Malihini Orchid Society

Happy Roots Happy Orchids!

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Location: Santa Clara Railroad Museum
1005 Railroad Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050

SETUP STARTS AT 7PM, MEETING AT 7:30PM

Speaker

Harvey Brenneise is the speaker in this webinar.
This webinar is focusing on orchid health & growth, and themed around the idea that healthy roots lead to happy orchids.
We will start this webinar at 7:30 pm.

Plant table

1) The remainder of Weegie Caughlan’s donated Cymbidiums from 2025.
2) Antonio Nguyen bought two orchids from the POE. He will donate the Cattleya purpurata (Tanya Lam’s batch). These plants are very hardy and can survive our weather here. They are pretty rare also. The Cattleya’s flowers are a rare pink. The Sarcochilus is from Dennis Olivas. The flower color can be anything from white to pink to red because the Sarcochilus is from a seedling batch. It is very hardy for our weather here.
Price tags are still attached to them. Both will produce high quality flowers in the right hands. Sturdy plants with beautiful flowers are hard to find these days. See the two photos in the attachment.
4) Cymbidiums (about 10-12) donated by your president, John Humphey. There will be at least two pendulous Cyms. One with light green flowers (5 ft. of pendulous Cyms). The second one has yellow and white flowers.

These Cyms are really good ones. You better show up or miss out!

John Humphrey and Antonio Nguyen will comment on their plant table donations to better explain their orchids.

Hybridizing Cymbidiums

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Location: Santa Clara Railroad Museum
1005 Railroad Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050

SETUP STARTS AT 7PM, MEETING AT 7:30PM

Speaker

Pierre Pujol (remote presentation)
Speaker will give the talk at 7:30 pm, so come early

Pierre will tell us about his experience hybridizing Cymbidiums. Topics will cover selecting parents, setting expectations, and analyzing the outcome. Pierre believes that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, so you can expect to see many flower pictures of plants used for breeding and their seedlings.

Speaker bio

Pierre has been growing orchids for 16 years, both in his backyard in Redwood City and in an unheated greenhouse in Half Moon Bay. Pierre specializes in Cymbidiums, but his collection also includes more than 250+ cool-growing orchids of other genera. These include Zygopetalum, Sarcochilus, Masdevallia, Cattleya, Dendrobium, Oncidium, and Stanhopea .

Pierre has an education in Life Sciences that he applies to finding the best culture for his plants. He likes exhibiting his plants at meetings, shows, and making his own hybrids.

Plant table

John Humphrey (our president) will provide (donate) the plant table. He will bring 10-15 Cymbidiums.

Cool Growing Orchids for the Bay Area

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Location: Santa Clara Railroad Museum
1005 Railroad Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050

SETUP STARTS AT 7PM, MEETING AT 7:30PM

Speaker

Angelic Nguyen of Orchid Design

Speaker bio

Angelic Nguyen has been growing orchids for about 20 years, and started her company, Orchid Design, in 1999. Angelic works on orchid growing, orchid arrangement, graphic design, and web design. Recently she has also been concentrating on photography and has taken thousands of orchid pictures for promoting orchid shows.

Orchids she grows include Cattleyas, Phalanopsis, Laelias, Dendrobiums, Oncidiums, Paphs, Phrags, Lycastes, Bulbophylums, Vandas; hybrids and species. She also has several rare Cymbidiums — standard, pendulous and peloric, and has done some hybridizing of Cymbidiums, Laelias, and Cattleyas. In the meantime, she enjoys finding different orchids blooming in her garden everyday.

Angelic was Art Director for the Cymbidium Society of America Journal in 2006, and served as the newsletter editor for the San Francisco Orchid Society for about ten years. She has been involved in many activities to support orchid societies with promoting orchid shows, design and printing for postcards, brochures and flyers, very active on social media and has also served as President, show chair, and as a board member of several Bay Area orchid societies. In the last 15 years, she has been helping the San Francisco Orchid Society promote their shows (Pacific Orchid Exposition and Orchids in the Park) successfully using her artistic skill, social media, advertising field and orchid experience.

Orchid Design has been participating in the Pacific Orchid Exposition, the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show, the San Diego International Orchid Show, the Fascination International Orchid Show, the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, South Coast Garden Show and many other shows for the past decade.

