Top Orchid

Bournemouth Orchid Society

18th World OrchidConference

Dijon

Chairman’s Thoughts on Dijon Derek Copley 3 - 4

Bournemouth with the World’s Best Colin Carter 5 - 14

Bournemouth Awards 15 - 17

Bournemouth Orchids 18 - 19

Judging Fragrant Orchids at the WOC Chong-Yee Khoo 20 - 22

WOC Ribbons, Medal and Trophy 23

Orchid Sales at the WOC Ken Griffiths 24 - 25

18th World Orchid Conference, a personal view Allan Burdis 26 - 30

Florissimo Magnifico? Pam Miles 31 - 33

Show Committee 34

Bournemouth Orchids 35

Recollections of Judging at Dijon Graham Smith 36 - 38

More Bournemouth Orchids 39

Phragmipedium kovachii 40

List of exhibitors 41

Goodbye Dijon 42

Photographs:Supplied by Chong-Yee Khoo and Colin Carter

Contents

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Derek Copley 3 - 4

Bournemouth Awards 15 - 17

Bournemouth Orchids 18 - 19

More Bournemouth Orchids 39

t was probably a year or two ago that the Committeebegan discussing the possibility of exhibiting at Dijon.The very idea both excited us and scared us. It is not

very often that a Global Orchid Congress comes to anaccessible country in Europe. Yet the thought of trans-porting all those precious plants on this long journey,keeping them happy while there, and getting them back again ingood condition, was daunting, to say the least.

But we decided that we should go for it, and our members generallyfelt the same. A chance of a life-time not to be missed. But theprocess of getting things under way was a real roller coaster.Getting information and negotiating with people of different national-ities and organisational styles proved to be more challenging than we had expected. As the time grew close, we still were unable toget all the information we needed to do the detailed planning. Mostimportant, was the question of whether we could remove our plantsbefore the official end of Florissimo, which would have been too longfor our plants to remain in good condition.

Finally, at one committee meeting, we felt that we had hit a brickwall, despite all the hard work done by our Show Secretary ColinCarter, whose patience had amazed us all, we decided, with reluc-tance and great sadness to pull out. Suddenly, a few days later,there was an unexpected breakthrough and Colin asked whetherwe felt, even at that late date, that we should change our minds, andgo.

‘Yes,’ we all said, and Dijon was on! So much work had alreadybeen done in acquiring paraphernalia and plants. yet the workloadsimply increased with great speed so as to be ready on time for thelong journey. For all of us it was an early morning start and a tiringtrip across France. We all got lost in a variety of ways, but arrivedeventually, ready for staging the next day.

Chairman’s Thoughts on Dijon

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Derek Copley

Most of us had participated in local and large national showsbefore, yet the scale of this took us all by surprise. Everything washuge and we felt that buzz as we beavered away in our own smallcorner, with diggers and workmen everywhere, plus all the tens ofthousands of plants being assembled. By the evening, we werefinished, yet the place still looked chaotic. Surprisingly, by nextmorning it was all clean and tidy with freshly surfaced roads insidethe massive halls. What a sight.

We were quite overwhelmed by our successes. But even if we hadwon nothing, it would still have been worth it. We were proud tohave represented our Society, and our exhibit looked superb andattracted many photographers. We had fun and laughter too, as ateam of Brit's, working, eating and drinking (not too much, mind)together for a week.

When I arrived home, I thought ‘suppose we had stayed with ourdecision not to go, what would we have missed?’ Surely thatreversal of our thinking was one of the best decisions we have evermade. Yet we had been within a whisker staying at home. And yes,it did cost us some money both personally (over £1000 each), andas a Society. Sometimes in life you have to say that it is ‘onlymoney’ and use it. (Wisely of course). But as it happened, ourreceipts were so encouraging at the Spring Show, that the ‘excess’covered most of what the Society had to spend.

Memories and reminiscences will go on for a long time to some.We owe so much to Colin’s s leadership of the team, and his goodcheery nature throughout. There can be few Chairman who feel sopositive about their Societies, their committee, and their members,as I do. In my own career as a small time human rights negotiatorin Central Asia, I must talk more about our Society and orchidsthan I realise. One of the first things people ask me is ‘how areyour orchids doing?’ I often forget, temporarily, what I am there todo! I can ramble on for ages about orchids. And why not? Orchidsare tops!

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he 18th World Orchid Conference (WOC) washeld in conjunction with the great triennial Eu-ropean International flower show, Florissimo.

The WOC ran from the 11th to 14th March 2005 withmost of the exhibits remaining in place until theclosing of Florissimo on the 20th.The conference was held in the exhibition complexat Dijon France, this centre consisted of two largeinterconnecting halls running side by side, lecture theatres, restau-rants and sales facilities.The whole theme of this exhibition was orchids, with the first hallfor the Florissimo and the second hall given over to the WOCexhibits.All the hard landscaping and construction work was undertaken bythe parks department of Dijon, who had done a marvellous job inconstructing massive waterfalls, rock faces etc. A large number oftheir staff were present and were very helpful throughout our stay.Florissimo is the show window for various cities and towns ofFrance to arrange a display of spectacular flowers and plants, andas previously mentioned, this year orchids took centre stage.As you entered the first hall through the main entrance, right infront of you was a large lagoon with a bamboo bungalow built overthe water, and a dug out canoe full of exotic fruit and flowers, thiswas the display for the host city, Ville De Dijon.I will only mention a few of these major displays:A China Sea setting with a background of mountains and misterupting out of the sea, this was the display of Parcs et Jardins deNantes.A Borneo setting with waterfalls, rock faces and rope bridges wasachieved by De chrigus Saint Sauveur.Also a display with an aircraft crashed into the jungle (see Page 6)and many more equally as good, all of course supplemented byorchids and exotic plants.

