September General Meeting
Welcome back!
TOPIC: Paphs
Presenter: David Sorokowsky - Paph Paradise
Welcome Back!
Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 11:15 pm.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
David’s Bio:
After receiving his degree in biochemistry from the University of Toronto, Dave opted to step outside his chosen field and operated a tropical fish import business for eight years. Upon returning to school, Dave received a degree in enology and viticulture from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. While attending Brock, Dave began acquiring orchids one 2” pot at a time and before he graduated, Dave had over 100 orchids. Winemaking and a passion for orchids prompted Dave to seek a warmer climate in California about one year later. Dave has been growing paphiopedilums for about 20 years and seriously hybridizing for over 10 years. He is an accredited AOS judge and his paphiopedilums have received over 100 awards to date from the AOS and CSA. Many of those awarded plants playing important roles in his breeding program. In 2018 Dave left winemaking in order to focus all of his time running Paph Paradise Orchids.
March 2025 General Meeting
TOPIC - ORCHID BASICS FOR NEW GROWERS
We’re so happy to welcome visitors from our 2025 Orchid Show and Sale. Friends and family are welcome, and lunch will be provided!
This will be an interactive and informative meeting to provide newer growers with some basic knowledge and skills about growing orchids successfully on Vancouver Island. We’re here to answer your questions, show you how to repot your orchid and show you different varieties that other club members have grown successfully. Learn how to get your orchids to rebloom and learn why ice cubes are not recommended (always a “hot” topic!)
Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 11:15 pm. Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions - you will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
February 2025 General Meeting
TOPIC: WCJC AND AOS JUDGING - JUST WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING FOR?
SPEAKER: ABU SALLEH
Abu’s Bio:
I have been growing orchids for over 20 years now, started off the same as a lot of others, an impulse buy at a local grocery store. Living in downtown Vancouver in a one bedroom condo, miniatures quickly became a passion as well as a necessity...
I joined the AOS Judging program in 2006 when the PNWJC (Pacific Northwest Judging Center) started a supplemental judging site in Vancouver. I became an accredited judge in 2012, and in 2017, I took the application and the dreams of our judges to Miami, presented to the AOS, and WCJC was formed. I am currently the Centre Chair for the WCJC.
Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 11:15 pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, prize draw and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions - you will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
January 2025 General Meeting
TOPIC : Native Orchids of Vancouver Island - Through the Seasons
SPEAKER: Sasha Kubicek
The meeting will be held at the Royal Canadian Legion Mount Benson Branch, 1630 E Wellington Road, Nanaimo. The Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 11:15 am. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
As an orchid grower, amateur botanist and photographer, Sasha Kubicek spends a lot of time enjoying native orchid species in the wild. Sasha's presentation will explain the seasons of our local orchids, the basics of identification and habitat, when to see native species in bloom, and species variations in colour and form.
More About Sasha Kubicek
Sasha is an amateur botanist with a special interest in orchids. In addition to growing orchids, he has been exploring Vancouver Island in search of native orchid species, and working to protect orchid habitats. Through this work he has developed a deep passion for and knowledge of our remaining wild places on Vancouver Island, and the rare plants within them.
An accountant by trade, Sasha co-manages Sea Bluff Farm with his wife Robin, where he oversees the seed saving part of the operation. The 10 acre certified organic vegetable farm grows over 40 different kinds of vegetables. In his free time Sasha is an avid boulderer, photographer and explorer of wild places.
We look forward to seeing you there.
October 2024 General Meeting
TOPIC: Jewel Orchids at Home, a Story of MurdeR
PRESENTER: Andrew Geimar
This meeting will be held at the Royal Canadian Legion Mount Benson Branch, 1630 E Wellington Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 11:30 pm. Following is a coffee break, display of plants brought in by members, and our featured presentation.
Andrew Geimar will be our speaker in October. With his partner Felix, Andrew owns the popular Roehampton Orchids in Toronto. We’ll be organizing a Roehampton pre-order to accompany Andrew’s visit – stay tuned for details.
Andrew will present "Jewel Orchids at Home, a Story of Murder”. He’ll describe his journey growing (and killing) jewel orchids, and how it shaped his attitude toward this lovely corner of the orchid world.
