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News and pictures from our latest meetings and events

June monthly meeting and Gardeners World Live

This was our AGM with Chris and Marian Stephens giving a talk together with photos on 'Bees, Honey & Flowers'. This was very interesting and they brought some of their honey to sell. They did not want a fee but we gave a donation to the Green Leaf Trust which...

May 2026 monthly meeting and Suffolk Show

In May we were treated to the exploits of Bill and Andy on their trip to the World Orchid Show in Dresden! I gather they really enjoyed themselves and despite neither speaking German they managed to make themselves understood on their journey to the Show - the...

April 2026 monthly meeting

Our guests at our April meeting were Colin Thorburn and Bryan Adams from the Orchid Society of East Anglia, both accredited British Orchid Council (BOC) judges, who gave us an introduction to orchid judging. The basics are as follows: All plants must have a label and...

Suffolk Orchid Society Annual Show 7th March 2026

An early date for our Show this year in no way affected our members' ability to deliver the goods, and once again we put up a prolific display - ably supported with a lovely display by our friends from the Orchid Society of East Anglia. The trade stands of Lawrence...

March 2026 monthly meeting

Our guest speaker this month was Simon White, who is now retired after a career of 43 years working for a single company - Peter Beales Roses (now part of Bells Horticultural). After introducing some of the horticultural sundries that he had brought for sale, Simon...

February 2026 meeting

NEWS We ask members to rally round to support our Annual Show on 7 March, in particular: Help with catering, to provide cakes etc. - Grazyna has a list. Volunteers to help run the kitchen, tombola etc. This is a pressing need, as a number of members who would...

January 2026 monthly meeting

NEWS This month we had our Plant Clinic, where our experienced growers Bill Gardiner and Andy Gissing (and anyone else able to contribute) gave advice to mermbers about problem plants they brought to the meeting. Tony Weavers won the Novices table with one of his...

November 2025 monthly meeting

NEWS This was our annual social evening - we took part in a 'Round the World' Picture Quiz, won by Sue and John, then shared a buffet meal.  Ken Frost won the 'Novices' table with his Dendrobium hybrid, and Paul Eaton won the 'Winners' table with his Masdevallia...

October 2025 monthly meeting

NEWS Andy Gissing brought in cakes in celebration of Angela’s 85th birthday. David Mittel won the Novices table with his Miltonia Queen Anne. Bill Gardiner won the Winners table with his Bulbophyllum Elizabeth Ann Buckleberry. Runner-up was Paul Eaton with his...

September 2025 monthly meeting

NEWS Entries for the BOC photo competition this year will be accepted from individuals, not Societies as in the past.  The closing date for entries is 31-Dec-25 (although they would like to receive them earlier if possible) - Carol wil send out details. The November...

March 2023 monthly meeting

Simon Tarrant visited us this month to give a talk entitled 'Orchids of Estonia'.  Simon visited Estonia in 2010 and has subsequently (in 2017 and 2022) taken groups there, orchid-spotting with the help of local guides.  There are up to 31 species of orchids per...

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Suffolk Orchid Society Annual Show – 11 March 2023

Our annual Show on 11 March 2023 was a great success, with credit and thanks due to everyone who helped by publicising the event, bringing their plants in flower, setting up the display, admitting and caring for our visitors, providing refreshments, running the...

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February 2023 monthly meeting

The guest speaker at our February meeting was Malcolm Moodie, who gave us a talk entitled 'Feeding Orchids: Feast or Famine?'  as well as bringing some of his own orchids for sale. In a well structured and articulate presentation based on his 30-35 years of practical...

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January 2023 monthly meeting

Our January meeting featured Bill Gardiner and other experienced orchid growers in the Society giving advice to members in respect of poorly or problem orchids that they brought in for inspection.  We also admired Andy Gissing's Angraecum sesquidipale (Darwin's...

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November 2022 monthly meeting

This was our annual social evening, sadly depleted by Covid and traffic problems.  Nevertheless, 18 members+partners managed to attend and brought a generous spread of food and drink.  We haven't previously had a guest speaker at our social evenings, but this time we...

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October 2022 monthly meeting

Twenty-one members were present for Andy Jones' interesting and informative talk on the subject of 'Growing Under Lights'.  Andy has spoken to us on this topic before, but that was about twenty years ago and things have moved on!  Not the requirements of plants though...

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September 2022 monthly meeting

Zsuzsa from Spicesotic Plants gave us an interesting and informative talk about miniature orchids both in pots and on mounts. Many were in flower but you almost needed a magnifying glass to see them, the flowers were so dainty. She explained how some orchids,...

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June 2022 monthly meeting

June 2022 monthly meeting

Mike Armstrong was the guest speaker at our June 2022 meeting, addressing us on the subject of Cattleyas.  Mike held the National Collection of Cattleyas for many years, and commercially ran Mikandra Orchids until ten years ago.  Mike described his approach to growing...

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Monthly meeting and AGM – 25 May 2022

Monthly meeting and AGM – 25 May 2022

Our May meeting started with a brief AGM, in which the Officers of the Society made their reports. A number of posts on the Committee were up for (re-)election, and all were filled by our willing Members :-). There followed another opportunity for members to bring...

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Suffolk Show 2022

Suffolk Show 2022

After three long years enduring the COVID pandemic, it was great to be able to contribute a stand to the Suffolk Show.  Fewer members than usual were able to contribute orchids in flower to the stand, but nevertheless there were enough to set up a marvellous display...

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April Meeting

This month a larger turnout of members were treated to a talk by Colin Thorburn about Sarawak and the Asia Pacific Orchid Conference that Colin had attended. He explained how Vandas and Phaleanopsis made up a lot of the displays which also featured quite a few cats...

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March monthly meeting

March monthly meeting

Although slightly down on numbers this month there was another good table display. The previous winners table was won by Paul Eaton with his well flowered Coelogyne cristata Derrie Brown c.o.m./R.H.S. He says this clone flowers well for him with a min .temperature of...

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