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Malibu Orchid Society Monthly Meeting





TUESDAY, March 17   at  7:00 pm



​VIA Zoom




Tim Culbertson


WILL BE SPEAK ON
​


“Sobralias: Showy Orchids to Grow Outdoors”
​


We are delighted to welcome back Time Culbertson who will speak on Sobralias, a

delightful genus with stunning beautiful flowers that can be easily grown outdoors in your

garden.  There are approximately 100 Sobralia species found throughout Central and

South America, perhaps 40-50 in Colombia alone. The plants are usually medium to tall

terrestrials, rarely ephiphytes, with reedlike stems and plicate leaves. 


For our meeting, Tim will discuss the various varieties of Sobralias and their culture to

achieve great growing results.  He has noted that in recent years there has been a great

deal of interest in this genus in making new and different hybrids available.  He will provide

us with an overview of these recent modern hybridization developments that seek to breed

new and different plants that have larger and more longer-lasting flowers.


Although Tim’s day job is to teach middle school kids, one of his passions has always been

plants.  He began growing orchids as an offshoot from working at Longwood Gardens in

Philadelphia just after college.  From the very beginning it was all about Paphiopedilum,

particularly awarded and select clones of historic importance, of which his own collection

now numbers nearly 3,000.  While he loves finding old, rare stepping stones in Paph

breeding, he also does a little hybridizing of his own.  “Growing up my own babies is a

blast!”  


Tim is an accredited judge with the American Orchid Society, and has served in various

capacities with various orchid societies in California and on the East Coast.  He also loves

meeting people who like orchids, and doing so often finds him traveling to orchid shows,

giving talks to orchid societies, visiting vendors and peoples’ greenhouses to see the latest

and greatest in new orchids.. 

In addition to working at Longwood, he tended the orchids at the Smithsonian

Institution and for years at the United States National Arboretum, collecting rare plants and

documenting cultivated species and hybrids for their herbarium.  In short, Tim Culbertson

really likes plants. 
 
 

​We look forward to seeing you on Zoom for this presentation. 

About us
We are an ​award winning, volunteer run, 501(c) (3) non-profit organization formed in the spring of 1963 to develop interest in orchids; to aid and assist members with orchid growing and culture; and to provide educational information, which shall benefit its members and the community.  Although we have lost our meeting place as a result of the Palisades Fire in 2025, we continue to meet on Zoom.  At each meeting 
members benefit from expert speakers who present illustrated talks on various orchid genera and their culture.