She has also been giving orchid presentations and skill sessions for orchid and garden societies, using her experience and large selection of her photographs. She has spoken on a variety of Orchid topics, including the 19th World Orchid Conference, Fragrant Orchids, Unusual Cymbidiums, Pendulous Cymbidiums, “Cattleya, the Queen of Flowers”, “Laelia & Their Relatives” and “The fascinating Orchids of Vietnam”.

You can visit her website www.ORCHIDesign.com and her online store: https://orchidesign.myshopify.com/ to find out what she has available to share with orchid enthusiasts. You can email your orchid wish list to her: angelic@orchidesign.com or ask about something you would love to have in your orchid collection.

You can also find Angelic Nguyen and Orchid Design, and be her friend on Facebook and Twitter!

Plant table

Angelic will provide the plant table.

The 2026 President's Message

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Please continue to support your local Malihini Orchid Society! You’re missing the fun if you don’t show!

We had a Great December Holiday Party and feasted on Ribs, Ham, Sushi, Lasagna, Desserts and More! Then, we had a plant giveaway where everyone got one of Weegie’s last treasures. We even had a few left over so if you didn’t show up…you missed out.

We also had elections, and as Bill Weaver decided to retire as president after 10 years, the group decided to take a chance on me as the new president: John Humphrey. Fortunately, all the other great officers are retaining their spots and so a new president should not screw it up too badly.

Looking forward to our next meeting on Friday, January 9 th when Angelic will be our featured speaker talking about Cool growing Orchids in the Bay Area. Don’t miss it. You’ll be sure to pick up at least one pearl of wisdom!

See you there…John.

We are meeting the second Friday of the month at 7:30PM
Santa Clara Railroad Museum
1005 Railroad Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050
The SBHRS is open on Tuesday nights and Saturdays.

PARKING:
Parking spaces are in front of the building. If there are no more parking spaces available, you can park at Starbucks

How to enter the conference room:
1) Face the building
2) Turn to your right and follow the building to its end. Walk up the ramp.
3) See a white door, enter into the conference room

Mini speaker lectures

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 19:30:00 +0000

SPEAKERS & TOPICS FOR MINI-TALKS

Bill Weaver - “Potting Up Your Orchid”

This is a talk and demonstration on the types of pots and potting mixes we use based on the needs of the plant. This will not be a potting demonstration.

John Humphrey - “How I Grow My Orchids”

Including: Getting the light right, repotting with different media, watering, fertilizing and other practices to make it beautiful around my property. There will be some photos of my arbor setup and my orchids in bloom.

Antonio Nguyen - “How I Grow My Jewel Orchids”

Types of jewel orchids & what’s the difference? Why are they considered a difficult plant? Dryness, lighting, plant hardiness, water pH, and nutrients Unusual growth patterns that all jewel orchids seem to share. Fertilizer? My experimentation of creating the perfect environment for them

Plant table

The Kusber donation orchids

Dennis Olivas - Sarcochilus (An orchid anyone can grow)

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 19:30:00 +0000

Location: Santa Clara Railroad Museum
1005 Railroad Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050

SETUP STARTS AT 7PM, MEETING AT 7:30PM

Speaker

Dennis Olivas

Speaker bio

Dennis Olivas was born on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. As a lad, he helped his mom and aunt grow their orchids and got hooked. He joined the Future Farmers of America and his project was raising and selling these beautiful and exotic plants. In 1980 he moved to the mainland and swore off the orchid family; not for long as he was introduced to Rod McLeallan’s Acres of Orchids’. From there his whole life became one downward spiral. First he fills his home with upwards of 6,000 plants. Later he leased a greenhouse space for his ever burgeoning orchid collection. Glutton for punishment, his collection grew overflowing the 3,000 sq. ft. greenhouse in Half Moon Bay.

With the help of his close friends, from the Bay Area, Napa and Fresno, they moved his obsession to a 3,000 sq. ft. greenhouse in Daly City in November of 2013. A whole new ball game of learning how to raise orchids, still without heat but in an area that gets more sun and higher temperatures, good water year round. Currently, Dennis rents 5,500 sq. ft. unheated greenhouse space as his collection increases.

