Road Trips Gardeners who love orchids might want to put South Africa on their travel schedules. First up is the annual orchid show May 28 to 30, 2010, organized by the Orchid Society of Northern Transvaal (ONT). it will be held at the Safari Garden Centre, Lynnwood Road in the Willows, Pretoria.

The second is the Gauteng International Orchid Conference and Show, set for September 24 to 26, 2010, also at the Safari Garden Centre in Pretoria. It is sponsored by the three orchid societies in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, and will serve as a “warm up” for the 21st World Orchid Conference which will be hosted by the same societies in 2014.

Guest speakers at the September conference include Johan Hermans of the United Kingdom (an expert on Madagascar orchids), Jose Portilla of Ecuador (cattleyas), Chui Leng of Singapore, Nollie Celliers, Ann Duckworth, Chris Hammond and Lourens Grobler (sobralias).

South Africa has more than 400 indigenous orchid species.