Winter 2008

From the President

Despite the lack of a Seed Exchange Director the SeedEx is progressing successfully. Due to the government seed inspections, some foreign packages have been late in arriving, thus there will be a one week extension in the cut off date to allow you to place your orders. But as you all know, delaying your order to the last day is not a wise idea. As for not having a SeedEx Director, we sincerely hope someone will come forward to fill this important post for 2008. It is also hoped there is no need to remind folks how many members of our society are dependent on the Seed Exchange.

As mentioned in the last Bulletin Board, we are trying to adapt the NARGS web site to be more useful to our own society members. Consequently, the "From the President" column will be found on the Web from now on. Until members get used to finding the column on the web site, it will also continue to be found as an insert in the Quarterly. Over the years the Bulletin Board seems to have lost readership. As increasingly more of our people use the Internet, it is felt we can improve communications through the Bulletin Board if we locate it there. As an added incentive for this web site action we will save money.

Another huge advantage in having a President column on the NARGS web site is that there can be more frequent announcements rather than just quarterly as to what is happening with our society. In addition to having news of what is taking place and getting directions from National, we will be able to have special sections for articles. Such an additional section will be initiated this time with one called, "Unsung Heroes" from our society. This first article we hope will become a long list of many such articles. Another set of articles could be for suggestions written to help beginning rock gardeners if there are individuals wishing to volunteer to write them.

Continuing to try and improve both national and local memberships, a five page list of membership suggestions will be mailed out. The mailing will be sometime early this year to chapter Chairs, possibly shortly after members have received their Quarterly. But in order to do this effectively, let me remind you that the current mailing address of the chapter Chairs needs to be known by the Executive Secretary and/or the NARGS President. Many of these suggestions are already being made use of by some chapters while others may be entirely new. I want to thank Rad McFarlane (Chair), Betsy Knapp and Michelle Jones-Ham of the Membership Committee for compiling these ideas.

Once again I have the pleasure to announce a new prize or award. Geoffrey Charlesworth has been particularly generous in giving us funding and initiating this award. This new National Award will be titled the Geoffrey Charlesworth Writing Prize. The prize will go to the best yearly article in the Quarterly starting with the 2007 Quarterly. In other words the prize is an effort to encourage good rock garden writing, but it will not go to professional horticulturists in order to eliminate unfair advantages. Jane McGary, the Quarterly Editor has also made mention of this award in the Winter Issue with a little more detail. The requirements for a chance at the award are only to submit to the Quarterly the best rock garden article you can write, so break out your pens and begin to write.

By the time this "From the President" reaches everyone I hope we will have good news to report concerning the Annual meeting for 2009. But I also would like to remind everyone it is not to early to begin to think about signing up for the 2010 Annual.

Dick Bartlett, NARGS President

 

Unsung Heroes.

The North American Rock Garden Society is a fantastic and interesting society with a wide collection of unique and dedicated gardeners. We like to think of ourselves as a special kind of gardeners who are interested in the difficult to grow and rare and unusual plants. But there is another aspect to our society which we need to be aware of. Our society contains many individuals who are also dedicated to their particular chapters. Although sometimes recognized with chapter awards, they deserve special recognition by our entire society.

As a member of the Rocky Mountain Chapter, and as NARGS President, I have the opportunity to present to the larger society membership one of our outstanding and very dedicated members. I have several reasons for doing this. It seems to me other chapters must have these special kinds of individuals, and I would also like to hear about them. As President, I think we need to communicate more from chapter to chapter and stop thinking of ourselves as isolated islands out there alone. And last, thinking of ourselves as a single entity, we need to have a central place to communicate with each other

Joan Schwarz, has been a member of the Rocky Mountain chapter for so long that the date of her becoming a member has been lost to the past. We can list the record of her accomplishments such as being Chapter Chair in 1990-91, receiving the NARGS Chapter Award for Service in 1988 and her Special Recognition Award in 2000, (For members who have already received the Award for Service). But these are awards that can be looked up in the records, and what should be stated here are her thousands of unrecorded benefits to our chapter. However, first we need to mention some other major jobs she has undertaken. Her first attendance at a National conference was at that fantastic one held at Lake Tahoe in July 1990 while she was Chapter Chair. She played an important role in organizing the R.M.C. Annual meeting of 1993 titled, "Rocky Mountain Rendezvous," as well as helping out in other later meetings. She was also very much involved in helping with an earlier, local rock garden symposium called "Romancing the Alpines" in 1987. And there are other accomplishments which could be mentioned that would be found in the records

What is less known, outside of our chapter, is the multitude of lesser tasks she has undertaken which she has performed brilliantly and for which she has received until now less thanks. We do know from the records that she first began to help out with the small group of volunteers who maintain the Denver Botanic Gardens Alpine Garden in 1983. What these volunteers will tell you, is how she has encouraged them in their work and has been a central figure in making it a pleasant task. She is the first person to suggest and obtain "get well" cards for sick members of our chapter. She has put her time in as our refreshment hostess and has provided for "ice cream socials."