He was President for the Peninsula Orchid Society, San Francisco Orchid Society, Diablo View Orchid Society and the Santa Cruz Orchid Society. He also served as vice-president, board of director, show chairman, membership and many other committees in these societies. He is an accredited judge of the American Orchid Society for over 30 years. Dennis belongs to over 14 orchid societies and tries to assist them whenever possible.

He traveled throughout the United States to speak to numerous orchid societies and garden clubs. He even traveled to Brazil to speak there. Throughout the years since 1988, he has been a vendor in up to 20 shows a year throughout California and Nevada. Although Dennis maintained a business as D&D Flowers, his real job was working for a large corporation in the Bay Area. He retired from the corporation in 2014, after 32 years of service.

Audrey Young-Tarter Purveyor of Peloric, Sepal Peloric and Splashed / Feathered Cymbidium Orchids www.CymserelyYours.com CymserelyYours@yahoo.com

Plant table

Dennis Olivas of D & D Flowers will provide the plant table.

Audrey Young-Tarter - The Rod McLellan Acres of Orchids

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 19:30:00 +0000

Location: Santa Clara Railroad Museum
1005 Railroad Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050

SETUP STARTS AT 7PM, MEETING AT 7:30PM

Speaker

Audrey Young-Tarter

Speaker bio

In 1992, Audrey’s cousin talked her into going to Hewlett Packard to attend a Malihini Orchid Society meeting. She bought $5 in raffle tickets and won 2 orchids, and she thought to herself, “Hey, this orchid business is EASY!” From there, it has become downhill and she became wholly addicted to orchid growing and learning.

She purchased her first sepal / ventral peloric cymbidium in 1997 from Orchids for Everyone, a chance seedling that had mutated as a partial labeloid, sepal/ ventral peloric cymbidium. The hybrid was registered by R.J. Dean of Australia, as Cym. Cleo’s Melody, and the specific cultivar was named ‘Freakout’. From the acquisition of this first plant, Audrey’s passion grew to wanting to learn everything about the hybridization with this cultivar, and similar sepal or ventral partial labelloid cymbidiums.

Audrey Young-Tarter lectures on her favorite subjects - “Peloric Cymbidium Orchids”. She provides a 60-minute slideshow presentation on this subject. She also speaks on “Backyard Orchid Growing” and “The Rod McLellan Acres of Orchids”.

Audrey Young-Tarter Purveyor of Peloric, Sepal Peloric and Splashed / Feathered Cymbidium Orchids www.CymserelyYours.com CymserelyYours@yahoo.com

Plant table

The Leo Kusber donation plants will be utilized for the plant table.

NOTE: TALK STARTS AT 7:30pm Encyclias of Mexico and Beyond (Including Natural History of Mexico, & Central and South America, Forest Types and Species)

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 19:30:00 +0000

Location: Santa Clara Railroad Museum
1005 Railroad Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050

SETUP STARTS AT 7PM, MEETING AT 7:30PM HOWEVER TALK STARTS AT 7:30 SO COME EARLY/ON TIME!

Speaker

Tim Culbertson (remote presentation)

Speaker bio

Since I was young, one of my passions has always been plants. I began growing orchids in high school, and expanded my collection as an offshoot from working at Longwood Gardens in Philadelphia just after college. From the very beginning it was all about Paphs, particularly awarded and select clones of historic importance, of which my collection numbers in the thousands. While I love finding old, rare stepping stones in paph breeding, I also do a little hybridizing of my own, and growing and flowering my hybrids is very exciting.

I was once the youngest accredited judge with the American Orchid Society, and have been a judge now for 20 years; I have served in various capacities with various orchid societies in California and on the East Coast. Recently, I’ve partnered with Fred Clarke to greatly expand the selection of paphs at Sunset Valley Orchids through the acquisition of significant parts of Sam Tsui’s collection at Orchid Inn. I currently manage the Paphs at SVO, and do hybridizing in a wide range of genera including Cattleya, Catasetinae and Masdevallia. I love meeting other people who like orchids too, and doing so often finds me traveling to shows, vendors, and peoples’ greenhouses to see the latest and greatest in new hybrids and species. I like to be involved in plants as much as possible: in addition to Longwood, I’ve worked at the Smithsonian Institution tending to their orchids, and for years for the United States National Arboretum, collecting rare non-orchid plants and documenting cultivated species and hybrids for their herbarium. In short, I really like plants of all kinds.

