INSIDE: N Classified Marketplace, page 51 N Puzzles, page 52
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HOME & REAL ESTATE PA L O A LT O W E E K LY
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Home Front
CREATING A ROSE GARDEN ... UC Master Gardeners will offer a free talk on Saturday, Feb. 13, from 9 to 11 a.m. on “Creating the VA Hospital Memorial Rose Garden,” featuring Jerry Georgette, a nurse who is in charge of the garden. Topics will cover upkeep, handicapped accessibility, as well as the history of the garden and its volunteers. The illustrated talk will be held at Gamble Garden, 1431 Waverley St., Palo Alto. Information: Call Master Gardeners at 408-282-3105, between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday or visit http:// mastergardeners.org.
TREE WALK ... Arborist Heather Booty will lead a free tree walk through Old Palo Alto on Saturday, Feb. 13, from 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at the Churchill Avenue entrance to Gamble Garden (between Waverley and Cowper streets). Visitors may continue their tree tour at Gamble Garden. Information: Call Canopy at 650-964-6110 or visit www.canopy.org. CAMELLIA SHOW ... The 49th annual San Francisco Peninsula Camellia Society show and sale will be held Saturday, Feb. 13, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 14, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Community Activities Building, 1400 Roosevelt Ave., Redwood City. Admission is free. More than 1,000 blossoms will be displayed, including several “Valentine Day” (Camellia reticulata) camellias — with large formal double, salmon-pink blooms. Plant sales begin at 9 a.m. Saturday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Information: Call Caroline Beverstock at 650-854-6709. REAL-WORLD PRUNING ... Arborist Dave Muffly will offer an opportunity to learn how to revitalize old fruit trees that suffer from poor past pruning on Saturday, Feb. 13, from 1 to 4 p.m. (rain date Feb. 20). Dozens of fruit trees, including apples, citrus and peaches, are awaiting TLC at the hands-on workshop site; directions and details (continued on page 39)
Wilsonara Dianne Feinstein ‘San Francisco’ HCC/AOS
Cymbidium tracyanum
NO ORDINARY story by Martin Sanchez photographs by Don Feria
J
apheth Ko bought his first orchid bulb in his native country of Taiwan when he was 10 years old. The bulb cost him the equivalent of two cents. Orchids are a popular flower in Taiwan, he said, and his attention was captured by an orchid in bloom on a store shelf. Unfortunately, the young Ko was disappointed when the orchid’s leaves fell off in the fall — a normal orchid behavior he is now well aware of — and assumed that his miniscule investment had landed him with a bulb of correspondingly low quality. “I threw it away, thought it was dead! I didn’t have good enough knowledge,” he said. Ko, who now lives in Los Altos Hills, has come a long way since then. From Feb. 26-28, Ko will participate in the Pacific Orchid Exposition in San Francisco. The Exposition is the largest annual orchid show in the country, Ko said, with more than 150,000 orchids of all shapes and sizes on display.
“Many people love the show here because we have so many varieties,” he said. Prizes of several hundred dollars are awarded to the show’s best flowers, but “it’s really about bragging rights,” Ko said with a smile. Ko does most of his cultivation work on weekends. Orchids can live for many years, so much of his work consists of watering different specimens at different required intervals. The plants also require different types of care in different seasons, and he uses air conditioning and humidifiers to regulate the conditions in his greenhouse. There are over 20,000 orchid species, Ko said, and he estimates that he owns almost 300 plants of about 40 species. Most are kept in his backyard greenhouse, but he keeps several blooming plants on display in his house. One of these orchids sits alone in a small, sunlit alcove near his living room. On the plant, about 30 deep-maroon flowers adorn three narrow, arching stalks. Each
Cymbidium John Wooden ‘Geyserland’
Los Altos Hills grower will show off his blooms at San Francisco exposition
(continued on page 39)
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