Acquire divisions of rare orchids at the American Heritage Collection auction to be held on Friday, October 17, from 6:30 to 8:15 pm at the Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington, Delaware. Absentee bidding is now open. The auction catalog is available online.

Mid-America Orchid Congresses (MAOC) occur twice yearly, spring and fall hosted by one or more of the 55 member orchid societies located in 20 Central US States and Canada. This fall's MAOC was hosted by the Greater Cincinnati and Miami Valley Orchid Societies in Mason, Ohio and my hat's off to these two wonderful host organizations.

The Texas Gulf Coast has a large and vibrant orchid community. In fact, the Houston Orchid Society has the distinction of being the second orchid society in the United States to affiliate with the AOS (December 23, 1946). In October, 2002, Houston Orchid Society was presented the AOS Distinguished Affiliated Society Service Award for its "outstanding contributions in areas of service and support in the field of orchidology". Gulf Coast Texas has been the home of many AOS committee members and officers as well as judges from the Houston Judging Center. Here is a post-Hurricane Ike report compiled by Don Ghiz.

The Board of Trustees continues to meet just about every other month this year to discuss all aspects of this organization and to review what has worked and what needs to be changed. During these meetings, in every step that we take, we ask the question, “Is what we are doing part of our mission?

Last week, Keith Davis from North Carolina sent us this photo of his daughter April, standing next to his plant of Cattleya guttata 'Brecko-Leopard' AM-CCM/AOS. We thought that it was too extraordinary to not share with website visitors. Read Keith’s story of this monster Cattleya…

In early August, we had the pleasure to attend the 32nd Colombian International Orchid Show held as the Birds, Orchids and Flowers Show (XV Exposición Orquídeas, Pájaros y Flores). The show was held at the Medellin Botanical Garden and coincided with the famous week-long flower festival, Feria de las Flores.