MID-ATLANTIC RHODODENDRONNEWS AND NOTES

A Publication of the Middle Atlantic Chapter of the AmericanRhododendron Society

Vol. XXXXII No.4 December 2015CALENDAR OF UPCOMING MEETINGS

April 20-24, 2016 ARS ASA Convention, Williamsburg,Virginia

Rhododendron website addresses:American Rhododendron Society http://www.rhododendron.org/ARS Store Order from Amazon thru this site http://arsstore.org/MAC Website (UPDATED REGULARLY) http://www.macars.org/UVA Special Collections http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/Old Quarterly Bulletins & JARS http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JARS/Rhododendron Blog www.rhododendron.org/blog/Friends of the National Arboretum http://savetheazaleas.org/FONA’s Save the Azaleas and Boxwood siteOur 2016 Convention site (NEW) www.arsasaconvention2016.org

FALL 2015 MAC MEETING IN GLEN ALLEN,VIRGINIA

MAC had a delightful Fall Meeting at theCourtyard Marriott in Glen Allen co-chaired byDebby Sauer and Barbara Hall. The hotel was verynice and the food was quite good. There were forty-two attendees. Dr. Jay Gillenwater held a very briefbusiness meeting for an election.

Karel Bernady from the Greater PhiladelphiaChapter gave an interesting and informative talk ongrafting. His pictures showed how to do it.

Saturday morning featured a car-pool visit toColesville Nursery where plants could be purchased.We had a box lunch at Hanover Wayside, then wentback to the hotel.

After lunch Rachel Yungman demonstrated“Making Concrete Leaves and Orbs for the Garden.” She gave clear instructions for the complete processand also the painting of the leaves. She had manyfinished leaves to show and sell.

Theresa Brents had the book sale set up and open.Jay Gillenwaterhad the P4Mplants set up forthe sale, and BillBedwel l andD o n H y a t ts u c c e s s f u l l yauctioned plantso n F r i d a yevening andS a t u r d a yevening.

The foliageshow had only 5entr ies f romDebby Sauer and Carol Segree and was not judged.

Saturday evening speaker Mike O’Hara had thedigital photography presentation that well-knownWest Coast hybridizer Jim Barlup put together. JimBarlup is a retired professional photographer so thephotos were excellent. That talk had been given theARS Conference.

Jeanne Hammer and Theresa Brents arriving at the CourtyardMarriott. Photo W. Przypek.

Co-chair Barbara Hall giving instructions tothe group. Photo S. McDonald.

MAC SPECIALELECTION ATT H E F AL LMEETING

MAC had abrief election atthe Fall Meetingat which Margaret Willis and Lloyd were added tothe Board.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR APRIL 20-24,2016 CONVENTION IN WILLIAMSBURGfrom Don Hyatt

When our District hosts the ARS/ASAConvention in Williamsburg from April 20-24, 2016,we will need lots of help. Please volunteer. Co-Chairs:Rick Bauer Don Hyatt115 Hunter Lane 1948 Lorraine AvenueYorktown, VA 23692 McLean, VA 22101(757) 833-7737 (703) 241-5421

Rick Bauer and George McLellan at Colesville Nursery. Photo D.Banks.

Rachel Yungman demonstrating how to make concrete leaves. Photo by S. McDonald.

Margaret & Lloyd Willis. Photo W.Przypek

Walt Przypek and Phyllis Rittman at Collesville Nursery. Photo D.Banks.

Meeting speaker Mike O’Hara. Photo by S. McDonald.

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DEATHSRosalie Nachman

Former MAC member Rosalie Nachman ofRichmond died on October 6, 2015. She and her

husband Larry moved to a home on nearly an acrenear the University of Richmond in 1952. Over theyears, her gardening made its grounds “into one ofRichmond’s most spectacular yards,” according toa 1987 story in The Richmond News Leader. MACmembers had several tours of her beautiful gardenover the years. In addition to belonging to MAC,she was a long-time member of the Azalea Societyof America. She loved azaleas and filled her yardwith more than 1,000 azaleas. Rosalie gave talksabout azaleas and camellias. She served on theboard at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Manygroups and classes toured her yard.

Rosalie had a fine arts degree and used herartistic talent in composing her garden. She oncesaid she liked red and purple azaleas together whichis an unusual combination for many, but Rosaliemade it work. Her garden was almost like apainting. There was a tremendous amount of plant

material in a limited space, but with her talent, itworked.

Bruno KaelinFormer MAC

associate memberBruno Kaelin diedon October 16,2015. Bruno’sp r i m a r ymembership waswith the PotomacValley Chapter,but he and hiswife Evelyn cameto many of ourMAC meetings.

