Irish Orchid Society

IOS at Bord Bia Bloom 2025
2025-06-01 09:00 - 17:00, 2025-06-02 09:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Dublin) | Bord Bia Bloom, PHOENIX PARK, DUBLIN 8, D08 X6X3, Ireland
The Irish Orchid Society will be at Bloom for the first time.
We will have lots of information on orchids and their culture in the home. A beautiful display of orchids. David Morse, the Chair of the Society, will be giving two demonstrations on how to successfully grow orchids in the home. These talks will be in the Botanical Hub which is located next to the Postage Gardens near Entrance One. We will have lots of orchids for sale to raise funds for the society.

If you are a member, please log in to see more information on this page.

IOS Annual General Meeting
2025-06-09 19:00 - 21:00 | The Auditorium @ The National Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, Dublin, D09 VY63, Ireland
The 2025 Annual General Meeting of the Irish Orchid Society
The AGM will be held in the Visitor Centre Auditorium at The National Botanic Gardens from 7pm on Monday 9th June. We will also have a table show and raffle. Let us know if you are coming or wish to submit an apology for not attending by submitting an RSVP below, click here

AGM:
Agenda:

Apologies
Minutes of the 2024 AGM
Chairperson’s Address
Treasurer’s Report
AOB

If you cannot attend, please send your apologies to chair@irishorchidsociety.org

Table Show:
If you have an orchid in-flower to enter into the table show please bring it along
OR
Submit it to the Virtual WhatsApp Table Show Group (link here)
The rules for the WhatsApp group are as follows: Three images of the plant: front, side and looking down from the top including a written/typed card with the full name of the Orchid, the date and age of the plant and the name of the person submitting the plant for judging.

Raffle
We have a selection of orchids from the ones left over from the display at Bloom to offer in a raffle on the night including a couple of Vanda. Tickets are €5 each, three tickets for €10 and five tickets for €15. we can accept payment by card or cash on the night OR you can also purchase tickets online below:

Add to your Calendar or RSVP below

Orchid Safari to Bull Island
2025-06-15 13:00 - 17:00 | Bull Island Visitor Centre, Dublin, Dublin, D05 RP86, Ireland
Visit Bull Island to go on an Orchid Safari

I visited Bull Island a few weeks ago in May and there were no orchids visible, the cold easterly wind had suppressed their growth. However, I've seen lots of photos of wild orchids online recently so I think its timely to make a return visit.

We meet at the Bull Island Visitor Centre on Sunday 15th June. Bring water to drink, good walking shoes and your copies of Ireland's Wild Orchids for ID purposes and also a magnifying glass as a lot of the beauty is in the detail. The aim this year is to locate any sign of the Common Twayblade, Neottia ovata.

July Members Night - Orchid Hunting in Madagascar, a talk by Deborah Lambkin
2025-07-07 19:00 - 21:00 | The Auditorium @ The National Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, Dublin, D09 VY63, Ireland
July's members night will be held in the auditorium at the national botanic gardens and will be a very special evening as IOS member Deborah Lambkin will give a talk on her Madagascan orchid adventure!
Raffle
We will also have a raffle on the evening for some orchids. Cash is always welcome but you can also purchase raffle tickets online and by card on the night. (online raffle tickets can be purchased below)
Table Show
If you have an orchid in-flower, please do bring it along to the table show for judging, there is a very special prize to win! Please RSVP below for In-Person with Show Table Entry to let us know you will be bringing along an orchid for the show table.

This will be the last meeting before our summer break.

September Members Night - Talk by Saul Walker
2025-09-01 19:00 - 21:00 | The Auditorium @ The National Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, Dublin, D09 VY63, Ireland
A welcome back from our summer break with what will no doubt be a wonderful talk by Saul Walker on Orchids in Oz.
An introduction to Saul Walker from the BBC Gardener's Wold website (https://www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com/meet_the_experts/saul-walker/)
Saul Walker’s passion in horticulture
Saul Walker fell in love with horticulture through his Grandparents passion for visiting historic houses and gardens, and after a brief spell as an Archaeologist, he went to train and work as a Gardener for the National Trust at Antony House in Cornwall.
After many years there he was accepted to study on the prestigious 3-year Kew Diploma of Botanical Horticulture at RBG, Kew and was exposed to the fantastic plant collections in the gardens and glasshouses, as well as travelling to Australia, Southern Spain and the French Riviera to study plants in their native habitats.
Following his time at Kew he spent a couple of years as part of the Show management teams for both the RHS Hampton Court Palace and RHS Chelsea Flower Show respectively, however he was unable to resist the call back to his native Devon, where he is now the Head Gardener of Stonelands House- a privately owned 10-acre garden.
Saul’s speciality interests include Woodland Gardens, Orchids, and Exotic plants. A member of the RHS Tender Plant Committee and Trustee of The Hardy Plant Society and the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, he also co-hosts the Talking Heads Podcast with Lucy Chamberlain.

