Dear K Barret and OGD's I was at the WOC all week and asked R Fuchs and the birds' owner about the flamingos which were very much alive. I saw them brought in each morning at 9am by their owner. They said that the flamingoes were raised as chicks living on grass and that they would not step off of it. If you saw the display up close you would see that there was grass only in the small area at the back. They have their wings clipped from birth so have never learned to fly. It made a very impressive display and it was outside so if they were not sure that they would not move out of the display they could have made a break for freedom. The only problem is they would have been loose in downtown Miami, not too hospitable place for man or flamingos. Krull Smith's Paph's were incredible, there was a P lowii that had a spread of 7' from the tip of one inflorescence to the other and their display was absolutely the best. It should have taken 1st place, but RF dispaly did that. There was a tree made out of Phalaenopsis, another of Dendrobium and another of Oncidium that were at least 12 to 15' tall. All in all it was an incredible show. If you got there early in the week you got to see P kovachii in bloom in the Peruviflora display, and through the rest of the week a variety of hybrids with it were visible. Andy Phillips had a great wardian case chock full of fabulous miniatures. Hoosier Orchids had a wardian case full of Terrestrials and George Hauserman of EFG orchids actually had a 20' tall volcano that went off every 45 minutes and would belch smoke and rumble away as lava spilled down it's sides. I can still hear the repetitive tune that played growing in intensity until the volcano would explode only to repeat itself for the next explosion. The best part was meeting the orchid world, Phillip Cribb, Cal Dodson, Robert Dressler, Tom Sheehan, Eric Hagsater, Franco Pupulin, Carlos Figetti, Isaais Rolando, Wesley Higgins, Carlos Uribe, Juan Felipe Posadas, Stig Dalstrom, Joyce Stewart, Johan Hermans, Milton Carpenter, Patricia Harding, Weyman Bussey, Rueben Sauleda were just a few of the orchid luminaries that were present. The talks were interesting and everyone was very approachable. My only complaint was that the hall was very cold and because of it I came down with a bigtime cold. I am still trying to fight it off. I am definitely making plans for Singapore in 2011 and South Africa in 2014! Happy Orchid Growing Jay Pfahl www.orchidspecies.com 7701 species in 697 species
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