Bournemouth With The Worlds Best

TColin CarterShow Secretary

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The imagination of some of the display designers was outstanding, withthis light aircraft crashed in the ‘jungle’ an excellent example.

Massive waterfalls where tons of water thundered into huge lagoonswere erected by the Parks department of Dijon.

A tiger relaxes on a rocky outcrop, guarding the orchids.

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n entering the second hall you were left breathless, withlarge waterfalls pumping millions of gallons of water downhigh pink mountainous rock faces and into large pools.

Forests of mature palm trees, bamboo and other trees, togetherwith various foliage made a magnificent backdrop to allow thelandscaped exhibits to run one into the other.Also there were the vibrant sounds of the jungle animals and birds( although after seven days I had heard enough).Some 2,500 delegates and over 800 registrants were present fromEurope and around the world. It was estimated that around400,000 visitors would have visited the exhibition between the 11th& 20th.There were some 80 exhibitors from all over the continent, beingone of the only two British society exhibits it was a great achieve-ment for us to be awarded 2nd for our Bournemouth display in theunder 20 sq mtrs society displays.Our society secretary, Ken Griffiths, came up with the suggestionfor the theme to the display and, together with Pam Miles, setabout collecting netting, a lobster pot etc., although Pam's enthu-siasm needed some restraint when stone fishes etc turned up.The small show sub committee gathered all the materials andplants at Pam and Ken's home.On the Monday evening we started to load all the hardwareincluding the cart into the van but due to the cold temperature theplants could only be loaded just prior to departure.Ken and Allan started loading plants about 3.00 am on the Tues-day and were ready for departure just after 5.00 am.In all the Bournemouth team of ten, plus seven week oldAlexander, made their way to Dijon, arriving late afternoon, depos-iting the plants and equipment in the show hall ready for the nextday, Wednesday morning, a cold and frosty start around 8.00 am,but the temperature and humidity in the hall was perfect for theorchids.

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The Bournemouth site was just beyond a palm fringed pool andfountain, towards the end of the WOC hall, on the centre side of anisland backed by large trees and foliage. It had a slight curvedfrontage of about 5 mtrs edged with wood.We based the theme for our display on a beach scene with anantique fish cart and boxes, draped in fish netting, on a floor ofsand. The parks department staff were very helpful in deliveringmost of the material we had ordered but a bit of self help wasrequired ( at one time Ken was spotted emerging from the under-growth with a couple of large shrubs).The display was set with large cymbidiums at the rear then drop-ping down to much smaller plants at the front.The colours started from right side with yellow to brown to pink andvibrant reds in the centre. The fish cart was situated on the left withorchids on and around it giving a great visual effect.As we stand in front and view this magnificent display a fewoutstanding plants require a mention.To the left of the cart several Paphiopedilum appletonianum werepositioned, in the centre foreground a group of small bright redsophronitis coccinea in front of a vivid masdevallia ignea then acollection of miniature Dendrobium aberrans. There was a rarespecimen of Eulophia speciosa x eulophia guineensis, a plant over4ft tall with about twenty pale yellow to pink flushed flowers,Phaius tankervilleae var alba with about six stems of pale yellowto white flowers, Pelexia weberbauri a plant with three flowerstems holding about fifteen olive to pink flowers to each spike.Amongst the plants staged on the cart were Eulophia guineensis,a fleshy leafed plant with a single spike carrying several flowers ofa purple brown colour with a large pink lip. Two plants of Dendro-bium sanderae var major were very interesting in their size andcolour variation, flowers large pure white with a purple streaked lipand Gastrorchis pulchra "Fredensborg" a plant with five tall spikescarrying several pink flowers with dark centres.The star of the display must go to Cypripedium formosanum withlarge fan shaped foliage and seventeen spikes carrying eighteenpale pink large pouched flowers.

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It certainly made us feel proud and confident knowing that everyplant on the display was owned and grown by members of theBournemouth Orchid Society, let’s hope the judges feel the sameThe following day we were rewarded by achieving second positionfor our display. With a total of some twenty seven awards for our membersentries, this goes down as a staggering success and much ad-mired by the general public. I would think it was the most photo-graphed display by visitors in the hall.

Bournemouth Orchid Society display

“It certainly made us proud, knowing that every planton the display was owned and grown by members of

Bournemouth Orchid Society”

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The exhibition hall was so big, this tricycle, decked with Phalaenopsisand featured on the French Orchid Society display, would have been

very useful.

Placing the first plants on adisplay is always

the most difficult.Once this is done the

others follow more easily.

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This large flowered Cymbidiumhybrid, owned by Nick Crabb, was

part of the group which formedthe backdrop to the tiered display.

Other DisplaysA very large WOC edition would be required to list all the marve-lous exhibits, so I will only mention a few:

Glanz Wossner Orchideen had a stunning display with largebowls of Paphiopedilums together with a very good mix of Dend-robiums and Odontoglossums. A plant that took my eye was aCymbidium mem. Amelia Earhard, with long cascading flowerspikes. (see page 16)

Singapore Botanic Garden had a circular site with music as theirtheme. Masses of colourful Vandas and Dendrobiums made upthe backbone of the exhibit.

