At the NWOS March meeting, Marni Turkel will discuss the joys, benefits, possibilities, and challenges of miniature orchids. The talk covers some basics such as “What makes an orchid an orchid,” growing spaces both indoors and out, a review of cultural needs of orchids in general and small orchids in particular. She will also include a gallery of wonderful species that are space saving and extremely rewarding. This will be an excellent talk for beginning as well as experience growers.
You can expect to see beautiful orchids like those shown below.
Marni Turkel (pronounced tur KELL) is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and has been growing orchids since 1980. She grows in four greenhouses in Santa Rosa with approximately 1,250 sq ft of growing space. Her main interest is in miniature species but plenty of larger plants have crept into her collection as well.
Marni has been a contributor to Orchids Magazine with her series called “Well Worth the Space” and “Give It a Rest.” Her articles have been translated into Dutch, German, Portuguese, and Swedish for international publication. Photographs of her plants have been featured in noted orchid publications, including Orchids Magazine, Orchid Digest, Richardiana, The Orchid Review, and The Australian Orchid Review. For the last few years she has been sharing her photographs and knowledge on OrchidsForum.com and on Facebook.
After working for over 43 years as a potter, Marni has retired from ceramics to pursue orchids full-time. Starting in 2009, she expanded her work with orchids to include propagation of orchids from seed and has set up a flasking lab of her own to take the process from start to finish and sell flasks of many of the orchids species in her collection. Her flasks are available on the Mostly Species website. Divisions of her plants, as well as flasks, can usually be found on Ebay under the user name mostlyspecies.
Platystele umbellata 
Trichocentrum longicalcaratum 
Dendrobium dicheoides
