EpiCon X, at the San Diego Zoological Society’s Wild Animal Park

Thanks to the work of Mildred Mikas and all her assistants, the latest in the series of EpiCon events was a complete success.

There were three parts to EpiCon this year:

1. The Conference

A series of talks, along with wonderful slides.

    The first was Dr. Rudi Dorsch, speaking on the European Epi Collections, Germany and Switzerland. He included information about the new taxonomy of Epiphytic plants.

    Then Dr. Dick Kolhschreiber spoke on the various Species of Epiphytic Cactus. Wonderful and interesting, though he used the old taxonomy of the plants.

    Phil Peck followed with a quick talk about E. Laui, a species that is gaining lots of attention.

    Myron Kimnach followed lunch, with an excellent talk about Hunting Epies in the Wild. Some of the slides he had made you wonder how anyone would ever be able to walk through the jungle, let alone find plants there. Some of the ways he and his group found Epiphytic plants included wearing prints of the plants on t-shirts, and laying leaves in the pattern of the plant they were looking for on the ground. Fascinating stuff.

2. The Wedding

Svante and Marika Lundquist got married in the Epi House at the Wild Animal Park. They traveled from Sweden to be married here. The ceremony was officiated by the Reverend Vern Hettinger, who was standing underneath a plant, with his name on it, created by George French! George French made a special trip to attend the wedding, as he has done two plants specifically named for Vern, the other being ‘Pastor Vern.’

3. The Garden Tour and Wine Tasting

The second day of EpiCon X was started by a garden tour. Needless to say, our house was on the tour and we had a few people show up. At 12:30 we all converged on Orfila Vineyards where we had a private tasting and a light lunch. This was followed by a tour of the winery.

All in all a lovely way to start the Memorial day weekend.