The South African Orchid Society had made sculptured figuresout of willow on a bark covered floor. A superb PhalaenopsisFlorida Frost and, of course, Disa and other orchids completed thedisplay.

Eric Young Orchid Foundation’s display was up to their usualsuperb standard with cut flowers, situated around a water filledpool with moss covered banks, the backdrop were magnificenthuge Cymbidium hybrids, in the centre a collection of Paphio-pedilum Lady Isabel and to the side, Paphiopedilum Prince Ed-ward of York, complex Paphiopedilums and Miltonias finishing offat the front.

Vacherot and Lecoufle had a very large site with a theme of anartists retreat, incorporating a hut, artist material, luggage caseand small garden cart filled with lovely Cattleyas and one outstand-ing plant was Oncidium sphacelatum.

Les Orchides De Michel Vacherot had taken a different stanceby showing orchid seed to flask then to seedlings, and finally,planted out as mature flowering plants, I thought this was veryinteresting.

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The Les Jardins Du Luxembourg had the most enormous plant ofAnselia africana with a seven to eight feet spread as their centre piece.Towards the front, on a slate scree, a collection ofPaphiopedilum Dauthieri, a cross made in 1885 and Paphiopedilumdelenatii.

Orchid Society of Great Britain were situated to the side of one of thelarge cascading waterfalls, theirs was a small site, with groups of identi-cal red Phalaenopsis Brother and white Dendrobium Spring Dream andother orchids, ascending up to the side of the rock face.There was a large contingent from Taiwan grouped together, this madea very colourful display of Cattleyas and Phalaenopsis.

The photographic exhibition was situated on the upper floor where mostof the entries were displayed on boards.Also the sales were located there, with plants and sundries for sale.Some of the traders experienced difficulties with their paper work andwere either late or, in some cases, never opened at all.

On the upper floor the lecture theatres were situated. There was a fourday lecture programme by seventy five speakers from thirty differentcountries, covering many aspects of orchid cultivation, conservation,introduction of new hybrids and many more items of interest.These lectures were either in English or, with the aid of head phones,translated simultaneously.The closing ceremony was held in the Romane'e Conti lecture room onthe afternoon of Monday the 14th.A preview of the next WOC to be held in Miami Florida in 2008 precededthe announcement that the WOC in 2011 was to be awarded to Singa-pore ( at which point one of our members, with strong family ties inSingapore, leaped into the air in jubilation ) [I wonder who that could be ed].

Then the awarding of trophies, two members from Bournemouth re-ceived trophies ,Allan Burdis and Chong-Yee Khoo.That evening dressed in our very best we attended the closing GalaDinner which was held in the vaulted cellars of the Chateau du Clos deVougeot the home of the des Chevaliers du Tastevin.A gourmet, five course menu with about seven different Burgundy wineswas enjoyed by all, although very expensive it was an evening to remem-ber.

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Cymbidium Mem. Amelia EarhardShown by

Glanz Wossner Orchideen

Paph. Prince Edward of York Eric Young Orchid Foundation

The fantastic Chateau du Clos deVougeot was the venue for the gala

dinner

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WOC SHOW AWARDS

GRAND CHAMPION DISPLAYAwarded to Vacherot and Lecoufle

GRAND CHAMPION DISPLAY ORCHID SOCIETIESAwarded to Socie'te' Fracaise D'orchidophile

GRAND CHAMPION PLANT in thewhole show

Calanthe sieboldii ‘‘Wossen’A plant with six spikes of bright yel-low flowers entered by Glanz Woss-ner Orchideen.

RESERVE GRANDCHAMPION PLANT

Paphiopedilum hirsutissimum var esquiroleiThis remarkable plant had a single flower of enormous size withbright petals covered in purple hairs entered by K J Orchids.

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BOURNEMOUTH ORCHID SOCIETY AWARDS

Our fantastic display was judged second place in the OrchidSocieties category.

TROPHIES AWARDEDAllan Burdis for plant of Cypripedium formosanumChong-Yee Khoo for photograph of Bulbophyllum frostii

GOLD MEDALChong-Yee Khoo for photograph of Bulbophyllum frostii

SILVER MEDALColin Carter for plant of Epidendrum capricornu

BRONZE MEDALAllan Burdis for plant of Cypripedium formosanumChong-Yee Khoo for plant of Dendrobium goldschmidtianumChong-Yee Khoo for plant of Dendrobium sanderae var majorMichael Powell for plant of Eulophia guineensisGraham Smith for Website design

Cypripedium formosanum

Epidendrum capricornu

GRAND CHAMPION DISPLAY

GRAND CHAMPION DISPLAY ORCHID SOCIETIES

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1st RIBBONSAllan Burdis for a plant of Cypripedium formosanumAllan Burdis for a plant of Masdevallia igneaNina Gregson for a plant of Cymbidium insigneGeoff Hands for a plant of Zygonaria Adelaide Meadows xKings Park

Michael Powell for a plant of Eulophia guineensis

2nd RIBBONSAllan Burdis for a plant of Gastrorchis pulchra ‘Fredensborg’Allan Burdis for a plant of Gastrorchis pulchra ‘Fredensborg’Allan Burdis for a plant of Masdevallia concinnaColin Carter for a plant of Paphiopedilum appletonianumColin Carter for a plant of Paphiopedilum Envy GreenDerek Copley for a plant of Lemboglossum uro-skinneri ‘LilacQueen’

Geoff Hands for a plant of Paphiopedilum victoria mariaeChong-Yee Khoo for a plant of Coelogyne mooreana V. ‘ Brockhurst’

Michael Powell for a plant of Eulophia speciosa x Eulophia guineensis

Michael Powell for a plant of Pelexia weberbauri x Stenoscarcos ‘Vanguard’

3rd RIBBONSNina Gregson for a plant of Cymbidium insigne

Paph. Envy Green owned byColin Carter

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.

