Maryland Orchid Society Annual Orchid Show 2015

Today I had the joy of visiting the Maryland Orchid Society's Annual Orchid Show at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. This year, the show was held right inside the main "Cow Palace" with the Home and Garden show that was running concurrently. I'm sure this was great for the orchid vendors, as they probably made lots of extra sales of Phals and other common orchids. I was here for somewhat more esoteric reasons. I had already placed an order with Woodstream Orchids and was really attending the show to avoid having to ship the plants during winter. I ended up buying more orchids than I expected, but that's a good thing. I had been complaining that my collection was down considerably due to move and vacation related losses, so this was a good opportunity to replenish my stock.

In the end, I walked out with...

From Woodstream Orchids (located in MD): http://www.woodstreamorchids.com/
Phragmipedium besseae
Phragmipedium schlimii...
Phragmipedium schlimii (flasked seedlings)
Paphiopedilum tranlienianum
Paphiopedilum primilinum var. purpurascens
Paphiopedilum leucochilum

From Little Brook Orchids (located in PA): http://www.littlebrookorchids.com/
Papiopedilum niveum

Dendrobium kingianum (wonderfully fragrant!!!)
Vanilla planifolia (yup, vanilla)

 

From Fishing Creek Orchids (located in PA)
Paphiopedilum delenatii var alba

 

The plants from all three outfits look great and I'm overjoyed to have three good sources of slipper orchids that are relatively local. The folks at Woodstream (Lynn and Bill Goldner, who turned out to be former federal employees like myself) even invited me to visit their greenhouse in the future, which I'm sure I'll take them up on.

A photo of the haul...

The show is still running Saturday and Sunday March 7-8th, so if you are reading this before the end of that period, and you want to see or buy some orchids...get off your butt and get out there!!! The entrance was $12 and was well worth saving the shipping.

More information at: http://marylandorchids.org/annual_show.html