The meeting begins at 1pm with Grower Tips, where OOS members address a specific orchid growing challenge, e.g. a specific pest, repotting, mounting, humidity, or fertilization, and answer questions from the audience. Come with questions, and they’ll provide answers! The Business Meeting will follow at 1:20–1:50pm; Program Presentation at 2–3pm; and Show Table, Auction, and Raffle at 3–3:30pm. Follow CDC guidelines with respect to COVID-19 precautions.

Program Presentation

Peter Zale, Ph.D., Associate Director, Conservation, Plant Breeding and Collections, Longwood Gardens, will present “Invasive Species: The Dark Side of Orchids.”

Speaker’s Biography

Peter Zale, Ph.D holds a Master’s degree and Ph.D in plant breeding and genetics (2009, 2014) from The Ohio State University and is currently Associate Director, Conservation, Plant Breeding, and Collections, at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. In this position he leads curatorial activities, the plant breeding programs, the plant exploration program, and the plant conservation program. He has participated in over 25 plant exploration expeditions throughout the United States, Japan, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Republic of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and China. These plant exploration initiatives support other endeavors at Longwood centered around development of a plant conservation program focused on horticultural aspects of native orchids of the U.S. and temperate terrestrial orchids from around the world.