The Shore Orchid Society Fair was this last weekend, 23-25 July, in Neptune, NJ, on the grounds of Silva Orchids. I went down on Saturday the 24th, driven by Mike Milan of the famous Plant House on W29th Street in Manhattan. With us was a journalist, Victoria Harel, taking notes for an article on lifestyle and design.
The Silva greenhouse was a treat, but of course many of the things that really struck the eye were not for sale, such as a
Psychopsis with many stems in a large pot, and something with oncidium like marroon flowers that had marings tinged white. From the bulb shape though I doubt it was oncidium, so I will have to ask when I see them next. It shot out two stems, one either side, with 2-3 dozen flowers each, very stately.
A
Miltonia I had never seen before, Lillian Nokamoto, really caught my eye also; the leaves were a lighter shade of green, slightly silvery, and the flower was all white but for the centre, which was black, and not just dark violet, this was black, or at least closest to it I have ever seen on a flower. For some reason, despite all the multiple effects of stipling on top of striping with spottting etc. achieved through generations of hybridising, I really like flowers that are not so in-your-face. A whole table full of the latest paphs did not make me reach for my wallet, until I saw one with light-yellow tepals, pure white and bright yellow on the labium - all harmonising well with the green stem and leaves. This had style, and it was, while not quite a mini, rather diminuative. This was at
Stony Brook Orchids, which specialises in the moth orchids.
Phals were ubiquitous, not quite as much as they are in the corner florist shops, but nonetheless, as the world's second most cultivated species, certainly well represented. But I was looking for other genera, especially the 181 that are found in Bolivia, and I was not disappointed.
Main Street Orchids had Masdevallias, along with mainly paphs and phals;
Andy's Orchids also had
Masdevallias, but was much more into the neo-tropicals with
Restrepia, Sobralia, Pleurothallis and
Encyclia on hand. Memorable, though not quite from Bolivia, were
E. mariae,
E. tampense,
Masdevallia nidifia,
M. reichenbachian - and an
Oerstedelia exasperata.
Cal Orchids also had neo-tropicals, with
Sobralia, Oncidium, Miltonia and
Cochleanthes - a very beautiful
C. amazonica - a small potted plant with a single flower, large in relation to the plant as a whole; white, with a large labia striped with purple.
The genus
Cattleya was well represented on the table of
Suwada Orchids and
Canaima Orchids;
Stony Brook Orchids of New Jersey was strong on paphs and
oncidiums, with a Pacific Star Shelob Spider hybrid, the one with the dots in the middle of a circle on the labium. I had seen these at a florist in New York, on the Upper West Side, but they could not then tell me what it was. It was in flower back then, in May, and was also in flower this weekend.
J & L had quite a range of minis, including one with a brush like labium that swung in the breeze, but I did not get its name, and this will haunt me for a while, I'd really like to have that one. There was also a small
oncidium with a very stately stem that went straight up with a number of purple flowers, and that will haunt me too. The lady owner mentioned that she had once met Dr. Roberto Vasquez, author of the two volume Orchids of Bolivia, when he came to the US for a show. Bolivia is about to have a major orchid show on 8,9 & 10 October, the Xth Annual Festia de Orquideas in Concepcion.
Orchid Phile had lots of small offerings along with phals and other Asian spp., the owner goes to Asia every year to judge; this shop was unusual in that it did not have a web, so I will note the contact details here: Carri-Raven Riemann, 203 329 7255, that is a Conneticut number.
Both
Woodstream Orchids and
Piping Rock had paphs and phrags. One of their customers, Eric fom NYC, noted to Victoria that he had 700 hybrid paphs and phrags. The slipper enthusiast produced a card - with the URL
www.slippertalk.com A number of stands had multi-flowered phrags, which swayed so gently in the wind! How I wish I had the room for them. Piping Rock surprised me by having
Stanhopeas - these produce beautiful flowers that hang down from the bottom of the pot - but only last a few days. However, I learned that they grow 16 stems of more, and these flower at different times. Sadly, the owner had just divided his 16 stemmed stan, which he said was ultra-fragrant.
Home
A stand called Creative Hydroponics had a Velvet leaf orchid -
Loedicea, and that is certainly on my want list.
The last stand to be seen was Arcadia Glass House, which sells simple outfits to entire bespoke greenhouses, some built to match an existing structure. Beautiful conservatories for beautiful monocots. What more could an orchid lover want?
shore orchid festival -- july 23, 24 & 25 -- @ silva orchids -- neptune, nj
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