Andrea Niessen will present our program tonight entitled “The Pacific Coast from Colombia and its Orchids.” Andrea states, “The Colombian Pacific Coast is one of the Biodiversity Hotspots of the world. The variety of Orchids is tremendous and many are still undescribed. I am going to show various aspects of this rain forest, how the orchids grow in nature and how they have adapted to this area including the island Gorgona which use to be a Prison Island and is now a National Park.”
Andrea Niessen was born in Cali, Colombia to a German family. She received her high school degree from the Cali German School and was an exchange student in Claremont, California where she graduated again at the St. Lucy´s Priory High School. She went on to earn a Biology degree with an emphasis in Botany at the Universidad del Valle, Cali. Andrea then earned a Master´s of Science with a major in Electron Microscopy and minor in Virology from the University of Florida in Gainesville USA. She worked as a research associate at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in the Pastures Entomology Department and later in the Virology Unit. She has been a dedicated hobby Orchid grower all of her life. Andrea has served as a board member and president (1992-1997) of the local orchid Society, Asociación Vallecaucana de Orquideología and judge of the Colombian Orchid Committee.
Andrea has lectured about Colombian Orchids in Colombia, USA, Canada, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Nederland, Singapore and Germany. With her husband Juan Carlos Uribe, she has maintained her own orchid nursery since 1989. ORQUIDEAS DEL VALLE LTDA, which has grown to include two retail shops, one in downtown Cali and the other in the town of Ginebra, two nurseries, one warm growing and the other for cool growing plants and laboratory facilities for seed flasking. ORQUIDEAS DEL VALLE LTDA has attended many National and International Shows and also six World Orchid Conferences and European Orchid Conferences exhibiting and selling the beautiful and diverse orchid species from Colombia.
ORQUIDEAS DEL VALLE LTDA will provide plants for our raffle table.