Howick Orchid Society in Auckland hosted the Orchid Council’s AGM and the Judging Seminar that traditionally runs alongside it, at Queen’s Birthday Weekend. Judges had 88 plants to work with and eight awards were submitted for ratification. Everybody seemed pretty happy with that outcome.
As well as using their skills to judge plants, the judges also heard from speakers on various topics. The main speaker was David Banks from Sydney (Hills District Orchids), who is a genial walking encyclopedia of all things orchid. He and his wife Louanne were thrilled to be in New Zealand and the seminar was thrilled to have them!
In his after-dinner speech on Saturday night, David related the circumstances of his near-death or, as he put it, ‘in 2008 I got a bit crook’. First up was an unreported heart attack followed, later that week, by a coughing fit which “blew a hole in my heart more than an inch across”. His dad drove him to his local medical centre, which apparently upset staff more than David. “They thought I was going to die.” Rushed to hospital, he had open-heart surgery and stayed in hospital for a month.
“What was I worried about? Who’s going to water my orchids …” He arranged to split his collection with one mate taking all the mounted plants and the other all the potted plants. “All the potted orchids subsequently died because they weren’t in a heated greenhouse and were in a place that gets frosts.” Some of them were species orchids imported from the US and available only to those with the right connections.
David left his mounted orchids where they were but when that friend moved, sent them to the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra where he could see them anytime. Two years ago, sadly, Canberra was hit by a destructive hail storm and the glasshouse was smashed, leaving his orchids in full sun on 40C days. “I wrote them off, and told myself I was better off not having any warm-growing orchids.” So when the orchid expert at the gardens asked, “when are you coming to get your plants?”, David was shocked to discover most of them had regrown. Over the years he’d also given the gardens bits of his potted plants and these too had thrived and were waiting for him.
“I took two cardboard boxes but needed a truck to get the plants home, they’d really grown in 4 years. Having thought I’d lost both collections, most of them came back to me.”
The moral of the story? “Share really special plants with other people. You never know when you might need them back.”
A Special Service Award was given to Anton and Janet Wehman (pictured above with OCNZ president Margaret Lomas, right) was in recognition for their contributions to OCNZ and the Howick Orchid Society. Howick was to host the AGM and Seminar last year with preparations well under way when it had to be cancelled due to Covid-19. Anton and Janet were also involved with organising the 2012 seminar, and Anton was the chairman of the organising committee for Expo 2016 with Janet assisting in the background.
And what of the orchids on display …
Gaining much attention for its other-worldly looks was Dendrobium spectabile, grown by Bill Pepperell of Waikato Orchid Society (above, Sandra Simpson photo). The orchid is native to most of Melanesia.
Rhyncattleanthe Brassy Gold (above, Sandra Simpson photo) was shown by Ross and Susan Tucker. The cross was registered in 2000.
Tauranga Orchid Society member Helen McDonald, who now lives in Waikato, brought along her large-flowered Dendrobium kuniko (above, Sandra Simpson photo). The plant is a primary hybrid of two species from The Philippines.
Owner Philip Zhou was enjoying the first flowering of Cymbidium Autumn Green ‘Dark Tide’ x faberi (above, Sandra Simpson photo).
Oncidium Pui Chin ‘Flying Tiger’ (above, Sandra Simpson photo). The cross was registered in 1987.
Masdevallia scobina (above, Sandra Simpson photo) was shown by Lee and Roy Neale of the Waitakere Orchid Society. This species is found in only one part of Colombia and was named for science in 1982.
Tauranga Orchid Society 