I would like to thank all our members who loaned plants andsupported us, enabling Bournemouth Orchid Society to stage sucha fantastic display at a World Orchid Conference.Special thanks go to Ken Griffiths for the loan of the cart andtransportation of plants and his excellent linguistic skill to help usout of a few holes. Allan Burdis for his grouping and colour coordination experience in staging the display. Pam Miles and Chris-tine Carter for giving over their houses for reception and storage ofplants and everyone else who helped out.I suffered sheer frustration and anxiety over the secretarial ar-rangements but ended with a very fulfilling climax to a once in alifetime experience.

Well done to us all

Colin Carter

Show SecretaryBournemouth Orchid Society

Derek Copley for a plant of Lemboglossum uro-skinneri ‘Lilac

Eulophia guineensis1st place ribbon for Mike Powell

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Zygoneria Adelaide Meadows x Kings Park

Cymbidium insigneowned by Nina Gregson

Paphiopedilum victoria mariaeOwned by Geoff Hands

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Cymbidium ‘Kings Lock’Owned by Denis Groves

Bournemouth orchids

Chong-Yee Khoo holds the trophy he received for his photoof Bulbophyllum frostii

The Bournemouth display was one of the mostphotographed

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Bournemouth orchids

was very fortunate to take part in a most interestingjudging session at the recent WOC in Dijon. Ever

since I had read in Eric Hansen’s “Orchid Fever” thatorchids could be judged on their fragrance, as well astheir floral quality, I had been curious about this aspectof orchid judging.

As a trainee orchid judge, I was entitled to act as steward to oneof the judging teams at the WOC, and so I was pleasantlysurprised when the organisers granted my request to be as-signed to steward the team judging Division IV - Orchid Fra-grance. I later learned that fragrance judging on orchid flowerstook place for the very first time at the Tokyo Dome orchid showin 1989. Since then, the 13th and 15th World Orchid Conferenc-es (in Auckland and Vancouver) had included fragrance classes.

The Judging team consisted of four judges, two of whom wereperfumers from Japan and Paris, and the other two Burgandianwine tasters. The Leader of the Fragrance Judging Team wasMr Shoji Nakamura, who had headed the perfumery section ofthe Japanese cosmetic giant Shiseido. We were asked to judgea number of orchids submitted for our consideration by exhibi-tors, in a room which also served as the HQ for the WOCjudging organisers. This is unlike the scheme for judging for therest of the floral classes, where the judging teams walk betweenexhibits and examine plants in situ. I soon found out why this isso - the fragrance of some orchids can be faint, and one needsto get one’s nose right up to some flowers before the smellbecomes evident. Also, some orchids only develop scents whenwarmed, or exposed to light, so that being in a well lit warmroom gives the plant the best chance to shine.

Judging Fragrant Orchids at the WOCChong-Yee Khoo

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However, the organisation of the judging at the WOC was a littlechaotic, and the lack of publicity that there was a fragrancejudging division meant that only a few exhibitors had submittedtheir plants for fragrance judging. Mr Nakamura decided that thefive or so entries were insufficient for us to do a proper job. Hetherefore decided we would do a tour of the exhibits to pick outmore plants to be judged. Although the conditions were far fromideal, the entire show floor smelling of spilt kerosene, we man-aged to gather about 20 plants which we thought were worthyof consideration. These included Oncidium Sharry Baby, Catt-leya Bob Elliot, Rhyncolaelia digbyana, Catasetum wendlinglerix tenebrosum, Maxillaria ubatubana, and a number of otherCattleya, Phalaenopsis and Zygopetalum species and hybrids.

The fragrance of the flowers were judged according to the fourqualities of “intensity and diffusiveness”, “elegance”,“gorgeousness” and “liveliness and freshness”. The judginghandbook set out the evaluation standards the judges were touse, and the preferred qualities. For example, under livelinessand freshness of fragrance, we were told to rate fragrances withthe qualities of being refreshing, clean, fresh and clear, and tomark down those fragrances which are “not clear, oily, withered,too mature, humid or sharp and irritating”. I learned that it waspossible to separate out a complex fragrance into individualnotes, some of which I must admit I could not detect. I also triedmy hand at describing what I thought I was smelling in thefragrances: “lily of the valley”, “peppermint”, “peppery”, “woody”,“cinnamon”, “coconut”. Although I used layman’s language, andnot the specialised language the perfumers were using, I wasquite pleased when the judges agreed with some of my descrip-tions!

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At the end of the judging session, we awarded the Trophy forthe fragrance division to Brassolaeliocattleya Sanyang Ruby‘Crowned Dragon’, a plant we picked out of the display of OrchisFloriculturing (Taiwan). We also awarded a Gold Medal to thisplant, and to Catasetum wendlingerii x tenebrosum (exhibitedby Hans Christiansen, Denmark) and Maxillaria tenuifolia (LaCanopee, France). The Catasetum had a lovely peppery fra-grance, and was my personal favourite, while the Maxillaria wasan enormous specimen and therefore had an overwhelmingcoconut smell. Silver medals were awarded to Dendrochilumcornutum (La Canopee), Oncidium Sharry Baby ‘Sweet Fra-grance’ (Vacherot and Lecoufle, France) and PhalaenopsisYungho Canary ‘Yung Ho’ (Sun Moon, Taiwan). We gaveBronze medals to Maxillaria ubatubana (Societe Auboise,France) and Rhyncolaelia digbyana (Marcel Lecoufle).

