Robert Culver

NWOS president Robert Culver welcomed new people to our group. We had a brief update on our upcoming membership system. Ben Johnson, our Event’s VP, then updated us on the recent and upcoming events. Importantly, we are having two NWOS-sponsored shows this year, the fall show at Volunteer Park and we’re reviving the spring show, which will be held at the Lynnwood Events Center. We then covered the upcoming summer events and volunteer opportunities available for members of the society.

Jurahame Leyva, our speaker for the evening, and owner of The Orchid Fix Nursery Orchids from Hawaii | Wholesale/Retail | The OrchidFix spoke to us about modern trends in Paphiopedilum Maudiae hybrids. He reviewed the key species in this group of hybrids. He also discussed some of the individual plants that were selected during the hybridizing process that have yielded the spectacular results we see today. Many of the wonderful plants we see are a result of the breeding program carried on by Graham Wood at Lehua Orchids. Jurahame showed us many beautiful examples to illustrate the progress made in this group. As he was closing he introduced a number of smaller species and some of the hybrids that were a result of those crosses, showing that the development of this group is far from finished