Gold Coast Cymbidium Growers

     Friday, February 17, 2012 

Jeff Trimble 

"Cymbidium ensifolium and its Hybrids" 

Our speaker this month will be Jeff Trimble from Redwood City, California.  He will be speaking on the miniature species "Cymbidium ensifolium and its Hybrids". 

The intensively fragrant, warm growing Cym. ensifolium is currently being used for the breeding of small, warmth tolerant, smaller sized hybrids for blooming early in the year.

Jeff started growing Cymbidiums in 1973 when his mother gave him three plants from her front porch. He is a former Gold Coast President and a Past President of the Cymbidium Society of America. Jeff is starting an orchid lab out of his home and is an Associate Judge with the CSA.  He is currently growing his plants in Half Moon Bay.

7:15 pm,  Skill Session.  At each regular meeting one of our advanced growers will address a problem commonly found in Cymbidiums. Recognition, prevention and applicable cures will be covered. During the warmer months the skill session will meet on the patio, weather permitting.

Raffle Table. The plant table will be supplied by Casa de las Orquideas and will be composed of new seedling crosses, most of which we have not seen before.

Dinner with the Speaker.  We meet just before the meeting for dinner with the speaker at 5:45 PM at the Silver House Chinese Restaurant, 2224 So. El Camino Real, San Mateo, CA, 94403.   Members and guests are welcome to attend the Speaker's Dinner!  To join, reserve at least 24 hours  before the meeting, by e-mailing to goldcoastcymgrowers@gmail.com to be  included in the dinner reservation group (meals are approximately $12 per person).

7 pm, Plant Sales.  All plants brought for sale by members must be properly labeled, priced (in even dollar amounts) and free of disease. 10% of the sale price will go to the club; the remainder goes to the individual seller. Label each sale plant and provide a summary sheet of your sale plants to Katie Walden at the sales table. Sales forms will be available at the sales table if you need them. Plant sales close prior to the start of the raffle.

7 pm, Virus Testing.  We will have the dual virus testing kits available at the meeting. The tests are for Cymbidium Mosaic Virus (CymMV) and Odontoglossum Ringspot Virus (ORSV), which is also known as Tobacco Mosaic Virus – Orchid Strain (TMV-O).  The cost for this double test is $5 with results available in 10-15 minutes. Be sure that your leaf sample is correctly harvested and safely sealed in a Ziploc bag when presenting it for testing. )

Call Ahead if you are interested in CSA Plant Judging.  We can arrange for Cymbidium Society of America judging of your Cymbidiums, Paphiopedilums, and Phragmipediums at our regular monthly meetings on request.

To have a plant judged, call Jeff Trimble at 650-368-8260 at least one day in advance, to ensure that the CSA judges know that plants will be submitted for judging.

Plant entry is between 7:00 PM and 7:30 PM the evening of the meeting. Clerks can advise you in filling out the plant entry form on your arrival)

(Members Jeff Trimble, Marron, Noble Emery & Tom Bailey relax and chat  during the 2008 Gold Coast Cymbidium Show & Sale)

We meet the Third Friday of the month at 7:00 pm, from September to May. Our  meetings are at the San Mateo Garden Center, 605 Parkside Way in San Mateo (For map, click here).  All are welcome!

 We normally start our meetings with a "Show & Tell" of members' cymbidium plants brought in for display, followed by a guest lecturer's slide show or panel discussion.  A Raffle table of the speakers'  top quality plants are often provided after the meetings. You'll also find divisions of many of the members' past show champions for sale at the Member SalesTable at each meeting.

In January, instead of a speaker lecture, our club holds our Annual Collector's Cymbidium Orchid Auction of beautiful, award winning, rare and hard to find cymbidiums and other species, which draws bidders from far and wide. In March, should the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show co-incide with the same date as our normal March meeting, we hold a very special meeting at the Santa Barbara Show Site with a special tour of the show and a discussion of the awards won by the various plants.  Then in April, our club holds our own Cymbidium Orchid Show & Sale.  In May during the Memorial Day weekend, we help you to repot 2 of your plants at our Orchid Re-Potting Session.   And Throughout the Year we host sensational guest speakers.

Membership includes a monthly newsletter & Meeting, an annual pre-season cymbidium orchid gift, Help repotting 2 of your plants, a delicious Potluck Dinner Party, and many, many more benefits !  You can join up at any meeting, or if you have questions call Membership Chairperson Darrel Wong at  (510) 582-5896 or e-mail him.