was 60-90%, now that the heat is on it is
down to 'only' 40-80%).

-- What do I grow?

32 Phals/Dtps, 9 Paphs, 2 miniature cattleyas, 1 cochleanthes amazonica, 1
Phrag, 1 Burrageara and 1 Psychopsis.

47 orchids total, 21 of these were acquired in 2004, and 16 of them are
2005
acquisitions.

-- The decade of my age?

3rd.

-- How long have I been growing orchids?

Started in April or May 2001 with an orchid that was a wedding present,
and
was
decapitated accidentally with the window blinds a week later, and so I
acquired a second to be able to truthfully say "yes, the orchid is doing
beautifully" on the phone to the gift-giver of the first one. 3.5 years
later, both of these orchids are doing well, and are both in double spike
at
this time.

-- My biggest orchid accomplishment(s)?

Spikes, spikes, spikes! Most of my orchids are doing very well, many are
in
spike, and quite a few in multiple spike (4 spikes on one of the Phals),
and
I've had 5 Phal keikis thus far. In 4.5 years of growing orchids, I have
killed
only one so far -- though I anticipate that a few more may die next year
unfortunately, a few are not doing well, and with the baby I will probably
neglect them more, so only the sturdy ones will continue to do well. Since
many of them are sturdy Phals though, I hope that most of them will be ok
even with benign neglect.

-- Miscellaneous Info...

I am originally from Poland, and then Austria, but I have lived half my
life
in the US. I work as a Web developer (kind of, although by now my job
seems
to have shifted more toward tester -- Quality Control being really
important,
and me being very thorough and detail-oriented by nature). I am married to
David, who is a very considerate orchid addict's spouse, and a very
considerate spouse of a pregnant woman too. I think he will make a very
good
father. I will need to start thinking about child-proofing my orchid
collection in time before the little guy becomes mobile.

Best,
Joanna


Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

This is basically a marginally edited version of my post last year. Not much
change since then.

Dave Gillingham - male - age 63

I started growing orchids living in Townsville (tropical Queensland, Australia)
in my early teens. My collecting was probably prompted by an older good friend
who had also started collecting. In those days, & at that age, all I could
afford was whatever I was able to collect, swap, or be given through the
kindness of older members of the Townsville Orchid Society. That probably
started my abiding interest in native dendrobes.

I am much clearer on why I *continued* to collect orchids: There was this girl
across the road from my home who also decided to be interested in them.
Assisting her to expand her collection (ie me scouring the local bush for plants
for her collection) was good for lots of brownie points. Unfortunately, around
about the time there were no new types to collect, a sort of friend of mine
became an apprentice carpenter. He decided it would be a good idea to build her
a shade house with scrap material from his worksites. My brownie total faded
rapidly into insignificance :-(

Family moved south to Brisbane - most of the collection died in the back of a
removal van in the midst of a Queensland summer. University, work, marriage,
kids (beloved wife & 3 lovely girls) etc, and, while the interest remained, the
commitment faded. The only plant I still have from those days is a D. discolor I
collected from Magnetic Island. (In those days there was no concern about
collecting, and we only ever took one or two plants). Its descendant bulbs are
now growing on a bloodwood in our yard.

After retiring, one of my projects was to construct a rainforest area beside a
gully running through our property. One daughter, knowing of my interest in
orchids, gave me four intending that they be tied to trees in the rainforest.

It seemed wrong to do that, so I bought a weldmesh shelf, mounted it on star
pickets by the edge of the rainforest with an easterly aspect, & put the plants
there.

Well, there was spare space on the shelf, wasn't there? So I bought a couple
more. Or so. Then I bought another shelf to take the overflow. Spare space -
more plants - overflow - third 2.4 metre shelf - overflow - replace three 2.4 m
x 450 mm (ie 8' x 18") shelves with three 2.4 m x 600 mm shelves - more plants -
new shelf currently required to help with about 200 plants. (That was last
year. It's now four 2.4 m x 600 mm shelves, with one of the old ones pressed
back into service as well, and nearly 300 plants.

