Helene be damned! We have an orchid festival to put on, and there is no better way to herald spring than with blooming orchids.

The 2025 Asheville Orchid Festival is less than four weeks away, with a great many preparations underway. Here is the latest update: We have eight vendors and at least five sister orchid societies signed up. Of course, WNCOS will be the center attraction. In keeping with the ‘Orchid Arcadia’ theme, Leslie and I are building a Roman Aqueduct for our exhibit, and it’s going to take all the blooming orchids we can get to decorate this 25-foot display! The contribution of Your Blooming Orchids is what will make our exhibit ‘best in show’.

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Let’s give Leslie Keller another round of applause for her January program on The Chelsea Flower Show, and a great big thanks to all the members who braved the wintery weather for our first meeting back at the wonderful Ivy Building.

On February 9th, Carlos Ayala will join us to share his passion for growing Catasetums. A number of you recently acquired a Catasetum from the Holiday Social, or the January raffle table. Now is your chance to learn more about how to grow this unusual genius. Carlos will also be supplying this month’s raffle table, and will have special divisions for sale as well. 

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This past year has been memorable, in many regards. For WNCOS,  Asheville Orchid Festival ‘House of Orchids’ was one of our best shows ever. The success of the event was due entirely to the hard work of our members and the abundance of blooming orchids contributed by all! Looking back, we also had many great speakers at our monthly meetings, like Bill Thoms, Russ Vernon, Mark Reinke and Stephen Benjamin. And let’s not forget our own Marion Allen, who created The New Growers Club. Topping it off, the Holiday Social attracted the best attendance ever, as we geared up to gather once more, post-Helene. 

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The Holiday Season is upon us and none too soon. Slowly but surely, we are getting back on our feet in beautiful Western North Carolina. With our annual Holiday Social around the corner—the timing couldn’t be better! Nothing like a cover dish party and some great camaraderie to help us through these challenging times.

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I hope everyone is safe and is making good progress with cleanup and recovery. The effects of Hurricane Helene are widespread, but with all the outpouring of assistance and goodwill, we will make it. And our orchids are as resilient as we are. 

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This is a very important announcement that I mistakenly left out of the September newsletter. A special supplemental WNCOS meeting will take place on September 28th. The Carolina Judging Center team will be here for an American Orchid Society judging event. I strongly encourage you to come. If you have an orchid in bloom that might be a winner, bring it in and let the judges do what they do best. Our CJC judges are very generous with their vast knowledge of orchids. Whether you bring in a plant or not, everyone will walk away a better grower from what you will learn.

This supplemental meeting will take place on SATURDAY, September28th at the Asheville Visitor Center, NOT the new meeting location. Plant registration is from 11:00am –12:00pm. Judging will start around 12:00pm. Please come and support our local judging center. Who knows…you may walk away with an AOS award. 

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First of all, and perhaps our biggest news: WNCOS HAS A NEW HOME!! We will now meet in the historic and recently renovated Ivy Building. Built in 1919, this building was originally the gymnasium for the Saint Genevieve school and is now part of the AB Tech campus. It a fabulous space, and we believe you are going to love it.

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We have more fun scheduled for August 11th. Unfortunately, our previously scheduled speaker is under the weather. However,  WNCOS good friend and orchid extraordinaire Bill Thoms has agreed to pinch hit. Bill will speak on Growing & Showing Specimen Plants.

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