Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society

Rich Ackerman: "What’s in a Name?"
2025-11-10 19:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Christ Lutheran Church Social Hall, 1955 East Oakland Park Blvd., Oakland Park, FL, 33306, United States
Rich Ackerman has lived in Fort Lauderdale for almost forty years, where he has grown a wide variety of plants. His current interest is Florida native orchids. He caught the orchid bug attending the World Orchid Conference in Miami in 2008.
Rich works closely with UF/IFAS Extension, Broward County, where he is a Florida Master Gardener Volunteer, serves on the Urban Horticulture Advisory Board, and is leader of the Broward County Native Orchid Project. Through a partnership with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens, they are restoring native orchids in the urban environment, installing several thousand orchids every year. He also runs browardnativeorchids.com.
He is former President of the Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society and retired from Broward College in 2018. His work career focused on software research and development, along with project management in computer and library information sciences.
This introductory talk will help you understand the basics of orchid naming. From the tag in a pot you can tell whether the orchid is a species or a hybrid, and a whole lot more.
Rich will also have a selection of plants for sale including native species.

December 19, 2025 – Holiday Party
2025-12-19 18:30 - 22:30 | Coral Ridge Yacht Club, 2800 Yacht Club Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33305, United States
Our annual Holiday Party will be held on December 19th at the Coral Ridge Yacht Club. Enjoy a relaxing evening together with your FLOS friends.

Hors d’oeuvres & Cocktails, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Bang Bang Shrimp Skewers
Beef Wellington
Kosher Franks en Croute
Kosher Franks en Croute
Chicken Satay
Ginger Hoisin Chicken Satay
Bruschetta
Dinner and dancing 7:30 – 10:30 p.m.
Music and entertainment all evening

Meal Description:
Greek Salad: Romaine, Cucumbers, Tomato, Feta, Kalamata Olives, Red Onion, served with a Greek Dressing
Choice of Main Course:
Mahi: Pan Seared, topped with Red and Yellow Tomato Ragout, finished
with a Leon Basil Beurre Blanc, served with Buttermilk Whipped
Potatoes and Steamed Asparagus with Carrots
Chicken Marsala: Seared Chicken Breast, Wild Mushrooms in
Marsala Wine Sauce, served with Buttermilk Whipped Potatoes,
Steamed Asparagus and Carrots
Filet Mignon: Pan Seared, topped with Haystack Onion Curls, Cabernet
Compund Butter Sauce, served with Buttermilk Whipped Potatoes
and Steamed Asparagus with Carrots
Vegetarian Option: TBA
Dessert: German Chocolate Cake
Beautiful Orchid to Take Home

We hold this Holiday Party instead of a regular meeting in December. Everyone gets an orchid!
$130 per person

The Coral Ridge Yacht Club is located at 2800 Yacht Club Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale.

Claire Garrett: Rio Negro Orchid Adventure with the Orchid Conservation Alliance
2026-01-12 19:30 - 21:30 | Christ Lutheran Church Social Hall, 1955 East Oakland Park Blvd., Oakland Park, FL, 33306, United States
Claire Garrett has been a member of the Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society since 2011 and has received one FCC (91 points), one HCC, one CCE (92 points) and five CCM awards from the AOS for the orchids that she grows in her backyard in Hollywood. She has an eclectic collection of species and hybrids ranging from the tiny Dendrobium peguanum to the oversized Myrmecophila christinae. She especially loves fragrant orchids. Claire attended the 2024 World Orchid Conference in Taiwan, and traveled to Papua New Guinea in August 2025 to discover orchids in the wild with the Orchid Conservation Alliance under the leadership of intrepid guide and OCA President Mary Gerritsen. She hopes to return to the Amazon in 2026 for another repeat the Orchid Conservation Alliance’s trip on the Rio Negro River in Brazil.

In May 2023 Claire went for the first time on one of the Orchid Conservation Alliance’s many “Orchids in the Wild” Ecotours. This trip took a small group of orchid lovers to the Rio Negro River in the Brazilian Amazon onboard the Otter, a three story riverboat. Several times every day, and also often at night, people climbed into motorized canoes to explore the treetop canopy in search of orchids. This presentation gives an overview of some of the many orchid species, such as Cattleya violacea and Epidendrum nocturnum that were observed blooming there at that time of the year. Welcome aboard to vicariously experience this trip of a lifetime! In June 2024 Claire returned there once again and saw some additional orchid varieties in bloom at that time.

Keith and Dina Emig – Winter Haven Orchid Nursery, Fun Cattleya Species You Can Grow
2026-04-13 19:30 - 21:30 | Christ Lutheran Church Social Hall, 1955 East Oakland Park Blvd., Oakland Park, FL, 33306, United States
We are delighted to have Keith and Dina Emig, owners of Winter Haven Orchid Nursery in Winter Haven, present a program introducing us to flasking and some Vandaceous tips at our 7:30 p.m. meeting on July 8. Keith and Dina grow, hybridize and register plants in the Oncidium, Cattleya, Phalaenopsis, Vanda, and Dendrobium alliances, and have created their own genera (Emigara). They have received more than 45 American Orchid Society awards, so far, including nine for their original crosses. Keith’s orchid journey started with a trip to the dentist where, on the receptionist’s desk, was a small plant with three leaves and an inflorescence with twenty blooms suspended in a beautifully presented fashion. He learned the dentist was an orchid hobbyist who grew the multifloral Phalaenopsis. It was on. Orchid fever is infectious, and all possible information and plants were obtained. What resulted was a uncontrollable driving force of endless experimentation to better grow and flower these plants. There is no substitute for the company of other enthusiasts, with whom to share this fever. Soon the passion of combining the attributes of two beautiful plants, by cross pollinating, stimulated his imagination. A flasking case was built, and has been a fixture in their kitchen for over a decade. More than 1,000 seed pods have been flasked to date and it seems each season there is some new cross that has more exciting possibilities. Keith’s passion also drew him to the Ridge Orchid Society in Lakeland and the American Orchid Society, revealing the orchid world’s secrets. Keith has served on the board of directors of the Ridge Orchid Society for more than a decade, including at least seven terms as president. Be sure to check out Keith’s article “Luck of the Draw” in the March 2017 “Orchids Magazine” (p. 208).
We are excited that Keith and Dina will be sharing their growing knowledge, bringing their plants for our raffle table and selling plants at our meeting.
