INSIDE THE IPA
I
f you’ve been following the articles in our recent Journals and surfing the Internet sites and Facebook, you are seeing a
renewed interest in Phalaenopsis species, both with the improved forms bred from selfings and siblings as well as the
virgin forms as found in nature. This has led to a re-ignited interest in amazingly improved primary and secondary
hybrids created with these new species forms. Underlining that renewed interest was the wonderful lecture presented by
Olaf Gruss at our most recent Symposium in Austin, Texas, on Phalaenopsis species, both old and new.
All of this has come together and given me the idea that perhaps it is time for the IPA to start looking into a great new
project to produce a second book on Phalaenopsis species to serve as a sequel to Eric Christenson’s monograph that was
published in 2001, produced by the IPA. Eric completed the
manuscript to the monograph in 1999, and it was then given to
the publisher, Timber Press, in the year 2000. The book is now
out of print but is still very much in demand at prices way above
what the original publication cost. Almost 15 years have passed
since that time, and several new Phalaenopsis species have been
discovered and described during this period. Taking advantage
of the current capability to use digital printing, publications can
now have many more color photos intermixed with the text,
thereby giving us the opportunity to show infinitely more images
of many of the species to depict the amazing variability within
the species, as well as their habitats. At the Austin meeting, I had
the opportunity to talk to Olaf about this idea, and he was very
willing and eager to start working on this new proposed project.
The 2014 IPA Symposium in Ontario, California, is almost
set. Our tentative date is the second weekend in August 2014.
More information will be provided in future Journals and on the
IPA website as it becomes available. And, For 2015, we are
looking into possibly sponsoring two Symposiums: the first one
to be held in March in conjunction with the 2015 Taiwan
International Orchid Show, and a second one in the US,
returning to Orlando, Florida in August, the site of a great
Symposium in 2012.
The next IPA Members’ Meeting will take place next in the
spring in Minnesota on May 2nd and 3rd in conjunction with
the Mid-America Orchid Congress and the American Orchid
Society Members’ Meeting. The show is going to be hosted by The Orchid Society of Minnesota at the Double Tree Hilton in
Bloomington, Minnesota. This will be a full orchid show, including lectures on many orchid topics. The IPA will have a
luncheon meeting and auction on Saturday, May 3rd, followed by a Phalaenopsis lecture in the afternoon so I encourage
everyone to join us. I am counting on you to be there….
Respectfully submitted,
Carlos
Phalaenopsis | Fourth Quarter | Volume 23 | 2013
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