Keynote and Seminar Speakers are inked!
Bienvenido a San Diego!  The conference host committee here at the San Diego Bromeliad Society is happy to share with you developments on next year’s conference.  We would like to announce our list of speakers for next year’s conference in sunny San Diego, California.  We have been hard at work, assembling an international gathering of speakers.  Seminar topics will be a balance of science discussions, brom-centric travel, cultivation perspectives and other topics of interest to the advanced bromeliad enthusiast.  
Our list of speakers is as follows:
  • Dennis Cathcart, Florida
  • Pam Koide Hyatt, California
  • Paul Isley, California​
  • Jeffery Kent, California
  • Jose Manzanares, Ecuador
  • Li Ping, China
  • Ivón Ramirez, Mexico
  • Peter Waters, New Zealand
​Scott Sandel from the San Diego host affiliate society will give the opening remarks on opening day, Wednesday, along with Lyn Wegner, president of BSI, who will address BSI’s current programs. For 2018, we are pleased to have Dennis Cathcart of Tropiflora, in Sarasota, Florida to address us at the banquet.  Known to many of us in the bromeliad world, Dennis has let’s-just-say several years of experiences to share with us.  He has been on many, many adventures in bromeliad habitat and has a few stories to tell about his experiences running their Florida-based bromeliad nursery with his wife Linda and their team.  
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For 2018, we are pleased to have Li Ping (photo, left) come to us from China and tell us about what it’s like growing bromeliads in Shanghai.  Li Ping developed the bromeliad collections at the Shanghai Botanical Gardens for 10 years.  Her current position, since 2012, is with a new botanical garden, The Shanghai Chenshan.  Our other well-known speakers, from other points of the globe, will speak on a varied range of topics.  In addition, Southern California local Jeffery Kent, from Kent’s Bromeliad Nursery will be here.  His nursery provides more than 100 commercial varieties year-round from their 840,000 square-foot nursery, and he will share his love of adventure and his extensive knowledge of bromeliads collected from the jungles of Central and South America.  Additionally, he will speak on topics of relevance to hybridists and those interested in knowing how our favorites are created.