Sacramento Orchid Society March Meeting Speaker
Speaker: 8:00P.M.
PAUL & MARY STORM AND THE WONDERFUL
WORLD OF SCHOMBURGKIAS AND MYRMECOPHILA
with apologies this being in all caps....
PAUL AND MARY WERE BOTH BORN IN THE NORTH WHERE THEY NEVER SAW
AN ORCHID – PROBABLY BECAUSE IT WAS TOO COLD THERE IN THE MIDDLE
AGES.(!) BUT THEN, THEY MET – FELL IN LOVE – AND MARRIED IN MIAMI –
WHERE AGAIN THEY NEVER SAW AN ORCHID - EVEN THOUGH THEY LIVED
NEAR SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS ORCHID NURSERIES IN THE WORLD(!)
HOWEVER, AFTER THEY FINALLY SETTLED IN SARASOTA, PAUL ATTENDED A
PLANT SALE AND PURCHASED A DIVISION OF S. TIBICINIS – AND THE REST IS
HISTORY! (WELL, OK, MAYBE JUST MINOR HISTORY) FROM THAT POINT ON
SCHOMS AND SCHOM HYBRIDS BECAME AN OBSESSION TO THE STORMS AND
THEY REALIZED THAT THEY WERE BORN TO CONVERT THE WORLD TO
‘SCHOMBO-LOVE’!!
TOGETHER PAUL AND MARY (AS MEKE ALOHA ORCHIDS) HAVE TRAVELED
EXTENSIVELY SEEKING THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF SCHOM SPECIES AND
HYBRIDS, AND EVENTUALLY BEGAN MAKING THEIR OWN HYBRIDS. THEIR
LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ORCHIDS, AND THEIR MISSION OF TRYING TO CONVERT
ALL ORCHID LOVERS TO ‘SCHOMBO-LOVE’ HAVE BROUGHT THEM
INVITATIONS TO MANY SOCIETIES AROUND THE COUNTRY AND
INTRODUCTIONS TO MANY NEW LIFE-LONG FRIENDS. IN FACT, MANY ORCHID
SOCIETY MEMBERS IN HAWAII, ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA, NORTH CAROLINA,
TEXAS, WASHINGTON DC, FLORIDA AND THE BAHAMAS ARE NOW GROWING
SCHOMBURGKIAS AND SCHOM HYBRIDS WITH NEW ENTHUSIASM AND
AFFECTION.
PAUL’S ‘SCHOMBO-HERO’, DR. CARL WITHNER, DONATED HIS PERSONAL
SCHOM COLLECTION TO THE STORMS, AND SOME OUTSTANDING NURSERIES
AND HYBRIDIZERS HAVE NAMED SCHOM HYBRIDS IN HONOR OF PAUL AND
MARY BECAUSE OF THEIR ‘SCHOMBO-MISSION’. PAUL IS THE BOTANICAL
AUTHOR OF MYRMECHEA AS WELL AS OF SEVERAL FUTURE NOTHOGENERA,
AND HE IS ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN HYBRIDIZING SEVERAL GENERA WITH
SCHOMS WHICH HAVE NEVER BEEN COMBINED BEFORE.
RECENT CHANGES IN SCHOMBURGKIA AND MYRMECOPHILA NOMENCLATURE
HAVE NECESSITATED A MAJOR REVISION OF THEIR PROGRAM. THEREFORE,
WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF JULIAN SHAW, SR. REGISTRAR OF THE RHS AND DR.
GERMAN CARNEVALI, AUTHOR OF THE NEW MYRMECOPHILA GENERA AND
THE LEADING WORLD AUTHORITY ON MYRMECOPHILA, THEIR PROGRAM WILL
REFLECT THE MOST CURRENT INFORMATION AVAILABLE.
LAST YEAR THE PROGRAM CHAIR OF THE GOLD COAST (NORTH MIAMI)
SOCIETY PRAISED THIS PROGRAM AS ?ONE OF THE BEST THEY HAVE EVER
HOSTED?, AND THIS SUMMER THE WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA ORCHID
SOCIETY PROGRAM CHAIR SUMMARIZED THEIR PROGRAM AS ???A HIT AND A
HOOT? ?(BUT PAUL AND MARY ARE STILL NOT SURE IF THAT IS A
COMPLIMENT OR NOT)!? THEIR FORTHCOMING TOUR OF THE CALIFORNIA
BAY AREA SOCIETIES WILL BE THE MOST EXTENSIVE PROGRAM TOUR EVER
UNDERTAKEN BY THEM OR THE BAY AREA SOCIETIES,
THANKS TO ORGANIZER AND COORDINATOR EXTRADORDINAIRE, DENNIS OLIVAS.
FOLLOWING THIS TOUR THEY WILL BE ONE OF THE FEATURED PRESENTERS
IN OHIO AT THE MID-AMERICA WINTER ORCHID CONGESS IN LATE MARCH.
PAUL AND MARY ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO PRESENTING THEIR
PROGRAM IN THE BAY AREA AND INTRODUCING MANY NEW ORCHID LOVERS
TO ‘SCHOMBO-LOVE’, AND THEY INVITE MEMBERS WITH SCHOM SPECIES OR
HYBRIDS WHICH THEY WISH TO SELL OR TRADE TO CONTACT THEM IN
ADVANCE AT: mekealoha@comcast.net . IN THE MEANTIME, THE STORMS INVITE
SOCIETY MEMBERS TO PREPARE TO BE SWEPT AWAY BY ‘SCHOMBO-LOVE”
AND THEY PROMSE THAT MEMBERS WILL NEVER LOOK AT SCHOMS, MCPS.,
AND THEIR HYBRIDS IN THE SAME WAY EVER AGAIN.
Paul and Mary will be
providing our raffle table and there will be a pre-meeting dinner at Mimi’s Café. Contact
Cathy Norris for more details.