Fragrance judging is not as difficult as I thought it might be - butone certainly needs lots of experience and patience, and to bediscriminating and discerning and above all not to be over-whelmed by first impressions. In that these are the very require-ments for being a good floral orchid judge, fragrance judging isvery similar to “normal” judging!

“The fragrance of some orchids can be faint, and one needs to getone’s nose right up to the flowers before the smell becomes evident”.

Try that with Bulbophyllum beccarii,(smells like rotting fish Ed.)

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Ribbons, Medal and Trophy(see page 29)

think it probably fair to say that our first impressionsof the trade sales area at Dijon WOC, having beenannually spoiled by regular attendance at the New-

bury show, were ones of mild disappointment. The or-chid sales area was on the, at times incredibly hot, topfloor of the Exhibition Centre and sharing with bars, restaurants,food outlets and a large number of retail stalls none of which hadanything to do with orchids. This, of course, was a reflection of thefact that the WOC was only part of the enormous and magnificentFlorissimo which attracts literally tens of thousands of visitors fromall over France and beyond, who have come not only to see theorchids. There were about 50 or so orchid traders grouped at oneend of the hall a fair proportion of whom were, not surprisingly dueto the cost of the stands, mainly interested in the non orchidhobbyist passing trade. Most did extremely well, so did Holland.( McBeans sold out in 2 days and their stall remained empty for therest of the 10 days of the exhibition)However, first impressions can deceive and as the days went byand after ferreting about for hours on end our purchases began toget bigger and credit cards started warming up. A major problemarose for the non European traders due to Cites paperwork andthe ever present French Ministry officials who were insisting onexamining every plant, plant numbers against inventories, andexport and import documentation. This resulted in a number ofstands of particular interest to hobbyists not being open until theWOC had ended and most of the delegates had left. The Frenchauthorities appeared to be extraordinarily obstructive. Flasks ofthe sensational new discovery Phrag. kovachii were on sale for thefirst time ever worldwide, but that is another story.

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Orchid Sales at the WOCKen Griffiths

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One Philippino trader even had all of her plants ‘donated’ to aFrench Botanical Garden – that was lucky!!!Those of us left however, did pick up some real gems and I thinkGeorge would have been proud of the bargaining skills exhibitedby some of our members. Word of advice - never pay the price onthe label, be cheeky, they can only say get lost and you can offerthem less the next day!There really were some rarely seen plants for sale e.g. Paphgigantifolium and although the prices were certainly not cheap thequality of nursery grown plants was exceptional and it was good totalk to and take advice from real experts which was very freelygiven. Also there were lots of mouth watering flasks on offer, notcheap, but good quality, in particular from Sun Moon Orchids ofTaiwan and Hoorai Orchids of Malaysia. I suspect those of us whogo to Miami in 2008 will come back loaded with flasks.Being delegates and exhibitors we had virtually unimpeded accessto the sales areas throughout, a great advantage as at times itbecame very crowded.All in all it was great. Would I go again? You bet! Roll on Miami!

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As the days went by our purchases began to get bigger andcredit cards started warming up!

recall a conversation several years ago with KeithAndrew, concerning the announcement that the 18thWOC was to be held in Paris, France, (later changed to

Dijon) . He made the comment that Bournemouth OrchidSociety should seriously consider staging a display there,as this would probably be the last chance the Society would be ableto show plants at a World Orchid Conference for many years. Thelast time the society had the opportunity to do that was at the 14thWOC held in Glasgow 1993.

There was enthusiastic agreement, but as that would be severalyears away the work involved to achieve this was far from ourthoughts.Inevitably time marched on and plans were drawn up to go to France.Colin, as Show secretary, took on the enormous task of communicat-ing our stand requirements to the WOC organising committee andbooking our place there. This turned out to be a thankless task, asthe response from the WOC committee was, to put it politely, vagueand very slow.After months of planning Bournemouth was almost ready to go, andthen we heard there was a problem with the agreed duration of theorchid show and Bournemouth’s participation was in doubt.

The WOC was originally to be held in Paris but for certain reasonsthis was abandoned, and it found a home in Dijon as part of Florissi-mo, a huge triennial flower show which travels Europe. Florissimo,planned to run from 11 - 20 March and staging from the 8th, wouldmean our orchids would have to last for 13 days, the committee couldnot last that long, let alone the plants.

18th World Orchid Conference

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Ia personal view

Allan Burdis

At the next Show committee meeting it was decided, with heavyhearts, Bournemouth could not attend the 18th WOC in Dijon. We allleft that meeting believing it was the end of the matter, but our intrepidShow Secretary Colin, and his wife, society treasurer Christine, haddifferent ideas. Encouraged by Christine, Colin made another attemptto resurrect Bournemouth’s bid to be at the WOC.

With renewed negotiations between the WOC organising committeeand other concerned bodies it was agreed to allow Bournemouth andthe Orchid Society of Great Britain, the only other British societyinterested in attending, to be able to break down on the 14th.A hurried committee meeting was arranged and our planned trip to the18th World Orchid Congress was back on!

How did this WOC compare with other major shows?

