Like everything else in this economy attendance at our orchid show was down.
But those who *did* attend made the vendors very happy by buying in lots of
$100 or more. So what's up with that? The AOS and Orchid Digest magazine
have noted declining membership and ennui in local societys. Could this
indicate a shake out? Fewer members but the one's that remain are truly
interested? I have no answers, but even attendance at rgo is down.

We got 4 new memebrs at our show. More than last year. Brings us up to 104
members, IIRC. The number usually declines after January, when dues are
due.

I still use the 'dead orchid unit' when deciding to make a non-orchid but
orchid related purchase. Like if I join this club how many dead orchids
could I have saved with any information I'd have gotten from this purchase?
So club membership still rates high in the avoidance of dead orchids
category. Some of these online groups continue to rate high, becasue
they're free!

I've been trying to study splash petals cattleya breeding. Not gettign
anywhere quick, but I'm still poking around the subject. There seems to be
2 sorts of 'splash', or maybe I'm wrong. One with the splash at the tip and
one where the margins of the petal is one color and another is along the
mibrib. Rosanski's orchid page shows both 'sorts' pretty well
http://www.rozanskiorchidhouse.com/products.php?cat=14
Granted many of these are mericlones of the ones that splashed the way the
hybridizer thought the cross should turn out. For example you could google
C Moscombe (a parent in many splash petal breeding) and see some pretty
whacked out looking orchids. But the progeny look great. Flat petals, etc.
Which is why I wondered 'How'd they do that?'

So that's what I've been up to.

You?

K Barrett

Far from being dormant, our society is growing by leaps and bounds. We had
12 new memberships in September and October alone. We will lose a few this
month - it's purge month, so anyone who hasn't paid dues comes off the list.
That will still leave us with about 150. Those are memberships on the
roster. Some are for two people, so it's probably closer to 180 heads.

Every vendor that we have invited to our next show (March 09) has sais yes
and paid up. Our location is central and the show has always been good to
vendors. For some reason, our attendees are buying machines, LOL! Last year,
two vendors who had also done the Miami show (which is waaaay bigger and
better attended than ours) actually sold more on our first day than they had
on the first day of Miami. So, we'll see what happens this time.

A recent local show (not ours) was poorly attended, and the vendors went
home with a lot of plants. But, part of the reason was location, far out of
town at the Fairgrounds. It's like a double whammy. Somebody thinks about
going to the show and wonders if they should spend the money, and then it's
easy to justify staying home with, "Who wants to drive all the way out
there?".

What am I doing? Well, I was feeling virtuous until I looked really hard at
what needs to be done in our orchid kingdom. Gotta get busy again. Have
been, as usual, very involved with the society. Newsletter deadline was
Friday, but not everything has come in, so it will be a little later than
I'd like. Promised to write an article for Orchids. Deadline is December.
Writer's block rules!

I guess that statement fits right in with Kathy having nothing to say and
pigs flying........

Diana

"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
Like everything else in this economy attendance at our orchid show was
down. But those who *did* attend made the vendors very happy by buying in
lots of $100 or more. So what's up with that? The AOS and Orchid Digest
magazine have noted declining membership and ennui in local societys.
Could this indicate a shake out? Fewer members but the one's that remain
are truly interested? I have no answers, but even attendance at rgo is
down.

We got 4 new memebrs at our show. More than last year. Brings us up to
104 members, IIRC. The number usually declines after January, when dues
are due.

I still use the 'dead orchid unit' when deciding to make a non-orchid but
orchid related purchase. Like if I join this club how many dead orchids
could I have saved with any information I'd have gotten from this
purchase? So club membership still rates high in the avoidance of dead
orchids category. Some of these online groups continue to rate high,
becasue they're free!

I've been trying to study splash petals cattleya breeding. Not gettign
anywhere quick, but I'm still poking around the subject. There seems to
be 2 sorts of 'splash', or maybe I'm wrong. One with the splash at the
tip and one where the margins of the petal is one color and another is
along the mibrib. Rosanski's orchid page shows both 'sorts' pretty well
http://www.rozanskiorchidhouse.com/products.php?cat=14
Granted many of these are mericlones of the ones that splashed the way the
hybridizer thought the cross should turn out. For example you could
google C Moscombe (a parent in many splash petal breeding) and see some
pretty whacked out looking orchids. But the progeny look great. Flat
petals, etc. Which is why I wondered 'How'd they do that?'

So that's what I've been up to.

You?

K Barrett