Ray, thank you for tearing yourself away from the orchids long enough to post the pix. Nice treat. When I was brand new to orchids, the annual AOS meeting was held in Minneapolis. It was my first show, and I looked at exhibits and vendors' plants so hard and so long that I got disoriented and had to go eat lunch. WOC must be 50 times more overwhelming. Wow. Keep your food and water intake adequate so you'll have the energy necessary to make all those difficult buying decisions. :) Whitecat8

CJW: Gosh, it must've been 2001 or 2002! Definitely been a while... I can;t decide if I should fly or drive. I was thinking of flying, because I can just buy a ticket really early, but then i'd have to rent a car to get around,a nd that's just eating into the orchid budget. Also, I wouldn't have to deal with airport security or anything. Last time I went, I had my bag searched because I bought two kilo's of sphagnum and put it in the checked luggage. i got back to Texas and that bag was all jumbled. They probably thought it was marijuana.... I may drive. I like road trips. Last time I went to SoFla I drove. Well, three of us went a took driving shifts... -Cj

Sometimes, you just have to ask. Springwater Orchids will be at the Tamiami show. Here's what Thanh wrote to me: Hi Carol, I will have a booth Martin Motes show (Tamiami, FL), which is about 6-8 miles from WOC. This is my first time there so I am a litle nervous. Small one man operation like me there is no chance to get a booth at WOC, nor can put up an extravaganza display! I have a full time job and sell orchids as 2nd job, to be away from the technical stuffs. Enough said, hope you will tell others to stop by to see me (and buy some too... please! :-)) ! I will bring different stuffs to the show from species, cymbidiums, bareroots Dens, bulbos.... and blooming phals, catts like everybody else! Thanks for asking Thanh

Thanks Brissy for making me jealous especially when you mention the 'return trip'. I'd love to get over there just once! Enjoy yourself and we would love to see some decent pics. Can't recommend any sites as I haven't been there before however noticed this on the computer. France is Europe's up-and-coming country for gardens with some 800 to visit on Michael's list, and new ones are added weekly. Suggestions for the Northern part of France are the Bagatelle Gardens in Paris which contain good collections of irises and roses, the Floating Gardens of Amiens which can only be approached by water (there is a boat service), and the world renowned gardens of Claude Monet at Giverney. The French Riviera is studded with gardens created to accommodate its sub-tropical flora. Suggestions are the Rothschild's Villa Ephrussi, the gardens of La Mortolla which, in fact, in Italy, but only five minutes drive from the frontier at Menton. An American sculptor, Henry Clews, together with his wife Mary, created the gardens at the Château of La Napoule, and are well worth a visit. Also for botanical interest there is the 800 Corkscrew Beech Tree's of Verzy that would be well worth a look in the north east of France. Also Generosa range of roses (Guillot)come from over there somewhere in France and would be very interesting to see how they go over there and future types to be introduced here. So much to see I think you may be glad to get home by the end of it but I'm still jealous.... Garry