Vancouver Orchid Society

Tonight’s meetup features guest speaker, , discussing Masdevallia and Dracula orchids. These cool-intermediate growing mountain orchids of South America are an absolute delight. We’ll cover the growing care and basics to succeed with these spectacular orchids. Space is limited so only 3 more guest visitors allowed! DM us to Sign up quickly.

This is the second to last meetup before summer break! Don’t forget to pic up your name tags and T-Shirts. There will be our monthly floral display table, orchid raffles, fun judging, food, exchanges, and socializing. Come make new plant friends and join us :)!

Ps remember to bring a mug, name tag, or bring a plant for the raffle to earn a free 🎟️ raffle ticket.

📆 May 27th, 2026
⏰ 7-9pm
📍 VanDusen Garden - Floral Hall (besides parking lot)

Plant in video: Masdevallia decumana
Grower: Daniel Kwok

It is a privilege to see a specimen sized orchid like this. Dendrobium lindleyi is a beautiful honey scented orchid native to southeast Asia. In the wild, it grows as a lithophyte or epiphyte and can take very bright indirect light as seen high up in the trees.

This orchid grow best when mounted so that it’s roots can dry off quickly after watering.

It also requires a sharp winter rest to bloom, so limit watering to just light spritzes over the winter.

Grower: Daniel Kwok

Cypripedium ‘Frosch’s Cutie’ is a gorgeous cold-hardy terrestrial orchid with twisting petals and a bright yellow lip. It blooms in fall after a long winter rest where it loses its leaves! It can survive temperature down to -25 degrees Celcius outdoors and can be planted directly into your garden bed or pot. You must provide it bright shade and never much direct light.

The lime yellow leaves are equally as splendid as the flower! Keep in mind that many Cypripediums (cold tolerating slipper orchids)cannot handle direct fresh manure as the nitrogen rich compost can damage the rhizome and roots. Instead, you can opt for slow release pellets! This is a cool tip from !

Keep the substrate moist, open, and airy year round. They don’t want to dry out or get water logged. Add perlite to humus to open it up and make the soil fluffy!

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Grower and 🎥: (Sam LB)

The first orchid I ever ordered has grown so big it needs to be placed into a specimen sized basket. Instead of subdividing it, I decided I wanted to let it grow even larger than it is now. The flowers of this Cattleya leuddemanniana, native to Venezuela🇻🇪, are stunning and smell like perfume. You’ve got to try it out, especially if you have lots of light!

Basket Substrate:
1) bark (Orchiata size Power+ or Super)
2) large perlite (helps with air)
3) charcoal (optional)
4) Sphagnum Moss
5) basket liner

The right time to repot an orchid is when the roots are just about to grow. In this case, I am a few weeks late as the roots are already a few inches long. When breaking a clay pot, use a hammer 🔨 to make quick hits, remembering not to damage roots. Consider using a tarp to lay on the floor so you can easily collect debris without creating a mess.

Place the plant into the new container and make sure you have enough growth for at least two growths. Because I get two new growths a year, I have made space for 4 growths. I don’t want to repot for three years if possible! At some point, all organic media breaks down will need to changed to prevent root death.

Orchid growers often put styrofoam or inorganic material underneath the plant to facilitate air space and water drainage. I did something like this here by placing 1 inch of styrofoam at the bottom of this deep basket.

To learn how to water this setup next time, follow us! Write “Teach Me” if you want us to send you our class and speaker schedules and topics!

Coelogyne mooreana, known as the queen of Coelogyne, is a beautiful orchid from the cloud forests of Vietnam. At 1200-2000ft elevation, it’s considered a cool-intermediate species and enjoys 15 degrees Celsius evenings and 21-28 degrees Celsius day temperatures. This cultivar, Wesonbert, is 118 years old!

This orchid’s pseudobulbs and leaves are incredible, making it a strong table centrepiece even without flowers. The sparkling white blooms with golden throats are so fantastic, sending 3-8 flowers up in the winter through spring.

They never like to dry out completely, even during winter semi-rest. Give them plenty of water in the summer! Light is brightest during the winter when leaves fall, and this also helps with bloom production.

Join your local orchid club or society to find orchids near you! Comment “Coelogyne” below 👇 if you’d like us to end you our class and speaker schedule!

Cypripedium formosanum is a beautiful terrestrial orchid that can be grown directly in the ground in zones 8-10. Native to high elevation mountains of 🇹🇼 Taiwan (2000-3000ft), it is considered the easiest ground orchid to grow in your home garden. It needs partial to full shade, never allowing summer noon sun to scorch it. It also needs damp or wet feet during the growing period, however you absolutely have to balance it with very open substrate. Add loose organic media, hummus, and a bunch of perlite to prevent the soil from getting soggy or mucky. Water must drain quickly despite the high moisture requirement.

This landscaping orchid can spread quickly into nice colonies in several years. Keep in mind that the roots grow shallow and laterally, not vertically. New growths may not bloom the first year, but the second or third year will display amazing flowers that can last a month.

Unique to slipper orchids, this species has extremely round pouches, or labellums, forming a near perfect sphere. These special pouches help capture insects, but they do not eat them. An exit hole exists right above it.

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