Having attended many British Orchid Council (BOC) Congresses overthe years, and a WOC, I have a pretty good idea what to expect fromones registration fee, usually precious little! Well, unfortunately, Dijonwas no exception.The registration fee this time was as much as 390 Euros, (£279) andthis got you free access to the show and all lectures and a free zippedbag, containing many useful items such as, your registrant’s pass, lotsof literature, most of which was dumped in the waste bin back at thehotel, and the most useful item of all, a small Lion Bar, which Iconsumed one evening in my hotel room, when feeling rather peckish.Two items I most eagerly looked for were not included, a note pad andpen. These I deliberately did not to take with me because I havealways found them in registrants bags before, but not this time.Still, I looked forward to relaxing and perhaps purchasing a meal in theexclusive registrants lounge, if only I could have found it!So we fought the huge crowds to book a table in the many restaurantsset up specially, but were turned away, as they were all fully bookedby the ravenous French visitors. Although we did manage to find aplace selling filled rolls, which was just enough to last us until ourevening meal back at the hotel. As exhibitors, you would think we had special rates, but not so. Thisappears to be normal throughout orchid shows such as this and I daresay the exhibitors make up a fare whack of the income from regis-trants.

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The WOC part of the show was thankfully situated together in onemain area, but as the theme of Florissimo was “orchids” I do notknow if all the visitors were aware of this significance. The wholeshow attracted an estimated 400,000 paying visitors but withoutFlorissimo one wonders if the WOC would have achieved this hugenumber.

The impact on the senses on entering the showfor the first time was amazing, with huge water-falls, fountains, full sized tropical trees and shrubswhich provided the backdrop for the thousands of orchids.When the orchids had overcome the odour oftarmac, used by the Dijon parks department,their familiar perfume filled the air, and to add tothe jungle theme, the never ending sounds ofmonkeys and tropical birds could be heard. By theend of the show we all felt like shooting the damnthings!!

Although effective I felt the jungle theme restrained the artisticelement of the displays, they all flowed one into the other and it wasdifficult to know where one finished and another started. Although,we were not made aware of this format when deciding onBournemouth’s coastal theme and, therefore, the stand stood outas refreshingly different from the others. Having said that there wereother displays which showed a bit more individuality, giving the eyea refreshing break from the never ending jungle.

Calanthe sieboldii ‘‘Wossen’ was awarded Grand ChampionOrchid and Paphiopedilum hirsutissimum var esquiroleiReserve Grand Champion. (see page 14)

It was unusual to see two species get the top awards and althoughboth were lovely plants. C. sieboldii had six spikes of startling yellowflowers, which were not displayed to their best and Paph. Hirsutissi-mum v. esquirolei was huge but only had one flower. So where wereall the hybrids?

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Judging is a difficult task at the best of times and at the WOC, wherethere were thousands of plants, in dozens of individual classes, thistask must have been even greater.

One area of the judging there was no question about was the awardsgiven to plants on the Bournemouth display. Yes I ambiased, but having looked at all the other displays I can honestly saythe variety and sheer quality of plants on the display shone through.

thought the medals left much to be desired, we gasped in sheerdisbelief at their poor quality and design. Whoever was given thistask did not excel.The trophies failed in a similar way, reflecting the French obsessionwith their wine, not one shared by everyone, me included. I thought,at least the specially engraved bottles, displayed in a wooden casewith a Perspex cover (see page 23 ), would be a unique item, but Iwas later informed they were on sale to the public in the sales area,so far from unique. We wondered if something had happened to the trophies and theorganisers had quickly used these as an alternative.I believe WOC medals and trophies should be something to cherishand admire, happy to display at home but those from Dijon, Isuspect, will sadly be locked away in a cupboard.

The sales area was, as Ken mentioned in his article on page 24 - 25,a bit of a disappointment, as exhibitors and traders, mainly dealingin species, were delayed, and some had all their plants confiscatedby French customs and other authorities. A vendor from Peru wasapparently delayed until the last day and was,therefore, unable to put up an exhibit or sales pitch. Representativesfrom Madagascar never got their plants into the show and othersfrom Colombia, who had brought nearly 3,000 plants, had paper-work lost and were also unable to exhibit and sell. We waited with eager anticipation for the Philippine orchid sales toopen but after several days they were forced to pack up and webelieve their plants ended up in a French botanical collection. Luckythem!

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We were excited to discover seedlings of Phragmipedium kovachiibeing offered for sale in flask. I was very wary at first as this speciescaused a terrific legal battle in America over its illegal importation,but we were relieved to discover these were all perfectly legal. ThePeruvian authorities had licensed one or two selected nurseries inPeru to raise seedlings from five wild collected plants and allowtheir world wide distribution. Dijon being the first time they had beenoffered, although to EU residents only. Lucky us!

The Peruvian authorities should be applauded for their bold andcommon sense initiative. Hopefully others will follow their exampleand allow rare and endangered orchids to be be propagated in theirnative country, so they can be legally distributed world wide andhopefully stop any desire to collect wild plants.We located the warehouse where the flasks were being stored andwere horrified to discover the parcels, containing the precious seed-lings, had been handled by the authorities in such a way as torender many flasks smashed and all totally disturbed, leaving seed-lings buried in the agar and possibly contaminated. A disgracefuland shameful event.

Seedlings were purchased on condition they would not be resold fortwo years and, therefore, anyone offering plants of this species isdoing so without authorisation, so beware!In three years we could be seeing the first flowers of this mostexciting new discovery and the hybrids produced as a consequencewill be eagerly awaited and will surely herald a new chapter inPhrag. breeding. (see page 37)

Needless to say I did find something to interest me in the sales areaand came away with many new plants for my orchidcollection.

