'It's wonderful': Orchid show and sale returns

The three-day event at the Breezy Bend Country Club featured educational talks and seminars on how to re-pot and re-bloom your orchids. (Source: Dan Timmerman, CTV News)

Manitoba's orchid enthusiasts gathered in Headingley this weekend to celebrate the beautiful and prolific flower species.

The Manitoba Orchid Society's annual show and sale returned after a three year absence. President Rick Askinis said they're thrilled to be back. "We've had nothing but positive experience with people coming here … people have been saying they’ve missed us for so long," he said.

The three-day event at the Breezy Bend Country Club featured educational talks and seminars on how to re-pot and re-bloom your orchids. Askinis said it's both an easy and challenging hobby to take up.

"The nice thing about orchids is you can keep things as simple as you like, or as complex as you'd like," he said. "You can start with simple, store bought orchids and then you can progress.

"You can decide how much or how little you would like to get into the hobby," said Askinis.

The International Community of Gardeners has named 2023 the year of the orchid. Askinis said the timing couldn't have been better. "(It's) wonderful to have that as a title, it makes picking a title for our show a whole lot easier."

Manitoba has 37 different species of orchid. Askinis said they span the entire province. "For many decades, we thought there was 36 species and then they located one growing in the Churchill area around 2001."

The orchid show and sale ran until 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Askinis said they had a great turnout, and the orchids cooperated. 

"We're pleased with how the all displays worked out this year because every year it all depends on the orchids," Askinis said. "Sometimes they're a little late, sometimes they're early. It's hard to pick a time, they flower when they want to flower."