The April issue of ORCHIDS Magazine (the bulletin of the American Orchid Society) brought some exciting award acknowledgements for two talented growers on Vancouver Island.
Joe Chow from the Victoria Orchid Society received the prestigious CARLYLE A. LUER AWARD. The following is an excerpt from ORCHIDS Magazine (Volume 88 (4) April 2019).
“Each year, the AOS Board of Trustees, upon the recommendations of the Judging committee, bestows 21 special annual awards meant to recognize the best orchids awarded in the previous calendar year. These donor-endowed awards are named for people who have contributed greatly to the knowledge, education, culture and hybridization of orchids. The exhibitors whose orchids were chosen for these awards are a second group of special people. They receive a small monetary award or a trophy, a signed certificate and framed photograph of the winning orchid. Finally, all this would not be possible without the beautiful photographs taken of the awards at the time of initial judging by our skilled photographers.” (1)
“The Carlyle A. Luer Awards is given to the grower of the most outstanding member of the pleurothallidinae.
Masdevallia Minaret ‘Burred Inlet’ CCM/AOS (calocodon × ignea) (85) #20174354; Exhibitor, Joe Chow; photographer, Judith Hingham; Western Canada Judging Center, monthly judging, Richmond, British Columbia, 8/12/17. This beautiful, uniformly flowered plant had 135 pink, magenta-striped “cheery” flowers.
Carlyle Luer is a botanist and physician who, upon his retirement as a physician, took up the study and illustration of orchids in 1975. He is currently in his 90s. His taxonomic work has inspired the explosive interest in pleurothallids in recent years.
Joe Chow has been growing orchids for 25 years as a hobby. He lives near the southern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Summers are cool and a perfect place to grow his masdevallias outside from April to October.” (1)
Photos courtesy of Judith Higham
Secondly, the April Issue of Orchids Magazine featured an article summarizing all of the 2018 FCC/AOS award winners. Included in this prestigious group is Sasha Kubicek who has been an active and valuable member of the CVIOS and VicOS.
Sasha’s award winning Paphiopedilum wilhelminae ‘Ibn’s Magic Touch’ FCC/AOS was displayed and judged at the Fraser Valley Orchid Show in October, 2018. This is Sasha’s second FCC award!
“An FCC from the AOS is a rare and special thing.” (2)
“The AOS judging score sheet for quality awards has three sections: one each for form and color and a third section based on characteritics such as size, habit, stem, floriferousness, substance and texture. The end result is a number that determines whether the plant is awarded, and if so, how high. A score of 89.5 (rounded to 90) or higher on a scale of 100 receives a First class certificate (FCC).” (2)
Photo courtesy of Sasha Kubicek
On behalf of the CVIOS, we would like to extend our congratulations to Joe and Sasha!
(1).Dusdieker, N (2019, April) Special Orchids, Special People. The 2017 American Orchid Society Annual Awards. ORCHIDS Magazine 88 (4)
(2). Klonowski, C (2019, April) Twice, Think Thrice. The 2018 First Class Certificates. ORCHIDS Magazine 88 (4)