About us

We are an award winning, volunteer run, 501c(3) non-profit organization formed in the spring of 1963 to foster and encourage the education of it's members with respect to the culture, growing, hybridization, preservation and perpetuation of species and hybrid orchids of every variety. 

We meet at 7pm on the third Tuesday of every month, except for December, at the Pacific Palisades Women's Club. At each meeting members learn of upcoming events, an expert speaker shares their experiences with cultivating orchids and the Society holds a silent plant auction as well as a raffle for orchids. 
Light refreshments are provided. 

Venue

Pacific Palisades Women's Club
901 Haverford Avenue,
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

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Our next meeting

7pm Tuesday,  January 17, 2012
Prof. Ron Kaufmann 
Searching for Orchids in Colombia 

Our January speaker will be Ron Kaufmann, chair of the San Diego County Orchid Society Conservation Committee. Ron has travelled extensively to view orchids in the wild in South America. His talk titled "Searching for Orchids in Colombia" will cover his first trip to find orchids in Colombia in preparation for a tour he organized to benefit the Orchid Conservation Alliance.
Colombia is one of the most orchid-rich countries in the world, with over 3,000 described species. Ron's talk will show orchids in the wild, in reserves and at several nurseries that are cultivating na-tive Colombian orchids.

Ron is a marine biologist by training, and his scientific work includes studies of Antarctic and deep-sea ecosystems as well as marine communities in coastal Southern California. He has been growing orchids for more than 15 years, starting with a reed-stem Epidendrum and progressing to a collection that contains mostly species orchids.

Ron has a long-standing interest in conservation and has been a member of the SDCOS Conservation Committee for more than 10 years and chair since 2004. Since 1991, the Conservation Committee has awarded nearly $160,000 to support projects in 20 different countries.

Ron also helped to found the Orchid Conservation Alliance and serves on the boards of the OCA, EcoMinga Foundation (a conserva-tion foundation based in Ecuador) and Orchid Digest Corporation. Ron has been a regular contributor to the Orchid Digest since 2003, when he began writing the Webwatch column. Ron grows most of his orchids in a 36 x 24 foot greenhouse and several outdoor shade-covered areas around his house in San Diego. Friends have suggested that he build a second, much larger greenhouse to accommodate the many plants that often make walking through his greenhouse an exercise requiring extensive training in gymnastics and yoga to avoid serious injury. Thus far, this recommendation hasn’t been followed, although the temptation is always there.