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This magnificent Paph. received the ultimate prize at the 16th Australian Orchid Conference & Show, held in Adelaide in September 2003 - Grand Champion. It's very proud owners are Dennis & Dianne Diehm, Dendi Orchids, NSW. (Photo: John Seidel)

This issue contains nine pages of the judging results and just some of the superb orchids displayed at the Conference. Further Conference reports will follow in our February issue.

New President, Editor and Treasurer introduced

Incoming President of the Australian Orchid Council Jim Smith of Tasmania, presents his first report to readers, and we introduce the new Editor for Orchids Australia, Coralie Hills, who will take up the reins with the February2004 issue. Coralie is no stranger to the AOC, having previously been Secretary for some years; the new Treasurer for the AOC, including handling subscriptions for Orchids Australia, is Gordon Hogan of Tasmania. We welcome them all to their new positions and wish them well.

AOC bestows highest honour on two stalwarts

The Australian Orchid Council held its Annual General Meeting and Board of Management meetings in conjunction with the Adelaide Conference. Two long-serving stalwarts, Len Brombal and Colin Jennings, received the AOC's highest honour, being conferred Fellows of the AOC. Len has retired from active involvement after 10 years as Treasurer, subscriptions manager and a member of the Publications Committee; Colin Jennings has been a member of the Publications Committee since the inception of Orchids Australia planning stage in 1988, and Registrar General of Judging since 1992. In bestowing the honours, tribute was paid to the wives of both for their outstanding support and long assistance.

AOC Orchids of the Year for 2002

The waiting is over and at the Adelaide meetings, the AOC Orchids of the Year 2002 were ratified. It is significant that the three orchids were all from Queensland growers. The three awards were:

AOC Orchid Hybrid of the Year - Phal. Carmela's Wonder 'Sharron' FCC/AOC 2002

AOC Orchid Species of the Year - Gongora scaphephorus 'Joy' FCC/AOC 2002

AOC Award of Distinction of the Year - Blc. Yellow Ribbons 'Starfighter' AD/AOC 2002

Photos and more details have been added to our Awards of the Year gallery. Click here.

Selected Species - Trichopilia suavis (Lindl & Paxt)

Our regular correspondent Peter Taylor, returns this issue with a two page article on this "handsome and free flowering" species. In his inimitatable style, delving into the history of the discovery, the natural habitat and how Peter grows the species in his Sydney glasshouse. Peter's articles are always fascinating reading. Illustrated with a magnificent photograph by Peter himself.

Papua New Guinea Orchid Exploration

The orchids of Papua New Guinea cast a spell over the orchid-growing community around the world, mainly, I suspect, because it is one of the last frontiers of orchid discovers, and the lack of availability of many of these species.

Wolfgang H. Bandisch has been on expedition again and we are delighted that he has chosen to supply us with the story of his exploits in mid-2003 together with a superb photo essay. This 6 page, 10 photos article is only Part 1, and we will be continuing publication in our February issue. Wolfgang is the manager of the National Capital Botanical Gardens, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Yellow Phalaenopsis breeding - an overview

We continue with Part 2 of Howard Ginsberg's excellent article on advances in breeding the yellow Phalaenopsis and endeavours to bring them up to the standard of the whites and pinks. We will continue with Part 3 in our February edition.

Awarded species Paphiopedilums

Colin Jennings has been delving in the AOC Awards archives again and this month writes about some of the more recent Awards granted to Paph species. This continuing series of articles provides AOC Judges and Student Judges with some readily accessible benchmarks to keep their knowledge up to date.

Preparing to show Orchids

Another excellent article from Marilyn H. Light of Canada, with loads of tips, tricks and handy hints on preparing orchids for showing. The extensive article is of truly international application. It has been adapted from an Internet chat presentation, for OrchidSafari members - the internet orchid society.

A preliminary checklist of the genus Renanthera (Orchidaceae) and its distribution

Regular contributor, Rod Rice, provides an extensive list and references for this SE Asian genus. There are also three excellent photographs of species in this genus.

DVD Review

Colin Hamilton has reviewed a new DVD released in Australia of the movie Adaptation starring Merryl Streep and Nicholas Cage. What has this to do with orchids? Everything. At the centre of the story is the plundering of the orchid species Polyrrhiza lindenii (the Ghost Orchid) from the Florida Everglades. As well as the review, Colin has provided additional information and illustrations on the orchid itself, which is also known as Polyradicon lindenii. It is a leafless orchid producing single white flowers which resemble a frog. There are also information links to follow to find out more about this strange orchid.

Plus� -

All the regular features of: the very latest RHS Orchid Hybrid Registrations (our list is second only to the RHS publication) the latest list of Australian Orchid Council Awards for 2003; Computer Corner, what's winning at Shows around the country, Cultural Notes for various parts of Australia, Orchid Show dates across Australia, and our list of forthcoming International orchid events through to 2005. There is also a surprise for some lucky Australian subscriber - Orchids Australia free for one year, provided it is claimed in 14 days.

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