Anthony Scerri
Anthony and his father went to a meeting of the orchid club when it was in Keilor, to learn more about how to grow the orchids they owned. They had about ten orchids each, with no names on them, and no growing instructions. Anthony went back to another meeting when the club moved to Maribyrnong about 22 years ago, joined up and was hooked.

He has spent the last 16 years on the committee, with a total of 7 years as Vice President and 5 years as President. He is the current President. He also organises the speakers for the year and the social bus trips that are held 4 times a year.

After Eric and Fran Wilde returned, enthralled, by the Australian Orchid Conference in Adelaide in 2001, Anthony offered to lead a committee to submit an expression of interest to hold the 2009 Conference in Melbourne. This was accepted and the committee has been working tirelessly since then to organise this big event. It will be held in Werribee during September of 2009.

Anthony enjoys growing orchids. He is willing to have a go at growing (or killing!) anything, but especially cymbidiums and natives. His pride and joy is a Schomburgkia Superbiens which will be in flower later this year. He enters most plants he has in flower into the club shows and also brings them in on meeting nights. He occasionally wins some prizes and it is a bonus to win a First prize. He would desperately like to see more members bring in and display their plants.


His new shadehouse is almost complete, part of the roof is shadecloth and one section on the end will have a hard roof. He also has plans to put in tanks to collect rainwater as he believes this will be better for the plants. Two years ago, Anthony started using a 3:2:1 mix of bark, coir and perlite and says that all his plants seem to be growing and flowering better. He also has a regimen of watering one week, and watering and fertilising the next week.