JoRetta Anderson    One of the 'Coquina Crossing Girls', Jo and her husband Wendell live in Elkton since 2007 after living in Orange Park. Wendell is retired Navy & US Civil Service, and Jo managed the cafeterias at Grove Park Elementary School and then Orange Park Elementary School. Jo began growing with orchids when her son gave her his orchids.  She grows her orchids on the lanai and on plant stands (when the weather cooperates!). Of her 15 or so orchids, she loves the Cattleyas best. Orchids are not her only hobby. She is a cross stitcher and a quilter to boot. (Mar 10)

Viveca Anderson     An Army brat, Viveca originally hails from Richland, GA and now makes her home in The Shores with husband Mitch. Viv received her first orchid in 2009, a blooming phalaenopsis, and it was still blooming a month later, and she was hooked. Now she has 45 plants, running the gamut from vandas to phals, that she grows in the Florida room in the winter with a grow light and the screened porch in the summer in 'Orchid Trees' made for her by her husband. With work at the Murray Middle School, scrapbooking, reading and being grandma to 2 grand dog Yorkshire Terriers, she doesn't have the time she would like to devote to her orchids, though that doesn't slow her down, she's always looking for new beauties! (Apr 10)

Lillian Baker     St. Augustine native Lillian Baker loves to garden and is a beginner orchidist with a collection of about 10 plants. She got hooked the first time she rebloomed a dendrobium, with 9 spikes no less! She’d like to have a small greenhouse and just might contract it herself as that’s one of her talents. She acted as contractor for a log house that she and husband Greg, (former St. Augustine mayor), built on the Suwannee River. (Mar 09)

Haley Bastian     Haley Bastian is a walking encyclopedia of orchid information. She works with Fred at Orchids by Del-Rei and is the SAOS deflasking expert aka Mademoiselle Compot. Her own orchid collection numbers about 500, favorites being Psychopsis papilio f. alba and Neofinetia falcata. She is interested in other epiphytes, as long as they are unusual. (Sep 08)

Mary Ann Bell     Mary Ann Bell is a part time pharmacist, which gives her more time for orchids and world travel – of which she’s done a lot. She fell in love with orchids in Hawaii in 1986 and now has about 160 on a screened patio with vandas hanging in a rain tree. Mary Ann is awed by unusual oncidiums but loves vandas best because of their gorgeous depth of color. (Feb 09)

Shirley Berglund     Shirley Berglund loves gardening going back to her childhood in Plymouth, MA where she grew up, married, raised a family and was an antiques dealer. Shirley relocated to St Augustine in 1996. She has about 80 plants grown mostly in a slat house. She has mounds of orange Epi. radicans and yellow Dancing lady oncidiums hanging in her trees. Besides being an SAOS charter member and Master Gardener, Shirley is also a member of the Garden Club of St Augustine. (May 08)

Sue Bottom     Sue Bottom loves going to all the orchid shows to find prospective speakers for the SAOS. From New Jersey, Sue met multi-talented husband, Terry in NOLA. Since moving to St Aug in 1998, Terry has been busy building her four greenhouses to house several thousand orchids, her favorite being whatever is in bloom. Besides getting dirt under her fingernails, Sue also loves cooking and wine, which provides the bonus of corks for her vandas. (Sep 08)

Terry Bottom     Terry Bottom, Newsletter Editor and photographer, was born in St. Louis, grew up in North Carolina and has done home renovations, graphic design and screenprinting during stays in Charlotte, New Orleans (where he met Sue), Houston and now St. Augustine. Terry and Sue have lots of orchids in the 4 greenhouses he built. In his spare time you'll find Terry fishing on ‘In Reel Time’ where he would like to land that elusive tarpon. (Aug 09)

Celeste Burnes     Celeste Burns and her husband, Richard Sexauer moved to St. Augustine in 2009 after living for 34 years in Wellsboro, PA. They have three children and six grandchildren. Celeste is a retired professor and administrator at Mansfield Univ. They became fascinated with orchids after moving here. She also likes to sew, knit, read and spin besides the gardening. Her favorite orchid at the moment is the cattleya, and they’re just getting started with a dozen. They grow them outside during the summer and keep them in an upstairs bedroom during the winter. (Mar 11)

Rae Coletti     Rae Coletti, one of the smiling faces greeting you at the Welcome Table, is from upstate NY. She and husband Norm moved to Florida in 1999, where she landscaped their property in the Shores winning Garden of the Month by the Record. Her general love of gardening overflowed into orchids 2 years ago, bulbophyllums being her current obsession.

Barbara Conrad     Barbara Conrad has created a paradise on her 5 acres. Originally from Ohio, Barbara finally settled in St Aug in 1967 and retired after working in the judicial system for 32 years. With husband Billy, they do whatever it takes to keep their Eden flourishing. Barbara has orchids everywhere on the property. Barbara is also a Master Gardener, a member of the Garden Club of St Augustine, a gourmet cook and an avid NASCAR fan. (Jun 08)

Marilyn Costanzo     Marilyn Costanzo is an Adjunct Professor at FCCJ in the Nursing Dept. Originally from the D.C. area, she and husband Dick moved to St. Aug in 2002. They live next to a nature preserve in Palencia and are working on a new deck for their orchids with a winter holding area in their Florida room. Marilyn sang for 18 years with the Sweet Adeline’s and Int'l Gold Medal Chorus of 140 women. (Nov 08)