We will also have some orchids for raffle on the night, tickets can be purchased by cash or card.

IOS Meeting October 2025
2025-10-06 19:00 - 21:00 | The Auditorium @ The National Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, Dublin, D09 VY63, Ireland
Members' Plant Surgery Night
Bring along your orchids, sick or over grown or just looking for some advice, pop along and get some expert advice.
Table Show
We will host an in-person and a virtual table show
In-person Raffle
We will have an in-person raffle on the night with some beautiful orchids to win.
(The virtual link for the night to watch the meeting online will appear on this page below, just click the Watch button and it'll open a window for you to join the online event)

IOS Meeting November 2025 - Part Two Talk by Saul Walker
2025-11-03 19:00 - 21:00 | The Auditorium @ The National Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, Dublin, D09 VY63, Ireland
Saul Walker returns this November to give us the second part of his Talk on The Wonderful Orchids of Oz
An introduction to Saul Walker from the BBC Gardener's Wold website (https://www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com/meet_the_experts/saul-walker/)
Saul Walker’s passion in horticulture
Saul Walker fell in love with horticulture through his Grandparents passion for visiting historic houses and gardens, and after a brief spell as an Archaeologist, he went to train and work as a Gardener for the National Trust at Antony House in Cornwall.
After many years there he was accepted to study on the prestigious 3-year Kew Diploma of Botanical Horticulture at RBG, Kew and was exposed to the fantastic plant collections in the gardens and glasshouses, as well as travelling to Australia, Southern Spain and the French Riviera to study plants in their native habitats.
Following his time at Kew he spent a couple of years as part of the Show management teams for both the RHS Hampton Court Palace and RHS Chelsea Flower Show respectively, however he was unable to resist the call back to his native Devon, where he is now the Head Gardener of Stonelands House- a privately owned 10-acre garden.
Saul’s speciality interests include Woodland Gardens, Orchids, and Exotic plants. A member of the RHS Tender Plant Committee and Trustee of The Hardy Plant Society and the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, he also co-hosts the Talking Heads Podcast with Lucy Chamberlain.

In-Person Raffle
We will also have some orchids for raffle on the night, tickets can be purchased by cash or card.

Cancelled - IOS Meeting January 2026
2026-01-05 19:00 - 21:00
Sorry but tonight’s virtual meeting has been cancelled due to illness.

IOS Member's Meeting: February 2026
2026-02-09 19:00 - 20:30 | https://www.irishorchidsociety.org/ios-event/ios-members-meeting-feb-2026/
A virtual/online only meeting this month.
We will have a talk about growing orchids in-doors during the winter, the importance of lighting, heat and humidity.
What member's have in flower now.
Any orchid issues
The spring show.

IOS Member's Meeting: March 2026 - Talk by Malcolm Moodie on The Orchids of Thailand
2026-03-02 19:00 - 20:30 | https://www.irishorchidsociety.org/ios-event/ios-members-meeting-march-2026/
A virtual/online only meeting this month.
We will have a talk from Malcolm Moodie, from the Solihull Orchid Society on The Orchids of Thailand

A little bio on Malcolm:
I have been growing orchids for more than 35 years and have a climatically controlled greenhouse with about 300 orchids.
The greenhouse has two growing areas. The Intermediate area contains mainly Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums whilst the cool area has mainly Masdevallias with some Oncidium family.
I am President of the Solihull & District Orchid Society and in the past served as their Chairman and Show Secretary.
I am also a member of the British Paphiopedilum Society and the Orchid Society of Great Britain.
In addition, I am a core member of the RHS Orchid Expert Group (Orchid Committee).
I have travelled extensively searching for orchids in the wild travelling to Thailand, the Malaysian peninsular, Singapore multiple times, Borneo twice visiting both Sarawak and Sabah all in South East Asia and also Peru and Ecuador in South America.
The talks I give relate those journeys. In addition, I give talks to Gardening Clubs on Growing Orchids in the Home as a way of demystifying the misconceptions that many people have of orchids being difficult.
In the past I to used run a business supplying fertilisers and other sundry items to orchid growers and was the European distributor of DynaGro fertilisers among other products and use that background for a further talk on Feeding Orchids - Feast or Famine.

If we have time we'll discuss:

What member's have in flower now.
Any orchid issues
The spring show.

https://us05web.zoom.us/j/89097127007?pwd=[REDACTED]

IOS Member's Meeting: April 2026
2026-04-13 19:00 - 20:30 | National Botanic Gardens, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, Co. Dublin, D09 VY63, Ireland
Details to be announce soon