In 1992 she rejoined the R.M.C. Board as our Membership Coordinator, a position she has continued to fill for the last 15 years. This is a position she is remarkably suited for, as she is our dear "mother" who looks after the smallest detail such as are we wearing our name tags. As Membership Coordinator she maintains a table with both national and local chapter literature for prospective new members at events. She is the one responsible for the idea and creation of our "phone tree." She also sends out emergency E-mails to all members when the need arises. But most important, in my mind, was her creation of a "new members" early get together before our normal January meeting to introduce our new members to the present and past officers, and have them tell about our organization. In short, she is the one who keeps us on our toes and is the glue which holds our chapter together.

This article is meant to be an invitation to hear about other individuals across our  society who deserve recognition for the small jobs they continually provide over the years. We are sure there must be many such people out there in our various chapters. So let us share these important individuals with each other.

Send proposed "Unsung Heroes" to:

Dick Bartlett, NARGS President,

9 South Holland Court, Lakewood, CO 80232;E-mail: abart111@aol.com;Tel:(303) 986-8096

 

NARGS Speakers Tour Project

Harry Jans: Rock gardener for more then 25-years, founder member of the Dutch Rock Garden Society and its president for 6 years. Member of 4 AGS Expeditions, ACE 1994, SQAE 2000, Iran Expedition 2003 & Tibet in 2005. AGS tour leader to various provinces in China in 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2006, Tibet 2005 & Ethiopia and Kenya in 2006. He organized and led tours to China, Italy, the Czech Republic and Sweden. He is a regular lecturer at conferences and Study Weekends in Holland, Germany, England, Scotland, USA and Canada.. For more information visit: www.jansalpines.com

His lecture topics include:

Growing alpines in the hills of Holland

New ways of growing alpines

How to build an alpine house

Growing high alpines on tufa

The famous Czech rock gardens

Dionysia, the genus for the connoisseur

Daphne, a must for every rock garden

The best of the European mountains

The successful ACE seed collecting expedition in 1994

The best of North-West Yunnan alpines

A botanical tour through the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan

A closer look at the rich alpine flora in Sichuan province

Plant hunting on the roof of the World

Iran in focus

High alpines around the Equator (Ethiopia, Kenya)

During this Spring he will visit the western chapters. The tour schedule is :

April 6-8th: Eugene, OR (Emerald Chapter)

April 9th Vancouver, BC

April 10th Calgary

April 12th-14th Denver, Colorado( RMC)

April 15-16th Portland( Columbia Willamette)

April 17th-19th Seattle (Northwestern Ch.)

April 20-22nd Salt Lake City (Wasatch Ch.)

April 23rd-26th Alaska (ARGS & Homer Garden Club)

 

Peter Korn: is a young, plant-obsessed, enthusiastic person from Sweden.  He grows just about any plant imaginable in his garden, much in pure sand, including cacti. But he has bog gardens and a pit alpine garden as well as peat gardens.  He has installed peat gardens at other locations in Scotland, He runs a nursery in Sweden. For more information: www.peterkornstradgard.se

His lecture topics include:

Building for growing: A talk about my garden. How I do to create all different environments to be able to grow everything from Cacti to Orchids. Including crevices, sand beds, peat walls, a jungle and other things that you need to have in a garden.

Rockgarden, my way: Building and designing a rock garden, my way. All kinds of beds from really hot and dry to cold and wet. Raised beds and crevices. Also about growing in sand.

Armenia: A country very rich in species. Amazing basalt cliffs, dry areas and alpine meadows.

Here is the schedule of his tour:

Sat Mar 22 - Piedmont Chapter

Monday Mar 24 - Manhattan Chapter

Sat Mar 29 - Southern Appalachian Chapter

Sunday Mar 30 - Wisconsin Illinois Chapter

Tuesday April 1 -Nova Scotia Rhododendron Society

Thursday April 3 - Newfoundland Chapter

Saturday April 5 - Nova Scotia Chapter

Saturday April 12 - Ottawa Chapter

Sunday April 13 - Montreal Chapter

 

In the planning stage for 2009, Josef Halda will visit the West Coast, and Pam Eveleigh will tour the East Coast.