IN THE CROZET GARDEN by Lloyd Willis

It is October 29, 2015 asI sit down to write thisarticle. What has beenhappening in the garden? Well—several projectshave been completed thisfall. Most of those projectswere pointed out to me byvarious family members.

There is an area on ourside lot that now has about75 pounds of grass seedand five bales of straw. Thanks to the rain and somewarm days the new grass is looking great. There isanother area on the side lot that will be getting theother 25 pounds of grass seed and straw--eventually.

Someone in the family noticed that the very cutemouse ear hostas were 75% off at a local garden storeand were crying out for a new home. We only tookhome thirty-eight orphans. These and twelve otherhostas (25% off) enlarged an existing bed. Someonehas to supply the salad for the deer.

We have been adding to the holding area for thefall plant purchases. This is always an enjoyableproject. The MAC fall meeting in Richmondprovided eighteen very nice plants. Then the localgarden store had another 75% off which gained useight 3-gallon azaleas and sixteen1-gallon boxwoods

David Sauer and Rosalie Nachman. April 28, 2007 on Rosalie’spatio. Photo S. McDonald.

Bruno Kaelin. Photo by S. McDonald.

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from the Staunton store and five 1-gallon boxwoodsand twelve hostas from the Waynesboro store. Thepurchases filled most of the trunk and the back seat. Some space needed for plants was taken up by a fewgroceries and a box of kitty litter. (There isabsolutely no truth to the rumor that I have askedMargaret to remain behind so I would have moreroom in the car for plants.)

So where is the humor in this article? Fall leafcleanup involves a helper, Mr. Huff, who blowsleaves into low piles which are then chopped up byme on the riding lawn mower. Last week when wewere near the end of a two hour work session, Iasked him to please prepare a pile of leaves forgrandsons Silas (age 7), Jacob (age 9), and Michael(age 11). The focal point of the pile was getting thepile taller than Silas. Once the pile was about fivefeet tall, Mr. Huff and I went in the house to visit. Margaret called Silas’ mother to tell her there was aleaf pile for Silas in the maple field. The othergrandsons weren’t available at that time. Within 20minutes, Silas and his mother were in our livingroom. Silas thanked Mr. Huff and Grand Dad forhis huge leaf pile. Silas’ mother asked,” Did youknow that the leaf pile is about 63 feet long?” I’dmissed that minor detail since the focus had been onthe height not the length.

W I N D B E A M W A Y W A N D E R I N G SDECEMBER 2015 by Doug Jolley

This fall has been oneof bountiful insects.Beneficial ones. We hadmore butterflies in thegarden from late summeron than Davetta and I canremember. We foundMonarch caterpillars onmilkweed plants in theyard, multiple chrysalisremains and saw Monarchbutterflies post emergence on six occasions. PrayingMantis were plentiful too. We continually encountermantis egg masses in planting beds.

As usual, most viburnum varieties have beenberry laden. Viburnum nudum ‘Brandywine’berriesappear in pastel shades and then turn a deep purpleas fall proceeds. Our favorite pairing is of adjacentplants of ‘Michael Dodge’ and ‘Cardinal Candy’.

Somewhat disconcerting this fall has been a

widespread bloom of elepidote and lepidote rhododendrons and evergreen azaleas. ‘Mist Maiden’and ‘Lee’s Dark Purple’ have been sporting flowersinto November for several weeks. Girard azaleacultivars including ‘Sandra Ann’ and ‘PleasantWhite’ have been blooming for several weeks as

well. The Girard cultivars produce some of our moststriking fall foliage displays. Rhododendronkiusianum ‘Komo Kulshan’ is actually quiteattractive now. Late October frosts have not seemedto deter new flowers from opening. As of mid-November, we have awoken to less than a handful oftruly frosty mornings. None of our deciduous azaleashave decided to open early and many native azaleashave exhibited gorgeous foliage this year.

One of the results of a late season visit to thegarden of MAC member Ron Brown resulted in thegift of a handful of hardy cyclamen. These seem tohave found a happy home and in the fall the flowersthey produce and the striking evergreen foliage are awelcome addition to the garden. Remember:

Praying mantis. Photo by Doug Jolley.

Girard’s ‘Pleasant White’. Photo by Doug Jolley.

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Hellebore and snowdrop season is less than threemonths away !

MEMBERS IN THE NEWSAn article by Scott Burrell in the December issue

of Virginia Gardener featured the garden of ElissaSteeves. Scott Burrell talks about Elissa’s gardenbeing full of surprises, illusion and humor. Sheloves plants especially natives and unusual ones,and makes a place for the plant if she likes it. Thereare at least eight colorful photos showing her goodsense of composition.

