Bulletin Board Spring 2008

From the President

Right off, we need to thank all those who participated in our Seed Exchange for the great job they did. But especially, we want to thank the North Western Chapter for coming to our rescue at the last minute to do the seed order mailing (Phase 3). We have received many letters of congratulation on having a successful SeedEx.

I am pleased to announce we have a new Seed Exchange Director and that the SeedEx looks good for the coming year. All phases are in good shape except we need a chapter for Phase 4, the mailing of the excess seed. It is hoped that whichever chapter will volunteer for this phase can do it for at least two years. Our new SeedEx Director is Grazyna Grauer, our Vice-President. Once again we want to give to those involved with this year's SeedEx a hearty thank you.

As she became our SeedEx Director, Grazyna relinquished her responsibilities as Chair of the Internet Committee. Although she will keep helping the Internet Committee until this summer, we will need a new experienced volunteer very soon. Also the change means that we will need to replace her as SeedEx Director in the summer of 2009 if she becomes President at the end of her term as Vice-President. As for the NARGS website we have great plans for updating it. For example, now the Bulletin Board column "From the President" is located on our website. It is felt we need to have one section to introduce our Society to the general public and also a section useful for announcements and other internal information of interest to members.

It is the duty of the President to keep you informed of future meetings and to request that chapters volunteer to put them on. I am pleased to report that all meetings for 2009 have been arranged. The Potomac Valley Chapter is in charge of the Eastern Winter Study Weekend for January 30, to February 1. The Columbia Willamette Chapter's Western Winter Study Weekend will be in Portland, March 13-15. And we hope to have something special for our 75th Anniversary meeting in Calgary for our Annual Meeting. We have had the unusual event this year of having the WWSW prior to the EWSW. This gave us the opportunity to meet with the Calgary people already and find out a little of what they have planned. I should mention the Siskiyou Chapter is scheduled for the WWSW in 2010. And I will remind everyone that it is not too early to volunteer and begin to plan for the EWSW and the Annual Meeting for 2010.

Leland Gage gave me his Slide Library letter of resignation at the end of last year. However, Michelle Jones-Ham of Rochester, NY has already volunteered to take his place, and I want to thank her for this. The slide collection has already been moved from his place to her place, and Michelle has begun to organize them. As sometimes happens, you will probably receive this Bulletin Board issue after I have had the opportunity to speak with Michelle at the EWSW in Farmington. At that time I will have been able to learn more about what is needed to help her and how things are going. I do know she plans to convert as many of the slides as possible to a digital format.

Now Jane McGary has asked me to remind Chapter Chairs that she has a number of excess back issues of the Quarterly. These are very good items to hand out to prospective rock gardening members and to advertise our Society. She will very gladly mail them to any chapter which requests them. Also she indicated that in very small print on the inside of the back cover of any Quarterly is a statement concerning missing or damaged issues and that those requests should be sent to the executive secretary instead of to our busy Editor.

For my part, I would like to remind Chapter Chairs They need to keep the executive secretary up to date on the major officers of their chapters including -mails and mailing addresses. As mentioned before, this is a requirement of the NARGS' By-laws, and we also realize positions change at various times through out the year.

Dick Bartlett, NARGS President

Elections of Officers and Directors

At the Annual Meeting next June we shall elect: a President, a Vice President, and three Directors to replace Dick Bartlett, Grazyna Grauer, Ann Rosenberg, Charles sale and Morris West who will have ended their term of office.

The president and vice president are reeligible for a one year term and the three directors are reeligible for a three years term.

The Nominating Committee headed by Todd Boland has put forward the following nominees:

President (2008-2009): Dick Bartlett.

Vice President (2008-2009): Grazyna Grauer.

Directors (2008-2011): Alice Nicolson, Diane Huling and Tony Reznicek.

Alice Nicolson has been a member of the Potomac Valley Chapter since 1990, edited their bimonthly Bulletin for 4 years and is co-chair for EWSW 09. She is an Extension Master Gardener, married to a taxonomist, and has gardened their urban 3/4 acre for over 30 years. Her taste in plants is catholic, but only recently has she acquired a sunny area in which to develop a rock garden. Born in Lebanon, she favors plants from the eastern Mediterranean.

Diane Huling is currently the Chair of the New England Chapter of NARGS through 2008. She received a BS in Plant Science and began a career as Greenhouse Manager for the Biology Department at Rhode Island College having remained in that position for nearly 35 years. She also received an MA in Studio Art which aids in garden design and photography. She belongs to the Association of Education and Research Greenhouse Curators as well as many other garden related organizations

Tony Reznicek has been a long time member of the Great Lakes Chapter of NARGS, and has been for some years now the newsletter Editor. He lives and gardens in Ann Arbor, Michigan and works at the University of Michigan studying plant systematics, especially sedges. His gardening interests include alpines, small woodland plants, native plants of the Great Lakes region, and plants with interesting evolutionary aspects (such as hardy representatives of tropical plant groups and long range disjuncts), and Chinese and Japanese woodlands plants.

Elizabeth Lawrence Property Stewardship Fund Being Raised

The Wing Haven Foundation, Charlotte, N. C., has announced that an agreement has been reached to purchase the Elizabeth Lawrence House and Garden. Mary Lindeman "Lindie" Wilson, the owner and steward of this property and a member of the North American Rock Garden Society, has agreed to sell to Wing Haven, giving conservation easements to the Garden Conservancy. Thus the house and garden will be preserved and a program honoring Lawrence’s seminal contributions to southern horticulture and garden writing will be developed. Lawrence (1904-85) is the author of several books, including “A Rock Garden in the South,” published posthumously in 1990.

Linking Wing Haven Gardens and Bird Sanctuary and the Lawrence Garden under one mission will mark a new chapter in the life of these two properties, located on the same street in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Belk Foundation and the D. F. Halton Foundation provided funds for this vision.

Information on the Elizabeth Lawrence garden can be found at:

http://www.elizabethlawrence.org/friends.html

Information on Wing Haven can be found at:

http://www.winghavengardens.com

Frank Cabot, a long-term member of NARGS, was founder of the Garden Conservancy. Information on the Garden Conservancy can be found at:

http://www.gardenconservancy.org

A $50,000 Stewardship Fund is being raised to sustain the conservation easement protecting the property. It also honors Lindie Wilson’s efforts in maintaining and preserving the property during her ownership. There are many in the North American Rock Garden Society who recognize the importance of preserving this property and honoring the Lawrence legacy. Contributions may be sent to “The Elizabeth Lawrence House and Garden Stewardship Fund,” c/o The Garden Conservancy, PO Box 219, Cold Spring, New York, 10516.

Contributions are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

--Submitted by Bobby J. Ward