Jewel orchids are usually grown for their beautiful foliage. Some have sparkling gold threads in their veins, others look like black velvet. Andrew will give us some basic culture tips for growing jewels, with recommendations for first time growers. His presentation promises to be fun, engaging … and a bit of a departure from regular orchid talks!
Andrew advises that his talk will conclude with a 10 minute virtual quiz game. It'll be FUN! Join us for a lively and informative October meeting!
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
If you’d like to learn more about Jewel orchids and their culture, check out the following link. It will take you to a special Canadian Orchid Congress publication on the subject. Our speaker, Andrew, was a contributor to this publication.
https://canadianorchidcongress.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/COC2021_SUMMER_SPECIAL_ISSUE.pdf
September 2024 General Meeting
Wecome Back!
TOPIC : PeSt Management/ Plant Doctor
SPEAKER: Bryan Emery
The meeting will be held at the Royal Canadian Legion Mount Benson Branch, 1630 E Wellington Road, Nanaimo. The Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
(Photo credit: Nicole Ta)
March 2024 General Meeting
TOPIC: "RecAp of the 2024 Annual SHow"
Guests always welcome! This meeting will be held at the Royal Canadian Legion Mount Benson Branch, 1630 E Wellington Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 11:30 pm. Following is a coffee break, display of plants brought in by members, and our featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
**We will be prepared to offer an orchid repotting demonstration if any member would like to bring a plant that they would like repotted. Priority will be for new members to learn the basics of repotting. There is a small charge for orchid mix.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Annual Orchid Show and Sale
The CVIOS invites you to attend the 2024 Annual Show & Sale!
Friday March 8 - 9:30 - 5:00
Saturday March 9 - 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday March 10 - 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Enjoy the exotic colours, forms, and fragrances of one of the most diverse plant families on earth. The show will feature:
- Enchanting displays from local orchid growers
- Vendors selling many varieties of orchids that aren't available in garden centres
- Daily Raffle- Your chance to meet with CVIOS members who can help answer your questions about how to grow and rebloom your orchids in our Vancouver Island climate.
February General Meeting
Important Notice - This meeting will be taking place at the Legion in Nanaimo, however IN A DIFFERENT ROOM due to renovations. As well, the meeting will start 30 minutes earlier and end 30 min early than other meetings.
TOPIC: "DISAS"
PRESENTER: Justin Dunning
Guests always welcome!! This meeting will be held at the Royal Canadian Legion Mount Benson Branch, 1630 E Wellington Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 10:30 with a brief business meeting starting at 11:00 pm. Following is a coffee break, display of plants brought in by members, and our featured presentation.
We look forward to having Justin Dunning as our guest speaker this month. He brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm . His talk will be on "Disas”
***Justin is bringing plants to sell at the meeting.***
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
December Potluck Lunch
It's going to be a fun-filled afternoon with a pot luck lunch, bag draw, and orchid display.
For the pot luck, we'd love it if you could bring a warm dish, salad, appetizers, desserts, or anything else you'd like to share with our members. Ken and Joan have already volunteered to bring a turkey. The legion will be suppling the plates, cups, and cutlery but you might want to bring any serving utensils, those will not be supplied and consider a crock pot or hot plate if you have something that needs to be kept warm.
As for the bag draw, baked goods have always been a hit, but if you have plants, books, or anything else you'd like to donate, that would be fantastic too! It's always great to have a variety of items to choose from.
And don't forget about the orchid display! Members will have the chance to vote on their favorite plant, and we'll be awarding prizes (we haven't decided what they are yet) for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. But, of course, we'll need enough orchids on display to make the voting worthwhile.
We really look forward to seeing you there! It's going to be a fantastic afternoon filled with delicious food, exciting draws, and beautiful orchids.
November General Meeting
Celebrating Our 50th Year!
We invite you to join us to celebrate the CVIOS's 50 year anniversary! As we celebrate this momentous occasion, we reflect on the many memories and experiences that have brought us to this point.
There will be a brief monthly meeting, a show table of blooming orchids, and a presentation by founding member and past president, Dora Glover.
Please join us for cake, tea and coffee!
We hope to see you there!
Address - Royal Canadian Legion Mount Benson Branch, 1630 E Wellington Road, Nanaimo.