In my current incarnation I've been growing for about three years. I've joined
the local branch of the Australasian Native Orchid Society, where I feel to be
the least knowledgeable of members. Accomplishments? Not sure there are any
of note - I just love growing them & seeing them thrive.

My collection now is at least 10 times the size of the one from my youth, so the
outlook has changed. Some of the "specialness" has disappeared. With the small
collection of my teens, every plant was an individual. A new root was a matter
for joy, & was monitored closely. A new shoot was cause for celebration - and
for devastation if anything happened to it. Flower spike? Break out the
champagne - weeelll, at that stage, the Coca Cola & celebrate with the girl
across the road. I certainly wouldn't part with any of my collection, but I do
miss those days when there was such joy in the performance of individual plants
that were almost part of the family. But they're still fun.

Other interests? Quite a few. I never grew out of the little boy who raced out
into the yard whenever a plane flew over. Airshow photography is a keen
interest, & I learned to fly after retiring. Wish I could afford to do it more.
Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

-- 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

On Fri, 16 Dec 2005 08:35:03 +0100, Reka wrote:

[Big snip]

(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!).

Do you love the winter solstice for the time of year, or because it can only get
better from there?
"Ah wind, if Winter comes can Spring be far behind?"
Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

In article ,
says...
On Fri, 16 Dec 2005 08:35:03 +0100, Reka wrote:

[Big snip]

(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!).

Do you love the winter solstice for the time of year, or because it can only get
better from there?
"Ah wind, if Winter comes can Spring be far behind?"
Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

Well, I love skiing (which I learned to do only three years ago) but it
gets pretty cold and dismal when you only have sun from 10 to 1! I can
hardly wait for the longer days. But then, when summer is getting really
hot, I wish it weren't! Damned if it does, damned if it doesn't. ;-)

--
Reka

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

As I have only recently joined this group, I figured it would be as
good a time as any to follow up on the 'who am I, where do I grow, what
do I grow, Who did that!,' and questions of that nature.

Who am I and What Is My Gender?

I am Tony Watkinson and I am definitely a male. Retired to grow orchids
with my wife of 43 years. (that must be some achievement in itself
these days)

Where am I and where do I grow.

We live in Perth, Western Australia where the weather is mild during
the winter with only a very rare frost, but the summers are long and
dry (as in no rain from November to April) and hot. Sometimes we get a
heatwave of over 100F for a week or two. Tricky conditions for orchids.
I have a hothouse 6m x 4m attached to the back of the house facing
north, (Southern hemisphere) and a 'bush house' covered in a form of
shadecloth that is sandwiched inside layers of plastic, (I don't know
what you would call that stuff where you are) and open at the ends.
Both are equipped with swamp coolers which help to keep the heat down
and add to the humidity as well.

What do I grow?

Well I started with Hardcane Dendrobiums an Phalaenopsis, then added
bits and pieces along the way. A friend tried to persuade me to join a
species orchid society but I explained that I really didn't have many
of those. I went home and counted the species. 48! So I joined the
Species Orchid Society of WA and am currently getting toward the end of
my second, two year term as President. I have substantially more than
48 species orchids now but I am not game to try to count them. I still
have many Dens & Phals both species and hybrids.

The decade of my age?

the 6th unfortunately

How long have I been growing orchids?

Since 1989

My biggest orchid accomplishment

Isn't it funny how you look at a question like that and think 'well,
nothing much I suppose' and then the penny drops and you see that you
may well have achieved much more than you realise.

I guess my biggest accomplishment is the web site that I put together
using the pictures of Western Australian native terrestrial orchids
that had been taken by the late Ron Heberle. It is quite huge and uses
the best part of 70 mb. The ongoing costs are met by the Species Orchid
Society of WA as meeting those costs would be quite beyond Mavis and I.

Ron Heberle lived long enough to see the finished product and was over
the moon, as he had expected his lifes work to disappear when he died.

If you want to take a look, feel free but be aware that there are over
1000 pictures there.

http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Eemntee/page18.html

Miscellaneous Info...

Both Mavis and I were born in Britain and came to Australia with our
families when we were teenagers. We have one daughter and two grandson
and an Airdale called Poppet.