For your meeting, I’ll be sharing a presentation on Encyclias of Mexico and Beyond. These spectacular cattleya relatives grow well outside in subtropical climates like Southern California and much of Florida. With their compact habit, great fragrance, and ease of growth, these are delightful plants for every collection. By extending the traditional definition of Encyclias to include recently separated groups like Anacheilum, Panarica, Prosthechea, Euchile, and others that I and many of you grew up calling Encyclia, we end up with a diverse, beautiful, fragrant, exciting group of plants and flowers; if we add those to the wonderful flora of Mexico and Central America, we have a group that every collector should grow. By the end of this presentation, you will have a new appreciation of the range of plant habits, floral forms, and fragrances of Encyclia broadly, as well as an appreciation of their lovely flowers and ease-of-growth.

Plant table

The Leo Kusber donation plants will be utilized for the plant table.

Sobralia

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 19:30:00 +0000

Location: Santa Clara Railroad Museum
1005 Railroad Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050

SETUP STARTS AT 7PM, MEETING AT 7:30PM

Speaker

Bruce Rogers (remote presentation)

Speaker bio

In the 1980s Bruce founded Bruce Rogers Orchids, an orchid consulting and management company based in San Francisco. This business continues today and includes many private and commercial accounts. In 2002 he followed his passion and started growing and hybridizing Sobralia orchids. Today he is known around the world for his unique and popular hybrids, and is the largest supplier of wholesale and retail Sobralias.

Bruce is internationally well known as an orchid expert. He is the author of the best selling orchid book, The Orchid Whisperer, Expert Secrets for Growing Beautiful Orchids (Chronicle Books, 2012), as well as numerous articles on orchid culture and design. He is a frequent and popular guest lecturer at orchid societies and garden clubs. He was formally on the Advisory Council at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers and has served as the Ambassador for the San Francisco Orchid Society.

In 2007 the late Dr. Eric Christenson named the magnificent orchid species Sobralia rogersiana in Bruce’s honor for his work with the genus Sobralia.

GO TO: brucerogersorchids.com

If you are interested in Sobralias, you can call for the latest price list, photos, and availability. The San Francisco nursery is by appointment only (415) 235-4819. His books can be bought from Amazon, B&N, Target, etc. Photos of his Sobralias (Beautiful!) Contact: brucerogersorchids.com

Plant table

Bruce Rogers of Bruce Rogers Orchids will provide the raffle plants. Sobralias have very showy flowers! Bruce will provide mature Sobralias to young Sobralias. He also will provide other genus of orchids.

The photos indicated to me that Bruce was very generous to Malihini. There were so many Sobralias. Thank you Bruce!

How to Keep Your Orchids Happy

Fri, 09 May 2025 19:30:00 +0000

Location: Santa Clara Railroad Museum
1005 Railroad Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050

SETUP STARTS AT 7PM, MEETING AT 7:30PM

Speaker

Bill Weaver

Speaker bio

Bill Weaver was a plant geek starting at an early age, dumpster diving at the local nursery looking for cuttings and plants that he could rescue. When he went away to college, he took along his terrariums of carnivorous plants. That was where he “met” his first orchid. It was an unnamed white Cymbidium purchased at a drive-in theater flea market. This led to an ever-growing collection of orchids under lights in his little Palo Alto apartment.

Moving to Sunnyvale, once he filled up his back yard, he started renting space in Half Moon Bay. Over 15 years now, he has expanded to over 10,000 square feet there. After 37 years as a Customer Engineer at Hewlett Packard, Bill has retired and makes his ‘orchid money’ helping other growers with their greenhouses and repotting.

He grows mostly Cymbidiums, Laelias, and other cool growing orchids. Over the years Bill’s plants have been awarded HCC, AM and one FCC from the American Orchid Society, as well as several CCM and CCE awards for his giant specimen plants. He also has a lovely orange Cymbidium named for him.

Plant table

We will be using Leo Kusber’s orchid donation to Malihini as our plant table. Weegie Caughlan and Audrey Young-Tarter helped make this happen.