October General Meeting (NEW LOCATION)
TOPIC: "Orchid Growing Tips, Tricks, Myths and Science"
Presenter: Bryan Emery
Guests always welcome!! This meeting will be held at our new location at the Royal Canadian Legion Mount Benson Branch, 1630 E Wellington Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 11:30 pm. Following is a coffee break, display of plants brought in by members, and our featured presentation.
We look forward to having Bryan Emery as our guest speaker this month. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience as one of Vancouver Island's most successful orchid growers. His talk will be on "Orchid Growing Tips, Tricks, Myths and Science".
***Bryan is bringing plants to sell at the meeting.***
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
September General Meeting (NEW LOCATION!)
TOPIC : Native Orchids of Australia
On behalf of the new CVIOS executive council, we look forward to welcoming you to the first meeting of the 2023/2024 year. This meeting will be chaired by our new president, Bernie Kespe, and will feature a presentation by Jasmine Janes on “Native Orchids of Australia”.
The meeting will be held at our new location at the Royal Canadian Legion Mount Benson Branch, 1630 E Wellington Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 11:30 pm. Following is a coffee break, display of plants brought in by members, and our featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
May General Meeting
TOPIC : Photographing Orchids
The May 21st meeting will feature a “Photographing Orchids” workshop. Alexey, Keith & Nicole will each have a station & share their process, tips & tricks for photographing orchids. They invite members to bring their own cameras & flashes or phones & get some input on how to make best use of them.
The meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
April 2023 General Meeting
TOPIC : Native Orchid - Planathera dialata
Speaker: Jasmine Janes
The meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
March 2023 General Meeting
Topic: photos taken by the HCPC (Harbour city Photography club) and Bernie K. from the Orchid Show
The meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Annual Orchid Show and Sale
Friday Feb 17 - 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Saturday Feb 18 - 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Sunday Feb 19 - 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The CVIOS invites you to attend the 2023 Annual Show & Sale, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of our society!
Enjoy the exotic colours, forms, and fragrances of one of the most diverse plant families on earth. The show will feature:
- Enchanting displays from local orchid growers
- Vendors selling many varieties of orchids that aren't available in garden centres
- Repotting by Donation - Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 and 3:00.
- Your chance to meet with CVIOS members who can help answer your questions about how to grow and rebloom your orchids in our Vancouver Island climate.For those who wish to pre-order plants from Paramount Orchids prior to the show, you can do so by contacting them at info@paramountorchids.com. The cut off date for pre-orders is February 11th, 2023.
February 2023 General Meeting
The meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
January 2023 General Meeting
The meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
December General Meeting and Christmas Potluck
Members’ Christmas Lunch
It’s time for our annual Christmas Potluck Lunch!
Display Contest - We invite you to get creative and bring a Christmas themed display of blooming orchids to enter into the annual contest for your chance to win a prize.
Bag Draw - Please bring an item for the bag draw. This is a fun raffle style event where members enter to win items brought in by other members. You can bring an orchid, Christmas baking or other treats, Christmas crafts or even gift cards.
Bring a potluck item to share as well as your own plate, cutlery and drinking glass or cup. Coffee and tea will be provided.
We look forward to celebrating the holiday season with you!
November 2022 General Meeting
The meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
October 2022 General Meeting
Topic: Growing Orchids from Seed (at home)
Speaker: Glen S.
Description: The presentation will show the items necessary to flask your own hybrid or species orchid seeds.
Creating a 'glove-box'.
Prepping the media and flasks.
Seeding and deflasking.
The meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 a.m. with a brief business meeting starting at 12:00 p.m. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions. You will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Glen’s Bio:
I became interested in orchids in December 2018 by accident with the question "I wonder what the most expensive plant was"... that question opened a window into the world of orchids. Then a few weeks later, again by chance, I wandered into a CVIOS show at the local mall. Who knew that there was such a thing as orchidists and orchid societies! I bought a couple of "pretty" flowering plants and joined CVIOS.
Through trial, and some egregious and lesser errors the window opened into a fascinating world of science, economics, history, art, leisure, frustration, disappointment and success!
