Category Archives: Meetings

Photo by Jerry Meola

Next Wednesday, September 7 at 7 p.m.

Speaker: Jerry Meola

Topic: Growing Orchids Organically

Location: Venice Community Center

Jerry Meola, well-known owner of Pelican Coast Farms in Fort Myers, Florida, is an organic grower of orchids. Pelican Coast Farms is a family nursery, catering to beginners through experienced collectors. Visit their website www.orchidsamore.com for a wealth of information useful to orchid growers.

In our previous announcement we listed the link to Jerry’s website incorrectly. We apologize for the error and have the correct link in this announcement.

Next meeting: Wednesday, September 7 at 7 p.m.

Speaker: Jerry Meola

Wednesday, August 3 at 7:00 p.m. Speaker Alan Koch will speak on “Miniature Cattleyas for a Warm Climate.”

Alan Koch owns and operates Gold Country Orchids where he specializes in miniature and compact Cattleya’s. Alan started growing orchids in 1969 with 3 Cymbidiums given to him by an aunt. While in college he became interested in other orchids and discovered many would grow outdoors in Southern California. He has moved five times as his orchid obsession has led to the need for more growing space. With the last move, he purchased 10 acres of land in Lincoln, California for his 300,000 orchids. He is recognized as an expert in the Brazilian Cattleya alliance and a trend setter in miniature Cattleya breeding. Alan has been published in the Orchid Digest, and the American Orchid Society magazines. He has also been published in the proceedings of the World Orchid Conference. He is an internationally known speaker. He is a past member of the AOS Judging Committee, and the Research Committee, as well as an Accredited Judge and is Vice-chair and Training Coordinator for the California Sierra Nevada Judging Center. Alan also served two terms on the Orchid Digest Executive Committee and Board of Directors, and is one of the current directors, as well as a Trustee for the AOS.