The experts discuss Orchids!

We present a number of Orchid seminars in conjunction with our Winter Orchid Festival!


Dennis Westler, The Orchid Doctor
February 8 & 15 at 1pm
Sloat Garden Center, 2700 Sloat Blvd, SF

Known throughout the country as The Orchid Doctor, Dennis Westler has been educating people about orchids for decades. His goal is to increase orchid enthusiasm and knowledge by helping people see they can grow Orchids…and grow them well!

On February 8 & 15, Dennis will talk about prevention and cure of orchid issues. Bring your ailing plant or leaf samples in a bag please (so as to keep diseases from healthy orchids) and the Orchid Doctor will make a diagnosis. Dennis will also discuss the specific orchids we have on sale and their care.


Tom Perlite, Golden Gate Orchids
February 7 & 14 at 10am Sloat Garden Center, 2700 Sloat Blvd, SF

Tom Perlite is a local orchid specialist who is recognized as an industry leader throughout the world. For over 25 years, Tom has owned and operated Golden Gate Orchids, a wholesale orchid nursery that distributes plants to retailers in the Bay Area, and also sells plants directly to the public at a handful of local orchid shows. As an accomplished hybridizer, he grows many of his orchids from seed. He is one of the few remaining commercial hybridizers and growers of Odontoglossums in the world.

On February 7 & 14, Tom will speak about general orchid culture, present a repotting demonstration, and will answer questions about orchids.

If you miss them, Dennis and Tom will be at the upcoming Pacific Orchid Exposition, March 5-8, 2009 at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.

In Winter, Try Expanding Your Salad Vocabulary

This is an interesting article....these cold hardy greens can be grown throughout the winter months in the Bay Area.

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A Cook's Garden
In Winter, Try Expanding Your Salad Vocabulary
By Barbara Damrosch

Special to The Washington Post

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Summer's salad days are over, not to mention fall's. We're supposed to welcome root vegetables, stocked away in the cellar, garage or cool pantry, as the season's great gift. And we do. Nothing like a good beet borscht or garlic potato mash. But for true salad lovers, the show must somehow go on.

Our household, reluctant to give up the habit of homegrown produce, relies on an unheated greenhouse for a winter supply of spinach, mache, tatsoi and other greenery. (A large cold frame or two would also serve well.) Yet in the darkness of early winter, the growth of leafy crops slows way down, and our usual definition of salad expands to include something extra hearty and fortifying. At dinnertime I poke through cellar, larder and fridge looking for inspiration close at hand.

Read the full article here