5th Annual Merritt Huntington Memorial Symposium
2009 Scheduled Speakers
Walter Off (Arthur S. Kaplan Memorial Speaker)* - Walter Off grew up in the greenhouses and has been growing orchids all of his life. His father, George Off, was one the country’s early cattleya hybridizers starting around 1930. Walt has many fond memories of working with his dad and traveling with him to visit many of the old-time cattleya growers in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states. Walt joined the American Orchid Society judging system in 1980 and served as Chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Judging Center from 1993-1998. He is currently President of Waldor Orchids which he operates along with his brother William. His mother Elizabeth, his son David, and two of his daughters, Amy and Robin, are also active in the business. Waldor Orchids is one of the largest distributors of orchid plants and supplies in the Delaware Valley delivering weekly to many of the finest florists and garden centers. Waldor Orchids also has an extensive website and has a classic cattleya cloning program in which they have meristemed many of the finest heirloom cattleyas of all time. (www.waldor.com)
Hadley Cash (Arthur S. Kaplan Memorial Speaker)* - Hadley has been collecting and breeding orchids for over 25 years, and what started as a hobby turned into Marriott Orchids nearly 15 years ago. Today, he is recognized as one of the top complex Paphiopedilum breeders in the world, and grows in a 6,500 sq. ft. greenhouse. He has made over 3000 paph crosses to date, in a constant pursuit to improve the various breeding lines. While he breeds all color types of complex paphs, as well as exceptional species, he has a special love for complex pink/whites. Marriott Orchids has received over 300 Quality Awards from the American Orchid Society, including ten FCC's (First Class Certificate's) and 4 AQ's (Award of Quality). Hadley's personal "Holy Grail" in orchids was realized at the end of 2005, when he received both the W.W. Wilson Award and the Merritt W. Huntington Award for his hybrid Winwine 'Dark Spell' FCC/AOS. These are for the best slipper orchid awarded and best FCC of all orchids awarded in the previous year. Hadley, and his wife Deborah and son Austin, live in Kernersville, North Carolina. (www.marriottorchids.com)
Norris Williams, PhD - Norris Williams was born in Anniston, Alabama on March 31st, 1943. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biology from the University of Alabama, and his Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Miami under the direction of Calaway Dodson in 1971. Following several postdoctoral positions at the University of Miami, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Fairchild Tropical Garden, he accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Biology at Florida State University in Tallahassee in 1973. In 1981, he moved to Gainesville, Florida to assume his present position as Keeper of the Herbarium in the Florida Museum of Natural History and Affiliate Professor of Botany at the University of Florida. He and his wife Nancy have two sons who have inherited their father's love of antique MG cars. As a Ph.D. student under Dodson, Norris traveled extensively in Central America and Ecuador. During that time he absorbed information on orchid biology from Dodson and Robert Dressler, and was often accompanied by fellow graduate students Kiat Tan (formerly Director of Parks in Singapore, now retired), Harold Hills, Ralph Adams, Kathy Gregg and Hans Wiehler. Norris's dissertation was a revision of Brassia (Oncidiinae), but his research interests quickly shifted to the pollination biology of orchids pollinated by fragrance-collecting male euglossine bees (a topic first studied by Dodson, Dressler, and their students). He expanded the work of the Dodson group, pioneering the use of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze the floral fragrances of orchids and the glandular secretions of male euglossine bees and laying the foundation for our current understanding of the orchid/bee interaction.
Bill Toms (Bulbophyllums) - Bill Thoms and his wife, Doris Dukes, have been growing orchids around Central Florida for 35 years and to date have won more Awards for Culture than just about anyone else in the world, (62 in over 20 genera, including 19 in the bulbophyllum alliance (capped off with a 95 point Certificate of Cultural Excellence for Cirr. rothschildianum 'A-doribil'. They were one of the first to receive the new award 'Certificate of Cultural Excellence' for a score above 90 points, and that was for a Miltoniopsis which is very difficult to grow in Tampa, Florida. They have received four First Class Certificates in the past few years as well as every other award given by the AOS. Bill Thoms got his first orchid in 1969 when he rescued plants of Enc. tampensis in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. (He actually just picked them off trees pushed over for a new Condo, but it sounds better.) After moving to the Tampa area in the early 70's and, after having an orchid nursery for 20 years called Hilltop House, he and his wife, Doris Dukes, (whom he met at the Tampa Orchid Club in the early '80s), took several thousand of their favorite plants and built their own greenhouse at home to retire from the retail business, relax, and continue their hybridizing program (making about 200 crosses a year). Since then, their plants grew back up to 10,000 and the awards have grown too: 62 Awards for Culture in over 20 genera including 20 in the bulbophyllum alliance and 6 Certificates for Cultural Excellence (90 points or better); First Class Certificates for Cirrhopetalums, Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums; and about 200 total awards in all categories. Bill recently received one of the most prestigious awards given to a hybridizer, an Award of Distinction which is given for a worthy new avenue of breeding. The plant that received the award was a cross he made between two Trias species and was named Trias Emily Clarkson.
* Arthur S. Kaplan was a friend of Merritt Huntington for many years as well as a friend and supporter of the Tidewater Orchid Society. The Dalis Foundation is sponsoring this speaker to honor the name of Arthur S. Kaplan. Arthur S. Kaplan was a past President and long time member of the Tidewater Orchid Society, President of the Eastern Orchid Congress, Founder and Benefactor of the Arthur and Phyllis Kaplan Orchid Conservatory at Old Dominion University, and noted orchid grower in the Tidewater Area. The Merritt Huntington Symposium Committee would like to thank the Dalis Foundation for their Generous gift in supporting this lecturer.