"gold medal... Former teacher Stan Wedge, 83... his Arpophyllum giganteum...
Wedge... an orchid collector since 1978... said: "I acquired my small plant when I attended the 15th World Orchid Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1996"... 37 erect and multi-flowered spikes, which flower a reddish purple colour. "They have a light, sweet perfume..." Wedge, director of the Eastern Province Orchid Society, grows his orchids from seed and has reared 84 different genera of orchid. "We in the Eastern Cape have no qualified orchid judges to award our plants, so we have to transport them to either Durban or Cape Town..." He took the flower for a rating in Cape Town last week. ... Wedge... travelled the 780km Cape Town with the plant in a box in his trailer... "... I gave the register of orchid judges a 48-hour request to have my plant judged, and they gave me a day to get to Cape Town." Once there, four judges awarded Wedge a South African Oncology Consortium (SAOC) certificate of cultural excellence of 90%... a gold medal. "This has only been awarded twice in South Africa before" http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n12_11102006.htm *********** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
