Friday, March 15, 2013

Mount Baker Orchid Society Show

Saturday, March 9th, was our orchid society's annual orchid show.  It was held at Skagit Valley Gardens in the Mount Vernon area, a central location for the members and close enough to Seattle that those who were interested could drive up for this first area show of the year.

The show was a success for me.  I used my purpose-built display case with an insert  made of styrofoam that looks like a lava cliff and had about 35 miniature orchids displayed in it.  The case sets up and break down in very little time and most of the set-up time was spent arranging the plants.






I not only won a number of ribbons, but won the American Orchid Society's Show Trophy and a Silver Certificate for the display (the ribbon for it is on the front of the display in the last picture).  I did not enter my plants for AOS judging, so do not know if any of the plants would have won additional awards.


Four plants did win show trophies.  Dendrobium pentapterum won the trophy for best miniature, a plant of Masdevallia decumana won the trophy for best pleurothallid, Masdevallia filaria the Sandy Faulkner trophy, and Pleurothallis cypripedioides the trophy for best specimen plant.



I was not feeling well Saturday, so did not take the usual number of pictures, but did manage to get a few.  The display is by our society, the Mount Baker Orchid Society, and the plants are from all the displays.  Our show is small, six display and four vendors, but was a success, in my opinion.


For those interested, the plants I entered, mostly Dendrobiums and Pleurothallids, were (in no particular order):
     1.  Masdevallia decumana ‘Nancy’ CCE-AM/AOS and another unnamed clone
     2.   Dendrobium Illusion (cuthbertsonii x lawesii) - two plants
     3.   Masdevallia Maui Lollipop ‘Hannah’ HCC/AOS (Angel Frost x mendozae)
     4.   Pleurothallis cypripedioides
     5.   Masdevallia molossus ‘Owen’ CHM/AOS
     6.   Dendrobium cuthbertsonii - two plants
     7.   Dendrobium cuthbertsonii bicolor
     8.   Dendrobium cuthbertsonii semi-alba
     9.   Sophronitis coccinea
     10.  Masdevallia hirtzii
     11.  Masdevallia constricta ‘Kailyn’ HCC/AOS
     12.  Dryadella barrowii
     13.  Lepanthopsis astrophora ‘Stalky’
     14.  Masdevallia dalessandroi
     15.  Masdevallia chaetostoma
     16.  Masdevallia filaria
     17.  Restrepia cuprea
     18.  Lepanthes vellicata
     19.  Dendrobium masarangense
     20.  Ophidion cunabulum
     21.  Masdevallia pachyura
     22.  Masdevallia lamprotyria
     23.  Dendrobium violaceum
     24.  Dendrobium sulphureum

     25.  Dendrobium pentapterum
     26.  Dendrobium Mountain Magic (cuthbertsonii x pseudoglomeratum)
     27.  Dendrobium agathodaemonis
     28.  Dryadella cristata
     29.  Lepanthes ingridiana
     30.  Dendrobium Gina Perlite (cuthbertsonii x prasinum)
     31.  Masdevallia bennettii


The pictures that follow are of others' plants.  As usual, I was not able to photograph everything I wanted since the plants at a show are not always accessible, and had to take close-ups of some because of other distractions, tags, flowers, greenery, etc.  Photography at shows is always a challenge.

Doritaenopsis Chian Xan Super Idol 'CX255'


Doritaenopsis I-Hsin Spot Leopard

Phalaenopsis Chian Xen Violin 'CX333'

Phalaenopsis Tying Shin Cupid 'Maria Teresa'


Phalaenopsis hybrid

Dendrobium atroviolaceum var. pygmy

Dendrobium hybrids

Dendrobium sulcatum

Paphiopedilum urbanianum

Phragmipedium Noirmont 'John Ritchie'

Sophrolaeliocattleya Alvin Begeman 'Poem'

Brassocattleya Nakornpathome Silver

Laelia anceps

Cattleya aurantiaca 'Orange Spots'

Epidendrum Pacific Girl

Epicattleya Rene Marques 'Flamethrower'

Oncidium Twinkle 'Red Fantasy' and Oncidium Tiger Crow

Oncidium Alliance hybrid

Lycaste Absolutely Stunning 'Grantham's Glory


Brasiliorchis porphyrostele

Dendrochilum wenzelii

Dendrochilum uncatum 'Stony Point'

Stenosarcos Vanguard 'Fireball'

Pleurothallis giantea and Masdevallia Ziegler's Love

Gongora odoratissima

14 comments:

  1. Wow Ron, what a striking display. The prizes you won, are really well deserved.
    The styrofoam does indeed look like Lava. How did you get that finish?
    How did you get all the orchids to bloom at the same time, or is that only a small selection, neatly arranged for the show?

    My favorites are Dendrochilum uncatum for the sheer mass of flowers, the Stenosarcos for the color, the Pleurothallis because it looks cute and the Gongora for the weirdness. I wonder what it's smell is. Probably rather pleasant, judging by its name.
    The best smelling orchid I have ever seen in person must be Gymnadenia odoratissima, which flowers in June/July and is really something to be witnessed. Ah well... it will have to wait.

    Your pictures make me look forward to spring even more. Last week we had yet another round of snowfall (about 1ft), which is highly unusual at that time of year. I want spring flowers already.

    Yours, Martin

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    1. Nice to hear from you again, Martin. You must be getting ready for spring, but it is hard not to be impatient when the weather is less than satisfactory. Ours is bringing mostly rain, which makes it difficult to get out, but no orchids blooming until the end of April anyway, and then the Fairy Slippers start.

      The mountain is made of sheets of insulation styrofoam glued together, carved into shape and finished off (holes and cracks) with that nasty spray foam insulation. The orchids are only a small selection of what I grow and the "mountain" is used only for display purposes.

      The Gongora had a very sweet scent. The most highly scented of our natives is Platanthera dilatata, which will perfume a whole area when growing any number. Most of the others are unscented.

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  2. Darn, I was up to Anacortes that day and if I had known would have dropped by

    as always well deserved awardds and lovely photos.

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    1. Now I feel like I failed again, Marti. I just did not think of letting you know that the show was on. There will be one in Shoreline April 6, and I think I'm going to set up my display there. That one will actually have a lot more flowers if you are able to make it. It'll be at Sky Nursery on Aurora Ave.

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  3. Ficou muito linda ficou a vitrine
    Parabéns pelo capricho.
    abraços

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, my friend. I'm putting it up again for another show around the beginning of April.

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    2. vamos aguardar por mais um show da vitrine e imagens.
      abraços

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    3. Thanks for the nice comments and for your attention to my blog, my friend.

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  4. Ron,
    Really nice pictures of all the orchids. Nice display of them also. Congrats on the prizes.

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  5. One orchid is prettier than the next! Wonderful photos!! Congrats on your winners, too =)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Fizzie, for looking and commenting. Much appreciated.

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  6. Hi, Ron! Sorry, I’m late. But I would like to congratulate you for all those prizes! Very well done! I’m impressed. Your display case with miniature orchids is just adorable. It’s a masterpiece.
    I am completely unable to photograph orchids during a show, due to the problems you mentioned so well. In this regard, your photos are awesome! It seems to me they were produced inside a studio.

    Congratulations!

    Sergio

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the kind comments, Sergio. Photography at a show is not only difficult, but some shows don't even allow tripods which makes things even more difficult. Thankfully the two shows we attend do allow tripods.

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