Happy growing

Tony

Welcome, Tony. Do you grow any of the WA terrestrials? Several members of our
society went over for the conference recently past. Were you there? Given your
interests, it's a shame the WA climate precludes native epiphytes. That must
also be a bit of a trial for growing the hardcane Dens you have!

On 16 Dec 2005 20:24:29 -0800, "emntee" wrote:

As I have only recently joined this group, I figured it would be as
good a time as any to follow up on the 'who am I, where do I grow, what
do I grow, Who did that!,' and questions of that nature.

Who am I and What Is My Gender?

I am Tony Watkinson and I am definitely a male. Retired to grow orchids
with my wife of 43 years. (that must be some achievement in itself
these days)

Where am I and where do I grow.

We live in Perth, Western Australia where the weather is mild during
the winter with only a very rare frost, but the summers are long and
dry (as in no rain from November to April) and hot. Sometimes we get a
heatwave of over 100F for a week or two. Tricky conditions for orchids.
I have a hothouse 6m x 4m attached to the back of the house facing
north, (Southern hemisphere) and a 'bush house' covered in a form of
shadecloth that is sandwiched inside layers of plastic, (I don't know
what you would call that stuff where you are) and open at the ends.
Both are equipped with swamp coolers which help to keep the heat down
and add to the humidity as well.

What do I grow?

Well I started with Hardcane Dendrobiums an Phalaenopsis, then added
bits and pieces along the way. A friend tried to persuade me to join a
species orchid society but I explained that I really didn't have many
of those. I went home and counted the species. 48! So I joined the
Species Orchid Society of WA and am currently getting toward the end of
my second, two year term as President. I have substantially more than
48 species orchids now but I am not game to try to count them. I still
have many Dens & Phals both species and hybrids.

The decade of my age?

the 6th unfortunately

How long have I been growing orchids?

Since 1989

My biggest orchid accomplishment

Isn't it funny how you look at a question like that and think 'well,
nothing much I suppose' and then the penny drops and you see that you
may well have achieved much more than you realise.

I guess my biggest accomplishment is the web site that I put together
using the pictures of Western Australian native terrestrial orchids
that had been taken by the late Ron Heberle. It is quite huge and uses
the best part of 70 mb. The ongoing costs are met by the Species Orchid
Society of WA as meeting those costs would be quite beyond Mavis and I.

Ron Heberle lived long enough to see the finished product and was over
the moon, as he had expected his lifes work to disappear when he died.

If you want to take a look, feel free but be aware that there are over
1000 pictures there.

http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Eemntee/page18.html

Miscellaneous Info...

Both Mavis and I were born in Britain and came to Australia with our
families when we were teenagers. We have one daughter and two grandson
and an Airdale called Poppet.

Happy growing

Tony
Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

In article .com,
says...
I guess my biggest accomplishment is the web site that I put together
using the pictures of Western Australian native terrestrial orchids
that had been taken by the late Ron Heberle. It is quite huge and uses
the best part of 70 mb. The ongoing costs are met by the Species Orchid
Society of WA as meeting those costs would be quite beyond Mavis and I.

Ron Heberle lived long enough to see the finished product and was over
the moon, as he had expected his lifes work to disappear when he died.

If you want to take a look, feel free but be aware that there are over
1000 pictures there.

http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Eemntee/page18.html


Ohmigod! A whole page of Thelymitras...I have died and gone to heaven!
Beautiful pictures.
Welcome to the group.
--
Reka

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

Hi Tony

Welcome to the group.

I was fortunate to visit with Graham and Margaret Bowden earlier this year
and Graham showed me the original photos taken by Ron. The colours are
quite spectacular. We also went to the salvage site at the end of the
freeway plus visited his brother's property in the Perth hills looking for
orchids. Visiting with Graham and Margaret got me interested in the native
terrestrials and I couldn't resist joining your club and bringing some home.

Cheers

John

--
John Varigos
Melbourne, Australia
__________________________________________
To email me remove "usenet." from my email address.

"emntee" wrote in message
oups.com...
As I have only recently joined this group, I figured it would be as
good a time as any to follow up on the 'who am I, where do I grow, what
do I grow, Who did that!,' and questions of that nature.