HOTOS Monthly Meeting – Cattleya Hunting in Brazil

Our featured speaker and former member of the Heart of Texas Orchid Society, Stephen Van Kampen-Lewis, will share his adventures searching for orchids in Brazil. In the works for many years, Stephen, joined by Francisco Miranda and a friend, was finally able to make that journey. Their goal – finding blooming Cattleya nobilior variety amaliae and rupiculous Cattleyas. Please join us as he recounts what happened during this trip of a lifetime.

If you are interested in joining us on Zoom, please send us your request at least 24 hours in advance.

About the Speaker

Stephen Van Kampen-Lewis

Stephen started growing orchids around 1992 at approximately 12 years of age. He has grown orchids in Canada, Arizona, Hawaii, and Texas. For much of that time, he was an American Orchid Society member, and is now a fully accredited AOS judge at the Alamo Judging Center in San Antonio.
The Heart of Texas Orchid Society is privileged to have had Stephen serve multiple times over the years as our President, VP of Speaker Recruitment, and VP of Social Media.
He authored “Rhyncholaelia digbyana – The Frilled Wonder”, an article published in the August 2020
edition of Orchids Magazine. Finally, Stephen has created a YouTube channel in which he discusses tips and tricks for growing Cattleyas, Catasetums, and a few other genera in Central Texas.
While focusing most of his orchid growing energy on Cattleyas and Catasetums, Stephen also grows
Bulbophyllums, Cyrtopodiums, and others. He enjoys growing his orchids in a an IKEA cabinet and outdoors in a shade house near where he lives near Boerne, Texas.