The public is invited to the monthly Hilo Orchid Society meeting from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at Kamana Senior Center.
The public is invited to the monthly Hilo Orchid Society meeting from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at Kamana Senior Center.
This month’s topic is growing specimen plants, with guest speaker Dennis Olivas.
In the world of orchids, a specimen plant is one that is particularly large and beautiful, one that has made many new growths and is full of flowers.
Olivas, born on Kauai and now a California resident, says his first orchid was a cattleya bowringiana that was given to him by a neighbor when they divided the plant growing in a very large galvanized tub.
In 1980, Olivas moved to the mainland and swore off the orchid family, leaving thousands of dendrobiums, vandas and cattleyas to his mother to care for. With no intention of growing another orchid, his biggest “mistake” was purchasing a paphiopedilum maudiae in 1981, from the Rod McLellan Co., known as “Acres of Orchids.” Today, Olivas tries to maintain a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse in Half Moon Bay and some cymbidiums in Pleasant Hill.
Olivas belongs to 14 orchid societies and served as president of the Peninsula Orchid Society, San Francisco Orchid Society, Diablo View Orchid Society and the Santa Cruz Orchid Society. He is an accredited judge of the American Orchid Society.
For more information, visit the Hilo Orchid Society website at www.hiloorchidsociety.org.