The July meeting of the Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies was hosted by the Bromeliad Society of Central Florida and held at the Donnelly Park Center in Mount Dora. The meeting was called to order at 12:35pm by Chairperson Vicky Chirnside. This was the third meeting of 2006.

Roll Call. Nine Societies were represented: Seminole Bromeliad and Tropical Plant Society, by Sudi Hipsley; Florida West Coast Bromeliad Society, by Linda Sheetz; Florida East Coast Bromeliad Society, by Carolyn Schoenau and Calandra Thurrott; Gainesville Bromeliad Society, by John R. Moxley and Al Muzzel; Bromeliad Society of Central Florida, by Karen Andreas, Betsy McCrory and Bob Stevens; Caloosahatchee Bromeliad Society, by Tom Foley and Debbie Booker; Bromeliad Guild of Tampa Bay by Tom Wolfe and H. T. Sisco; Bromeliad Society of Broward County, by Jose and Sara Donayre; Bromeliad Society of South Florida, by Ed and Moyna Prince. Vice-President Jay Thurrott was present as well as Webmaster Michael Andreas.

Sarasota Bromeliad Society and Treasure Coast Bromeliad Society were absent.

Guests Ron Schoenau and Drs. J. Howard Frank and Alonso Suazo were introduced.

The Agenda was approved as presented.

REPORTS:

Secretary’s Minutes. Sudi Hipsley requested an amendment in the Newsletter item. The sum of $ 735.52 corresponds to printing cost only. Ed Prince requested and amendment in the Extravaganza 2006 item relating to the Elton Leme book. It will be given to registrants at the hotel who purchase two dinner tickets. The book is sold by Tropiflora at $60.00. The report was approved as amended.

Treasurer’s report. The Treasurer provided the financial statement as of July 8 with a total balance of US$ 21,174.94 of which US$ 10,461.64 corresponded to the Council and US$ 10,713.30 to the Weevil Fund account.

It was agreed that the financial report should be sent before the meeting by e-mail or in the case of those not using it, by regular mail.

Announcements. Ed Prince informed the meeting of the death of Connie Johnson a long term member of the South Florida Bromeliad Society. Memorial Services will take place at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden at a later date.

Webmaster Report. Newsletters continue to be placed on line. Photos continue to be received and included in the website. Around 700 pictures were received from Brazil mainly focused on aspects of the rainforest and its destruction. A bromeliad site requesting a link was found to be a nursery. Having stolen two of the website pictures the link was denied. A request for a catalog was received from Iran.

Newsletter Report. New rotation schedules were distributed. The August issue will contain the Statewide Roster and announcement for the Extravaganza.

In view of the request of the Affiliates Committee at the San Diego Conference for information on activities from all societies, the Council and the respective societies will continue to send their newsletters to Martha Goode.

Weevil Research Report. Dr. Frank introduced Dr. Suazo who has joined the Laboratory last month. The production of the parasitic fly continues well and shipments of puparia from Honduras amount to 161 in this quarter with a good proportion of emerging flies at good surviving rates. No evidence of M. Callizona was found at the Collier-Seminole State Park near Naples.

Dr. Suazo will start new methods or artificial parasitization to increase effectiveness over the pineapple method by which larvae from flies will be placed in weevils manually.

Florida Judges Report. A Judges School took place at the San Diego Conference.

BSI Report. The 2008 WBC will take place in Australia. The establishment of the BSI headquarters at Selby Garden will be submitted to the Board at its next meeting. Affiliate Societies Chair (Martha Goode) and Membership Secretary (Dan Kinnard) have been established. Keith Smith has been appointed as Media Chair. He will renovate the slide/CD lending library. He has called for Societies to submit programs.

Other Committee Reports. None available.

-Societies Activities Report.

Gainesville Bromeliad Society. The Society is taking care of some plantings of bromeliads in public spaces. It is also planning a sale event at the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens for the end of September. However, the date conflicting with the South Florida Extravaganza a rescheduling was requested.

Central Florida Bromeliad Society. The Mother’s Day Show and Sale was very successful. It will be staged next year too.

Bromeliad Society of Broward County. By-Laws were amended to advance the deadline for dues to allow for timely transmission of roster to the Council. Preparations have started for the 2007 biannual Show and Sale on a date not to conflict with the fixed date for South Florida in April.

Bromeliad Society of South Florida. The Society reports a successful Show and Sale last April. It calls for a centralized calendar handled by the Council using the web and information from societies ahead of time. As the Council By-Laws refer only to the scheduling of Extravaganzas a motion was approved to require the Vice-Chair to take charge of the matter for all events with effect immediately.

Caloosahatche Bromeliad Society. It reported on programs held during the period and the organization of a members trip to the Extravaganza. It will hold its annual Show and Sale on November 18-19.

West Coast Bromeliad Society. The death of Helen Streck who was an active organizer and supporter of the Society was reported. Harry Luther will present a program in September and a field trip is being organized. A Special Award was given to Helga Tarver at the Annual Auction in May by Chair Vicky Chirnside. Harry Luther was present.

East Coast Bromeliad Society. Terrie Bert is programmed for July. A power-point presentation of the WBC in San Diego is being prepared.

Bromeliad Guild of Tampa Bay. It broke the 100 member mark this year. Although the Society is a member of the Tampa Federation of Garden Clubs it is facing higher costs for the use of its facilities. It will continue meeting there monthly but it will not be possible to stage the Show and Sale there.

Seminole Bromeliad and Tropical Plant Society. Reported a good increase in members to 34 after a long period. It will hold its Fall Plant Sale of various tropical plants and bromeliads on August 19-20 at the Garden Club of Sanford building..

OLD BUSINESS.

Seed Project. The Central Florida Zoo has accepted taking over the project with John Russell’s supervision. It will enhance educational aspects and focus on endangered elements, bromeliads being one of them. In addition, Steve De Cresie, the staff horticulturist, is a member of the Central Florida Society.

WBC. There were about 300 entries at the Conference. Australia is cancelling their 2007 and 2009 Conferences to focus on the 2008 WBC. No date has been set yet.

2006. Ed Prince reminded the Council that although FCBS was host of the Extravaganza this year it is a Council event which requires its full involvement. He also reminded the Societies to contribute five rare plants each for the auction, proceeds to go to the Council. Mary Whittemore has responded positively to an invitation to be the Auctioneer. She will have a free room available, will not charge a fee, will pay for her fare but would like to be shown the area. Arrangements will be made accordingly. Seminars will be presented by Harry Luther, Janet Brown, Magali Groves and Bruce McAlpin.

Ed circulated a colorful ad prepared for the sale and informed that a special ad will be in the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden publication which has a large circulation.

He also proposed that the Council recognizes the outstanding achievements of Nat DeLeon at the Extravaganza. A motion to spend up to US$ 200 for an award object was approved. The Chair will introduce the honoree and expects notes from all who would like to contribute to the introduction.

Comments on the use of credit cards at the auction revolved around costs and possible disputes. It was agreed that receipts should carry an "all sales are final" stamp.

The Bahamas participants at the WBC requested arrangements be made for USDA certification to be able to take plants home. USDA inspectors on site would charge US$300 or more so the alternative is for each person to have the service at the airport in Miami at the cost of US$ 23 each.

The mailing by the Council with the note on the Extravaganza is expected by 20 August.

Vendors at the event will be Terrie Bert, Grant Groves, Tropiflora, Tom Wolfe, Peter Kouchalakos, Josefa Leon and Michael Kiehl.

2007. Nothing to report yet.

2008. It was confirmed that the Tampa Guild will host the 2008 event.

Meeting was adjourned at 2:35 pm.