Five Cities Orchid Society presents:
Ron Kaufmann, chair of the San Diego County Orchid Society Conservation Committee and a founding director of the Orchid Conservation Alliance.
Life on the Rocks: The World of Rupicolous Orchids (about orchids that grow lithophytically, focusing on Brazil)
Thursday October 13th, 2022 7:00 - 8:30 PM PST
Our speaker in October will be Ron Kaufmann, chair of the American Orchid Society Conservation Committee, chair of the San Diego County Orchid Society Conservation Committee and a founding director of the Orchid Conservation Alliance. Ron has been growing orchids for more than 25 years and has travelled extensively toview orchids in the wild in Asia and South America, particularly Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia. His talk titled "Life on the Rocks: The World of Rupicolous Orchids" will explore the habits and habitats of orchids that grow on rocks, with a focus on Brazil. Rocky terrains host a surprising number of orchid species, and the conditions in those settings are very different from those that we normally consider when deciding how best to grow plants in our own collections.
Ron is a marine biologist by training, and his scientific work includes studies of Antarctic and deep-sea ecosystems as well as marine communities in coastal Southern California. His orchid collection began with a reedstem Epidendrum and progressed to a diverse assemblage that contains mostly species orchids.
Ron has a long-standing interest in conservation and has been a member of the SDCOS Conservation Committee for nearly 25 years and chair since 2004. Since 1991, the Conservation Committee has awarded more than $260,000 to support projects in 23different countries. Ron also helped to found the Orchid Conservation Alliance and serves on the boards of the OCA, Orchid Digest, and Fundación EcoMinga (an Ecuadorian conservation organization).
Ron grows most of his orchids in a 36 x 24 foot greenhouse and several outdoor shade-covered areas around his house in San Diego. Friends have suggested that he build a second, much larger greenhouse to accommodate the many plants that often make walking through his greenhouse an exercise requiring extensive training in gymnastics and yoga to avoid serious injury. Thus far, this recommendation hasn’t been followed,