 

Upcoming Events:

February 29-March 2, 2008: Western Study Weekend, “Plant Treasures for the New Millenium:”. At the Delta Richmond Inn, Richmond, BC. Speakers to include Jim Almond, Pam Eveleigh, Phyllis Gustafson, Gwen Kelaidis, Panayoti Kelaidis, Phillip Mac Dougall. Linda Verbeek, Hans Roemer, Henrik Zetterlund.

For details visit: www.ags-bc.ca/western-winter-study-weekend-2008-1.asp

 

March28-30, 2008. Eastern Study Weekend: “Rock Gardening with Unpredictable Snow Cover”. At the Farmington Marriott, Farmington, CT. (near Hartford, CT and the Bradley airport.).Speakers to include Alan Bradshaw, Geoffrey Charlesworth, Frank Cabot, John Good, P. Twombly, K. Walek, E. Zander, Zdenek Zvolanek.

For details: www.bnargs.org/WSWMarch08.htm

 

April 17-19, 2008. A Symposium on Trilliums, in Wilmington, DE.

Mt. Cuba Center and its sponsoring partners invite you to the Trillium Symposium. The setting for the symposium is the Brandywine Valley, an area in northern Delaware known for its natural beauty, world-class museums, and magnificent gardens.

The purpose of this two-day conference (and optional third-day field trip) is to bring together academic and industry professionals, as well as expert gardeners, to address the science, conservation, and horticulture of trilliums of Eastern North America. Attendees will gain an understanding of the biology of trilliums, their ecology, conservation challenges, and issues impacting their propagation and production. Colleagues with a wide range of expertise will join us to share ideas and information to further our understanding of this intriguing genus

For details: www.trilliumsymposium2008.org

 

June  12-15, 2008. NARGS Annual Meeting., in Ottawa, Ont.

Hosted by the Ottawa Valley Chapter of NARGS.

Of special interest, a visit to the Purdon Conservation Area, where one can admire a huge colony of Cypripedium reginae in full bloom. and visits to the Mer Bleue bog, the Marlborough Forest, the Burntlands Alvar and the Gatineau Park. 4 speakers will describe for us the geological history, various landscapes and habitats of the Ottawa Valley region: Daniel Brunton, Alan Donadlson, Marilyn Light and Michael Runtz.

For more details: www.ovrghs.ca.

 

Words of Thanks

We have received much encouragement and many supportive contributions during 2007. We would like to give the following special acknowledgements:

Ten members showed their confidence and appreciation by joining NARGS for life: Richard and Kary Arimoto Mercer (PA), Joy Bishop (UK), John Grimshaw (UK), Albert Hendley (OH), Vincent Inconiglios (CT), Neil Jorgensen (ME), Jane McGary (OR), Maynard Shirven (VA), Katsushiko Taniguchi (Japan).

Then there were our Patrons: Thornton Burnet (VA), Betsy Clebsch (CA), Ronald and Viviane Decker (GA), Louisa Ferree (MA), (CO), Peter Flynn (MA), Laura Gregg (PA), Renee Johnson (VA), Rad MacFarlane (DE), Amal Moamar (MA), Joan Schwarz (CO), George Staehle (NJ), Henriette Suhr (NY), Bobby Ward (NC).

We received contributions from Tsutomu Sasaki in memory of his father Tuneshiro Sasaki, and also from Susan Smith (WA), and Elizabeth Wattles (NY).

Thanks all for your generous support.

 

Membership renewal: when is it due?

NARGS membership does not run concurrently with the calendar year. Subscriptions start at the beginning of a trimester, i.e. on January 1, April 1, July 1 or October 1. In most cases this is the beginning of the trimester during which a person joined NARGS. For example, a person joining NARGS on August 17^th will receive the Summer Quarterly etc, the subscription will start as of July 1 and will be due for renewal on July 1 one year later.

 In the past, the last issue of a subscription was mailed in a special envelope serving as a reminder. Since the end of 2002 the reminders are more discreet. Whenever you receive the Quarterly or the seed list you will find the renewal date indicated on the mailing label, on the line just above your name. It is a very short and simple notation, such as JAN/08, or APR/08 etc. Please, look for it, and if the renewal date is close, don’t wait: renew then and there. Thanks.