Although very tiring, the show was a great success for Bournemouthand l thoroughly enjoyed the experience. With great memories of anorchid event to be remembered for ever.

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The committee met to discuss a showWorld Orchid Congress, FlorissimoThe debate to exhibit or not was onDo we travel all the way to Dijon?

And so ‘tis decided with one week to goThat we shall travel to Florissimo

The orchids arrived from near and farNestled in boxes in the back of a car

They’re brought in the house and kept nice and warmWe don’t want them becoming forlorn

Next we collect the van that we’ve hiredIt’s large and white and to be admired

The fish cart and lobster pot are hauled insideSecurely aboard they’re lashed and tied

The following morning we’re up with the larkEven though it’s still very dark

Half past three, four o’clockWe load the orchids into the truck

It’s a tight squeeze, there’s not much roomBut we must take every bloom

Five o’clock and off we goWorld Orchid Congress, Florissimo

“Turn right”, says Sat Nav, and away sped the vanDriven by our very own White Van Man

White Van Man? Yes! Ken was his nameHe’s driven through Holland, Germany and Spain

He likes to drive through France the bestBOS badge affixed to his chest

Sat Nav directs us from all we call homeThrough Channel Tunnel, to Dijon, north of Beaune

He drives through wind, rain and snowWe’re getting excited, How will it go?World Orchid Congress, Florissimo

Florissimo Magnifico?

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Pam Miles

We arrive at Dijon and enter the hallUnload the truck to set up our stall

The French organisation was not all we desiredBut the municipal workers were to be admiredThey brought in ferns to enhance our display

Driftwood and rocks joined the array

Allan’s in charge, he’s good at creatingWe are all his ladies in waiting

“Pass me that plant, pass me that cane”“These here are fine, that needs a name”

“We’ll twist this plant there and move this plant here”He gets it just right never you fear

Colin and Christine, a marvel to wonderNot one step wrong, not one blunder

They’re good at coordinating, anticipate our needsThey’re full of enthusiasm and do lots of good deeds

They’re there when you need them with tape, string and stakeThey’ve brought everything make no mistake

They work very hard and put in their timeAnd when they have finished they like their wine

On web site design, of which three he submittedThe British Orchid Council was committed

And when the judge his hat he donsGraham was awarded with a bronze

He continued his networking, he was silver tonguedWith friends and acquaintances he positively thronged

So whilst on tour, in France, DijonHe was commonly known as Mr. Ding Dong!

Chongy, Irene, babe Alexander in towJoined us at Florissimo

Chongy the camera man, click, click they look grandAn orchid on digital is worth two in the hand

He showed all his photo’s twenty-three all toldBrilliantly done, he came home with gold

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Our French improved by leaps and boundsWe didn’t get too many French frownsWe did very well, no one spoke an ill

Until Derek auspiciously asked for “Le bill”No si vous plais, only a please

Oh how we tittered, Oh how we teasedThen we said that, “whilst in Dijon

Best thing to say is Madame le addition”

Nuix St George and Beaune, for tasting of wineThen out to a Chateaux one evening to dine

We left the Chateaux after a wonderful dinnerHome by bus, that was a winner

When climbing the bus on our way homeGlen lost half a shoe, he didn’t moan.

Half a shoe, from toe to heelHe didn’t know, so no big deal

He walked with a bit of a hipperty hopOur mate Glen, Mr. Flip Flop

Tony Bennett left his heart in San FranciscoBut Glen left his sole in Florissimo

Back to the show, How did we do?Hmm, let me see, I’ll give you a clue

Bronze, silver and gold, medals awardedHighly commended, plaques, ribbons applaudedWe did very well, much better than we thought

An event worth entering, hard won and hard fought

So support your committee, they’re here for you and meThey give up their time and do it for free

They show YOUR plants and create a great displayThey deserve your applause at the end of the day

And so it’s time to say aurevoire, cheerioYes it was magnifico

The fantastic World Orchid Congress, Florissimo

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Graham, ‘networking’ again.

The team smile for the camera, probably glad the long day setting up the displaywas at last over.

Left to right, Chong-Yee Khoo, Glen Jamieson, Allan Burdis, Pam Miles,Christine Carter, Colin Carter, Derek Copley, Graham Smith, Ken Griffiths

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Our chairman can never say no.

Show Committee

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Lemboglossum uro-skinneri‘Lilac Queen’ see page 16

Masdevallia igneaLike the sophronitis, red hot.

See page 16

This group of Sophronitis coccineawere stunningly displayed amongstbright white pebbles at the front of

the display

Dendrobium sanderae v. majorhad large sparkling white flowers.

See page 16

Bournemouth orchids

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ooking back on the judging at the World OrchidCongress in Dijon, my first thought is "Oh, myaching feet"! I'm quite convinced that I walked

several miles that morning. Although I never did find out theexhibition hall's actual square footage (acreage, perhaps!), itseemed the size of several football pitches. Something of an exaggeration, perhaps, but in any event it was huge- not unlike a very large and very long aircraft hanger. The problemfor my feet was that every plant on every display had to be looked atand judged, and that meant walking round the hall several times.(The display area was 12,000 sq. meters and sales area 5,000 sq. meters, Ed)

In practice, the task of judging was not as bad as it might seem, andwas reasonably well organised. The plants were judged in over 200separate classes, with a First, Second and Third ribbon to award ineach. Then there were Gold, Silver and Bronze medals to awardpurely on the plants' individual merits. This was a very useful device,as it meant that a particularly meritorious plant which failed to getplaced in its class - usually due to an especially high standardreached by several plants - could be given proper official recognition.