I ask myself a lot of questions like, "I wonder what the oldest orchid is?"... and that question has made me stumble over phylogenetic trees and the evolutionary development of orchids, DNA barcoding, geologic-disjunctions, and orchid pollen on a fungus-gnat encased in 45 million year old Baltic amber... You orchidists know the tale.
September 2022 General Meeting
Topic: Should I grow semi-hydro?
Speaker: Samantha Chande
Welcome Back!!
This presentation explores the hows and whys of growing orchids semi hydroponically. If you’ve ever lost an orchid to over or under-watering, this simple technique may be for you.
The meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:00 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Samantha’s Bio
Samantha Chande is a window-sill orchid grower who manages to keep most of her orchids alive, and even sometimes reblooms them. She has kept orchids alive in the dry winter air of Calgary, dusty, air conditioned apartments in the Middle East, lashed to trees in East Africa, and on windowsills across BC. "
We look forward to seeing you there!
June 2022 General Meeting and AGM
Topic: AGM
This meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:30 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions - you will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
May 2022 General Meeting
Topic: Carnivorous Plants
Speaker: Online Presentation
We will be watching a Dutch produced video narrated by Sir David Attenborough called “Plants Behaving Badly: The secret life of orchids and carnivorous plants”. Carniverous Plants make great companion plants for orchids - they live in the same environments in the wild and are helpful in pest control (eg - catching gnats and flies). Members and guests are invited to bring in their carnivorous plants to show.
This meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:30 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions - you will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
April 2022 General Meeting (Previous date was April 24)
Topic: Plants Behaving Badly - Sex and Lies
Speaker - Online Video Presentation
This meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:30 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions - you will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
March 2022 General Meeting
Topic : Review of the Show and Online Webinar - N American Orchid Conservation
This meeting will be held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo (the meetings are in the upper level of the hall and can be entered from the back left hand side of the building) Doors open at 11:30 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions - you will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
Hall management has advised us that masks are no longer required, but we are expected to have valid vaccine passports until April 8th.
Sanitization of furniture would no longer be required.
Hope to see you there!
Annual Orchid Show and Sale, 2022
We are thrilled to host the CVIOS Annual Orchid Show and Sale at the Nanaimo North Town Center.
Friday 9:30 - 9:00
Saturday 10:00 - 6:00
Sunday 11:00 - 4:00
It will be an AOS judged show with local orchid societies from Vancouver Island and the mainland.
There will be potting demonstrations by donation and local vendors selling various kinds of orchids.
CVIOS members will be available to answer your questions about how to care for your plants.
February 2022 General Meeting
Topic : Preparing Your Orchids for a Show
Speakers : Alexey, Laurie, Dora and Dusty
Once again, we are back to holding our meetings in person. Meetings are held at the North Oyster Community Centre, 13467 Cedar Road, Nanaimo. Doors open at 11:30 with a brief business meeting starting at 12pm. Following is a display of plants brought in by members, a coffee break, and a featured presentation.
Below are the topics and presenters:
Alexey & Laurie will share tips & techniques for preparing orchids for show.
Dora will explain the procedure & paperwork for entering them in the show.
Dusty will explain the orchid classes & about the fun to be had on a team doing ribbon judging.
January 2022 General Meeting - to be held via ZOOM (in person meeting cancelled due to Covid situation)
via ZOOM - Preparing Your Orchids for Shows
The meeting will start at 1:00 p.m. We will still have our business meeting, a show "table" so you can hold your current beauties up to the camera for all to enjoy, a presentation about preparing for shows and a question period. Because some questions may need some research, please send them to me a few days beforehand so that if they're complicated, I can find someone knowledgeable to answer them.
Whether you're a beginner or expert orchid grower, bring your questions - you will find our members very friendly and knowledgeable.
We look forward to seeing you there!
CVIOS Member Christmas Potluck 2021
Christmas Potluck
We look forward to gathering for our annual Christmas Potluck Lunch.
Please bring a Christmas themed display of blooming orchids to enter into the annual contest.
There will be a bag draw so bring an orchid, orchid related item, or any Christmas themed items (baking including!)
Bring a potluck item to share as well as your own plate, cutlery and drinking glass or cup. Coffee and tea will be provided.
We look forward to celebrating the holiday season with you!