Welcome to the Orchid Society of the Ozarks on the Web!

UPCOMING EVENTS....

**April 21, 2024**We have several topics for discussion, including OSO’s participation in
the BGO Plant Sale and the Tulsa show, both of which are the following weekend (April 26-68). Lois Geren is heading up the exhibit team, so please look over your plants for anything you could contribute to the exhibit and be sure to let Lois know at the meeting!
We’ll also have our usual business meeting, judging, and door prizes,
so bring those blooming plants!

**May 18, 2024**, 1:30 pm – TBA

**June 23, 2024**–Note: 4th Sunday! Jyotsna Sharma, Ph.D., and
U of A graduate, will speak on orchid conservation.

All of our memebers are encouraged to like the OSO Facebook page and to post your orchid pictures and comments there. It’s not the same as a normal meeting, but we can still share our love of orchids and show off our blooming plants. We will miss those members who aren’t able to use those facilities, but … it’s really about all we have right now!

New OSO Facebook Group
We’ve added an OSO Group on Facebook along with the OSO page we already had. If you liked the page, we encourage you to join the group – it will be easier for you to post pictures of your plant, questions, etc. there. Search Groups for “Orchid Society of the Ozarks”, or use this link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2640406932837737

2023 - 2024
President – Tim Kral
Vice-president – Vacant
Treasurer – Lois Geren
Secretary – Suzanne Miller
Board members: Laura Wilkins and Tina Powel

For people interested in becoming members of the OSO, please feel free to contact Trudy Pickett, our Membership Committee Chair. You can reach her at: email butchandtrudy@cox.net

See you all at the meeting! Come early and if you have the chance, bring a guest! See you there!

SOCIETY INTRODUCTION:

The Orchid Society of the Ozarks is an active group of orchid enthusiasts in Northwest Arkansas. We meet monthly, usually the third Sunday afternoon, to share information and blooming orchids with each other. Most months we have around 30 orchids which members enter into an informal judging. A “Plant of the Month” winner is chosen. Winners accrue points and prizes are awarded at the end of the year.

Our society is an affiliate member of the Mid-America Orchid Congress, the Southwest Regional Orchid Growers Association and the American Orchid Society. We are also a sponsor of the North American Conservation Center (NAOCC), and are a sponsor of one of the orchid-gami orchids, the Large Whorled Pogonia, Isotria verticillata. We were happy to sponsor this orchid as it is a native orchid found in Arkansas.

We have speakers for most meetings with a selection of those coming from a group of nationally known orchid experts. Speaking topics range from orchid culture and best practices to current breeding trends. Most speakers bring plants to sell and many offer discounts for members that pre-order. Some speakers in the last couple of years are: Glen Decker of Piping Rocks Orchids; Alan Koch of Gold Country Orchids; Nathan Bell of College of the Ozarks; Blanche Wagner of Missouri Botanical Garden, Fred Clark of Sunset Valley Orchids.

We have a monthly plant raffle at meetings where members can acquire plants. One of our main fundraisers is our auction in September with lively bidding on orchids donated from members and vendors. Our second fundraiser is our show and sale Orchids in the Garden held the first weekend in March at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks.