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#1
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Who We Are revisited
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 |
#2
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Who We Are revisited
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. |
#3
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Who We Are revisited
-- 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 |
#4
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Who We Are revisited
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 |
#5
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Who We Are revisited
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. |
#6
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Who We Are revisited
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. |
#7
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Who We Are revisited
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. |
#8
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Who We Are revisited
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. |
#9
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Who We Are revisited
-- 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 |
#10
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Who We Are revisited
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. |
#12
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Who We Are revisited
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 |
#13
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Who We Are revisited
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. |
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Who We Are revisited
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 |
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Who We Are revisited
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. |
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