In excess of 150 qualified judges from around the world took part.No, that didn't mean that everybody judged every class; the verythought of that is horrifying! Instead, around 25 teams of five to sevenmembers - plus a clerk, or trainee judge - were organised, eachresponsible for a small number of classes. The team to which I wasassigned was truly international - one each from France (of course!),the US, Australia, South Africa, Kenya and Japan, plus two British.My fellow Brit and also the team leader was . . . Joyce Stewart, whois also a member of Bournemouth Orchid Society! We were assigned to judge 8 classes, 4 of species and 4 of hybrids,covering Angraecoids and some Vandaceous groups.

Recollections of Judging at Dijon

Graham Smith

L

Following a slightly rambling and trilingual briefing - all instructionswere given verbally in French, then repeated in English and Ger-man (all by a Belgian!) - we set off in high spirits. Our first taskwas to identify every plant in the Show falling into "our" classes,which meant a thorough visual check of the whole of each display.This we did as a team, rather than individually - we were faced witha tight time limit - drawing up a short-list of possible place winnersin each class. A slow process, as we were often vying with all theother teams for space around many of the displays; traffic jamswere not infrequent! We discussed pretty well every possible plantwe found, although inevitably dismissing the majority more or lessout of hand. This we could do in all fairness, having "got a feel" forthe standard of higher quality plants during informal pre-judgingscouting trips round the exhibition during set-up.

The next stage - the process of refining our short-list to a First,Second and Third for each class - proved quite tiring, as we hadretraced our steps several times, to-ing and fro-ing between vari-ous displays in different parts of the hall. This was to compare thecontenders as effectively and fairly as possible, as we couldn'tremove plants from displays and view them side-by-side, andinvolved some quite lively discussion. It also involved some verydelicate mountaineering, at times, as some plants of interest weredisplayed in the more remote reaches of rather large displays,close examination - by the more limber team members - beingnecessary to reach meaningful decisions. Eventually, though, weagreed the "1-2-3" for all the classes, voting by a simple show ofhands where placing weren't self-evident.

We also had to propose plants in "our" classes for considerationfor higher awards (Best Species, Best Hybrid and Best In Show,etc.) by a team of senior judges, but didn't think any were worthy.

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Our other major task was to go round yet again ("oh my feet"!) andfinalise our medal awards. Our instructions at the briefing were to"be hard, be strict" so, for most of "our" classes, no medals wereawarded. Indeed, we didn't award any Golds at all. One bright spot,though, was the Singapore National Park display, where we award-ed three Silvers and a Bronze to different Renanthera hybrids - allsuperb plants, where the standard on the display was so high thatthe Bronze medal winner hadn't even been placed in its class.

One factor that struck me throughout the judging process was thehigh degree of unanimity within our team. This was despite each ofus coming from different national judging environments, with theirslightly differing criteria and varying training methods. I suppose itgoes to prove that real quality will always - or almost always - comeout on top! All in all, the whole exerciseproved thoroughly enjoyable, if tiring, andprovided a very valuable opportunity toview the vast array of plants on displaywith a critical eye. The gentle meanderingaround the Show, with its "gosh, look atthat" and general relaxed admiration camein the following days - after my feet hadstopped shouting!

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Vanda hybrid

Trudelia (syn. Vanda ) cristata

Cymbidiums and Phaius tankervilleae

Phalaenopsis Mystik‘Golden Leopard ‘

Owned by Christine Carter

White flowers always attract the eye and thislovely example of Paph. delenatii v. alba,owned by Ken Griffiths, is no exception.

This Renanthera monachicawas one of the few vandaceousorchids on the Bournemouth

display

More Bournemouth orchids

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Discovered in Northern Peru by Michael Kovach, flowersare up to 20 cm in diameter and come in a variety ofcolours from pale pink to dark red and deep purple. Foundgrowing in bright light on south-west facing limestonecliffs, 1900-2000 meters.They form large clumps of up to 15 to 20 growths.

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‘Roseline’

‘Tupac Amaru’

In alphabetical order:

Allan BurdisColin Carter

Christine CarterGraham Coleman

Derek CopleyNick Crabb

Nina GregsonKen Griffiths

Denis GrovesGeoffrey Hands

John JamesChong-Yee Khoo

Mike PowellAlan SapsardJoyce Stewart

The Committee would like to thank the followingmembers who loaned their precious plants for the

Bournemouth exhibit, without which there would nothave been a display.

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Life President Keith Andrew Esq.

Life Vice - Presidents Graham Smith & Allan Burdis

OfficersChairman Derek Copley

Vice - Chairman Ken Griffiths

Hon. SecretaryKen GriffithsTally House

Hawthorn RoadSouth Bockhampton

ChristchurchDorset Tel. 01425 672492

Hon. TreasurerChristine CarterLittle Orchard

Newtown RoadAwbridgeRomsey

SO51 0GGTel. 01794 342380

Show Secretary Colin CarterHon-Librarian Leo Palmer

Committee Glen Jamieson Chong -Yee Khoo

Pam Miles Mike Powell

Top Orchid EditorAllan Burdis

31 Heath RoadWalkford

ChristchurchDorset

BH23 5RHTel. 01425 275251 E-mail : allanburdis@hotmail.com

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