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Our guest speaker in October will be Sergio Garcia (orchid hybridizer , not the golfer), from Petaluma, CA.,
co-owner of Olompali Orchids. He was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil and emigrated to the U. S. in 1989 to
attend college in Ohio. After college, he and his wife moved to California. The subject of his presentation
will be: "Brazilian World of Award Quality Orchids."
He was introduced to orchids as a 7 or 8 year old boy, when his father took him to a home and garden
show to look for plants for their new home. He and his father both became enamored with a Catasetum
pileatum that was on display.and asked where they might buy the plant. They were referred to Heitor
Gloeden, one of Brazil’s foremost orchid growers. Subsequently, Mr.
Gloeden trained both father and son to grow orchids. Still living in Brazil, his father, now 80, became an orchid hybridizer.
After moving to California, Sergio became an interior horticulturist for several different companies which
taught him how to grow orchids in the home, office and lobbies. He next became a cultivator for Hamilton
Orchids, an orchid boarding service company. During this time, he chanced to meet the well-known
Herman Piggors, owner of Oak Hill Gardens in the Chicago area. Herman taught him how to hybridize and
reproduce orchids in vitro (glass flasks), in the laboratory. Sergio’s nursery subsequently partnered with
Wenzel Orchids and AWZ Orchids, both Brazilian companies, to produce and sell a wide range of genera,
including the Cattleya, Oncidium, Paphiopedilum and Vanda alliances.
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Speaker’s Dinner
will be at 5:30 at Jack’s, 60 Crescent Dr. Pleasant Hill (Downtown near
Peets). Everyone is welcome to attend and meet our speaker. If you plan to attend, please notify Liz Charlton at (925) 280-1671 or email
dvosnews@gmail.com so we can include you in the reservation.
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