ORCHID FEST 2024 IS COMING TO NIPOMO HIGH SCHOOL SAT. AND SUN. FEB 3RD AND 4TH, 2024.

If you wish to volunteer to make this event a great success and to join with other like minded people, please email us with your name, email address and phone number and we will contact you. CLICK HERE TO VOLUNTEER

Weather permitting, several local artists will be offering their artwork for sale under the outdoor covered pavilion at Orchid Fest 2024. Irene Pomirchy, Melanie Bedwell and Richard Rowe will be offering their artwork and pottery for sale. See below for more information about these artists.

Iron Wolf Coffee will offer specialty coffee drinks.

Sweet Creations by Issa will offer a range of frozen desserts.

Cinco de Mayo Taqueria food truck will offer breakfast and lunch items.

Organic First, Les and Roland Chan will be selling organic fertilizer, insecticides and fungicides.

The following groups will have information tables at Orchid Fest 2024

Be sure to spend time with them to learn what they do and sign up for their newsletters:

• San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden
  
• Central Coast Catcus and Succulent Society
  
• Central Coast Dahlia Society (www.centralcoastdahlias.org)
  

Demonstrations:

• Saturday 11AM — Paul Jenzen, Repotting Cymbidiums
  
• Saturday 1PM — Eric Holenda, Phalaenopsis Care and Repotting
  
• Sunday, 11AM — Chris Howard, Orchids 101
  

To view our latest Orchid Fest 2024 video please click here.

We need your blooming orchids for the FCOS display

Bring any blooming orchids you have grown to Nipomo High School this Friday (Feb. 2) between 4 and 5:30. Put your name on the side of the pot, or on a plastic tag in the pot. Make your plants attractive — trim off old or damaged leaves, stake the flowers so they present well. It is important to show the public we can grow and bloom a variety of different orchids. There will be a special table for miniatures. Many thanks! - Eric Holenda

Thank You for your interest in Orchid Fest 2024 to be held Saturday and Sunday, February 3-4, 2024 at Olympic Hall, Nipomo High School, Nipomo, CA.

Orchids are getting easier to grow at home, thanks to the work of talented hybridizers. The Central Coast of California provides the ideal climate for orchids that will flourish on a window sill or sheltered area outside to delight the home gardener. Join us at Orchid Fest 2024 to discover the secrets of orchid growing and re-blooming from our friendly club members and expert vendors.

Eight of California’s talented orchid growers and hybridizers will be selling their orchids and answering all of your orchid growing questions.

Open from 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM Sunday, entrance is $5 for adults children under 12 are free. There is ample free parking.

FEATURED ORCHID VENDORS INCLUDE:

Sunset Valley Orchids, his renowned for the development of the black orchid “After Midnight.” They are one of the largest hybridizers of mini and compact Cattleya orchids suitable for windowsill growing. Their new offerings of Zygopetalum orchids have scents resembling hyacinths.

Ambriz Kingdom of Plants offers many types of Laelia anceps orchids suitable for outdoor growing in coastal areas and amazing Tillandsias (air plants) which need little care.

OrchidDesign will feature outdoor growing Cymbidiums as well as exotic Vanda orchids and a range of Dendrobium orchids.

SLO Orchids offers a range of Laelia and Cattleya orchids and may bring a selection of carnivorous plants. Joining Don Elkins of SLO Orchids will be Susan Hamilton of “Orchids and Gardens” of Fresno.

Orchids of Los Osos offers a wide selection of unique orchid species such as pansy orchids (Miltoniopsis) and promises us new surprises.

CalCoast Orchids specializes in a range of moth orchids (Phalaenopsis) from towering giants to the diminutive “teacup” varieties.

The Planted Parlour of Grover Beach offers a wide range of exotic house plants and growing supplies.

Don’t miss the chance to see and purchase the latest “easy growing” orchid hybrids or challenge your growing skills with a more demanding species orchid. Orchid Fest 2024 continues the 29 year history of annual orchid shows and sales by FCOS, and is made possible with the generous collaboration of our local orchid growers, FCOS members and amazing volunteers.

ARTISTS UNDER THE OUTDOOR PAVILLION (weather permitting)

Irene Pomirchy - floral paintings and prints https://www.joyfulartnet.wordpress.com/

Melanie Bedwell - The Bedwell Group - glazed ceramic pottery

Rowe Clayworks - ceramic pottery - https://www.roweclayworks.com https://www.instagram.com/roweclayworks/

IS FOOD AVAILABLE? -YES

• Cinco de Mayo Taqueria food truck will offer breakfast and lunch items.
  
• Coffee and specialty drinks will be provided by Iron Wolf Coffee.
  
• Desserts by Sweet Creations by Issa.

ORCHID GROWERS FEATURED AT THIS SALE ARE LISTED BELOW. CLICK ON THE NAME OF THE ORCHID GROWER TO VISIT THEIR WEBSITE OR FACEBOOK PAGE.

Dennis and Sharon always find interesting orchids to bring home at FCOS events.

FCOS Orchid Talks:

Fred Clarke "Becoming an 80 percentile Grower"

Zoom meeting

Thursday, February 8, 2024

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Ever wonder what the most important requirements are for growing the best orchids?

Learn about the underlying reasons of how and why orchids grow as they do. Then explore the fundamentals and advanced growing techniques to best grow them. Orchid plant culture is explained as you have never heard it before. Learn how to become an 80 percentile grower, expect to be wowed by this talk!

The presenter will be Fred Clarke of Sunset Valley Orchids in Vista. Fred has been growing orchids for 42 years and has been hybridizing for 38 of those years. With over 34 years as a professional grower and manager in the horticultural industry, Fred applies these skills at his orchid nursery; Sunset Valley Orchids, located in San Diego, California.

He is a passionate orchid grower whose curiosity in orchids is broad and varied. Although developing Cattleya hybrids has been his sustaining interest, he is also actively creating new Paphiopedilum and Aussie Dendrobium hybrids plus some others to be named if they work out!

His pioneering work in Catasetum intergeneric hybrids led to the development of several notable hybrids, most recently the grex, Fredclarkeara After Dark, which produced “the blackest flower ever witnessed”. This grex has received over 100 awards worldwide with nine FCC’s and thirty AM’s from the AOS judges!

Fred is an Accredited Judge in the Pacific South Judging Region. His plants have received hundreds of quality awards from the American Orchid Society.

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 823 5543 5739

Passcode: 204435

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Your FCOS newsletter editors are busy preparing for Orchid Fest 2024 and the regular monthly newsletter format will return next month with photos of your blooming orchids, a summary of the January and February presentations and more. For those subscribers outside the Central Coast area, time permitting we will publish photos and possibly videos of our activities at Orchid Fest 2024. -as always, thank you for subscribing and remember “Orchids and Orchid Growers are really great!”