Her passion for orchids begun when her mom, her best friend, died. She was very sad, so her husband bought her a new special magazine on bonsai and gave it to her as a gift. When she opened it she read a small advertisement on bonsai lessons, which she started a few months later. It turned out to be the best decision to overcome her mother's death, to be in touch with "life" again through plants. At her first visit to a bonsai show she bought some exotic plant mounted on a stick. It was an Onc. bifolium. Amazed with this new passion she started a new profession; in Argentina they call it an "Orchidiot". She took a lot of credits at the School of Agronomy on plant care and culture, landscaping design, flower arrangement, orchids, micropropagation. and her lonely Onc. bifolium got surrounded by four hundred other orchid friends, almost one hundred cacti and succulent plants, fifty bonsai, ferns, and some other exotic plants, all huddled together in the balcony and dinning room of an apartment in a twelve-story building.
In 2000, when Ines and her family decided to move to the US, she very sadly had to get rid of her plants. However, once she arrived in Florida, they moved into a house with no balcony but with a beautiful front and back yards, where she could re-build her plant collection. She visited Ruben's laboratory and he suggested her calling another Argentinean involved in this passion: Eduardo Marcellini. Since then, she became a member of five orchid societies and an AOS student judge. During these last two years, she has been busy with landscape design, flower arrangements, and micropropagation. She has also worked as assistant professor for an Orchidology course at the University of Florida, volunteered at the Miami Beach Botanical Conservancy, appeared on TV orchid shows on WLRN, and participated in small group courses on orchid care. But, more importantly, she's been meeting a lot of wonderful people and making very special friends.
Ines's program attempts to sort out the confusion that has been created in it classification due to its very high variability. Laelia anceps is one of the most used laelias in hybridization since Lindley registered it around 150 years ago. The program begins with a little history, some main habitat and culture information, the different attempts to classify it, and a review on some hybrids involving L. anceps with its major contribution as a parent. It is a very interesting presentation prepared for the AOS. We hope to see everyone there. And don't forget to bring an orchid buddy!!!
Carib Plants, Inc. will provide the raffle table. |
