TOS Meeting June 2025: Miniature Orchids

Tomas Bajza from Tarzane Orchid Group in Miami FL, will be our June speaker. Tomas came to the USA from the Czech Republic and settled down in hot tropical Miami. He got into serious orchid growing only over a decade ago, starting with the usual grocery store Phalaenopsis and Dendrobiums, slowly adding Cattleyas and Vandas. All of these were large orchids and mostly hybrids. Tomas was constantly searching different online orchid forums and saw posts about Lepanthopsis astrophora — that was the very first time he had ever seen a miniature orchid. He fell in love and immediately ordered a few. When they came, they were even smaller than he ever imagined! That was it, he got bitten by a “huge” miniature orchid bug — and in the past years, he was fortunate enough to collect hundreds of micro and miniature orchid species. He does not consider himself in any way an orchid expert, but someone once told him that a beginner orchid grower is someone who killed less than 10 plants, an advanced orchid grower is someone who killed more than 100, and an orchid professional is someone who killed over 1000 and doesn’t count anymore. By this yardstick, Tomas belongs to advanced growers. What used to be a “hobby” slowly grew to a small business that is expanding. Thankfully, Tomas can share his babies with the rest of the orchid world via our website and educate people interested in growing miniature and small orchids.

You may also like the following events from Triangle Orchid Society:

• This July, 14th July, 07:30 pm, Ice Cream Social and Member Plant Sale in Raleigh

Also check out other Meetups in Raleigh, Business events in Raleigh.