Central Pennsylvania Orchid Society’s annual show set to return to Penn State’s campus
After several years’ absence, the Central Pennsylvania Orchid Society has announced that its 55th Annual Orchid Show is coming back to its normal venue, the Snider Agricultural Arena on Penn State’s campus.
The Snider Ag Arena is located at the corner of Park Avenue and Fox Hollow Road, diagonally across from Beaver Stadium, and the event will be held from 1-5 p.m. Saturday, March 25 and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, March 26. There will be a special photographer’s hour on Sunday from 9-10 a.m. There will be workshops on repotting of orchid plants from 3-4 p.m. on Saturday and 2-3 p.m. on Sunday. Organizers are expecting many blooming orchids at the show.
Coming just after the spring equinox, people will want to see and experience flowers, and none can be more beautiful than the wide variety of orchid flowers. As in the past, the show will be judged by American Orchid Society judges. There is no admission charge, so come out and enjoy the wonderful world of orchids.
When I was on the faculty there use to be a nice display of orchids in the Horticulture Greenhouses on campus. I believe that my colleague Dr. Jay Holcomb used to tend them and was very active in the orchid society. I am glad to see that the annual orchid show is back and hope that you will pack up the family and take in some of the most beautiful flowers in the world. I am sure that you will learn a lot about orchids and maybe even start to grow some orchids yourself.
Mary Carol Frier, publicity chair of the Central Pennsylvania Orchid Society, sent me a few pictures of orchids that she has photographed, including one of the Cattleya Irene Finney — a classic, fragrant, large flowered cattleya used as a corsage orchid in the 1930s and 1940s. The original Cattleya Irene Finney dates from those days. She noted that her C. Irene Finney is at least 30 years old.
Thanks again Mary for sharing your passion for orchids and for letting me know that the show was back on again after a missing several years.