BALDWINSVILLE — What do lady’s slippers, vanilla and “Dracula” all have in common?
They are all types of orchids, one of the two largest families of plants.
This weekend, visitors to Beaver Lake can see these exotic blooms for themselves — and troubleshoot their own orchid woes — at the Central New York Orchid Society’s Fall Show and Sale. It is the society’s first show since 2019.
CNYOS member David Ditz said the club has been meeting for over 40 years. During the pandemic, meetings shifted to Zoom and members shared photos of their precious plants on the society’s “virtual show table.”
Now that COVID is beginning to ease up, Ditz and his fellow orchid owners are hoping to grow their membership.
“We’re hoping people will come back out as soon as they feel safe,” he said.
This year’s show brings together CNYOS with Albany and Rochester orchid clubs and three vendors: Main Street Orchids, Fair Orchids, and J&L Orchids. Visitors can enter a raffle to win orchids donated by the vendors.
“There will be plenty of plants to see,” Ditz said. “You can bring in a plant and ask, ‘What’s wrong with my plant?’ and they can help you with that.”
Growers will put together their most opulent displays for American Orchid Society judges to grade.
“It’s a big deal if you get an American Orchid Society award. That’s a top goal. It’s a national recognition,” Ditz said. “Some [displays] are more modern. Some are arranged to look like they just came out of the rainforest.”
A longtime gardener who took care of his parents’ gardens, Ditz decided to buy his first orchid after seeing an ad in a magazine. Now, he has “a couple hundred” in a heated greenhouse behind his home, as well as miniature orchids in terrariums, a vegetable garden, perennial beds, planters and a collection of 15 or 20 bonsai trees.
“It’s just for me and my pleasure,” Ditz said. “It does become a little overwhelming sometimes.”
With about 28,000 species of orchids — “and they’re still finding new species,” Ditz added — the required growing conditions are highly variable.
“You have to know what they want. If you’re not giving them the conditions they grow in in nature, they can die very quickly,” he said. “Some want high humidity of 60 to 70%. Some want very bright light. Some want only morning light and low humidity.”
Orchid enthusiasts often grow their plants indoors under LEDs or in greenhouses so they can tweak growing conditions as needed.
“Some people put them outside in the summer. Outside has different problems — I can’t do it at my house. I have too many squirrels,” Ditz said. “A lot of our members have a lot of luck growing some species that are quite hard.”
Ditz’s advice for the orchid-curious is to research which plants would thrive in the environment you can provide for them.
“Before you buy a plant, figure out what your conditions are,” he said. “A lot of people just see something and they buy it and eventually it dies because it didn’t get what it needed.”
The Central New York Orchid Society’s Fall Show and Sale takes place noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2, at Beaver Lake Nature Center, located at 8477 E. Mud Lake Road in Lysander. Admission/parking is $5 per car. For more information, visit CNYOS.org.