DISTRICT IX DIRECTOR’S REPORT,NOVEMBER 2015 by David Banks

T he F a l l A R SConference was held onLong Island in mid-October. Attendees got tohear Dick Murcott talkabout the history ofrhododendrons on LongIsland; Karel Bernady talka b o u t g r a f t i n grhododendrons, and DonHyatt presenting one of his famous talks on “thingsthat didn’t grow”…

The Board meeting began with a discussion ofvirtual—electronic — board meetings, an alternativethat has been discussed in the past but neverimplemented. It had been discussed as an alternative

to Fall meetings, given the costs to the Directors oftraveling to two meetings a year. This time it wasconsidered as a way for the Board to make necessarydecisions between the two meetings—in particulardecisions that may be needed as plans are firmed uprelative to the retirement of Executive Director (ED)Laura Grant. No decisions were made.

At the Spring 2015 Board meeting in Sidney BC,significant budget savings were effected by reducinga number of line items—including reduction of travelbudgets for both the JARS editor and the ED. At theFall meeting the topic was opened for discussionagain and those reductions rescinded, leaving thebudget slightly further in the red than it had begun.

A small transition task force was created toresearch the duties of the ED and recommend how toproceed. Members are: Ann Mangels (Eastern VP)chair, Ken Webb (Western VP), Linda Derkach(Secretary), Bruce Feller (Past President) and DaveBanks. The team met the day after the Board meetingand has met twice since via teleconference. Dutieshave been reduced to a much smaller list than the sixpages provided by the ED (largely by eliminatingredundancy) and an attempt made to parse themamong various positions. This will be a topic offuture DD reports as progress is made in ensuringthat the ED’s core duties are covered when she retiresat the end of the 2016 Convention in Williamsburg.

The MAC Chapter had its Fall meeting the weekafter the Long Island conference, and everyonepresent got to hear Karel Bernady’s excellent talk ongrafting. We toured Colesville Nursery, bought someplants, and had a great time talking to each other.Potomac Valley Chapter just held their ChapterBanquet at Wildfire Restaurant, in Tysons II. Mason-Dixon just held a Chapter meeting at the Bear BranchNature Center in Westminster, Maryland.

The ARS-ASA Joint Convention 2016 planningteam—representatives from all three ARS chaptersand Northern VA Chapter of ASA—met on 16November at the Fort Magruder hotel (conventionsite) to review schedule, duties, volunteer needs,publicity, etc.

� � �Remember all photos and bonus photo pages canbe seen in color and ENLARGED atMACARS.ORG. Click on Newsletter on leftpanel.

Monarch butterfly and chrysalis. Photo by Doug Jolley.

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MORE PHOTOS FROM DOUG JOLLEY FOR HIS ARTICLE

‘Michael Dodge’ and ‘Cardinal Candy’ viburnums.

Rhododendron periclymenoides

Viburnum nudum ‘Brandywine’.

Rhododendron periclymenoides colorful fall foliage.Rhododendron ‘Lee’s Dark Purple’.

PHOTOS FROM THE MAC FALL MEETING

Paul James and Barbara Hall at Colesville Nursery. Photo byDave Banks.

Carol Segree and Karel Bernady at Colesville Nursery. Photo byDave Banks.

Shirley Gillenwater at Collesville Nursery. Photo by Dave Banks.

Shirley Gillenwater. Photo by W. Przypek.

Gray Carter with his two helpers. Photo by W. Przypek.Teri Bennett. Photo by W. Przypek.

George McLellan and Dave Banks. Photo by W. Przypek.Pansies at Colesville Nursery. Photo by W. Przypek.

MAC members at picnic lunch. Photo by W. Przypek.Co-chair Debby Sauer with Paul James at picnic lunch. Photo by W.Przypek.

MAC members at picnic lunch. Photo by W. Przypek. Barbara Hall, David Taylor and other MAC members. Photo by S.McDonald.

The plant auction. Photo by W. Przypek. MAC President Dr. Jay Gillenwater and Shirley Gillenwater. Photoby S. McDonald.

Jan Scanlan and Theresa Brents. Photo by S. McDonald. Meeting Co-chairs Debby Sauer and Barbara Hall. Photo by S.McDonald.

Glenn and Mary Kauffman. Photo by S. McDonald. Alton Hall, Don Hyatt and Paul James at the plant auction. Photo byS. McDonald.

GARDENS OPEN TO NEW MEMBERS - New members are encouraged to visit members’ gardens intheir area. The officers and board members have agreed to show new members through their gardens if themember will call ahead and arrange a convenient time. Telephone numbers and towns are listed below.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC CHAPTER OFFICERS AND DIRECTORSMemberships and renewals should be sent to our Membership Chairman Jeanne Hammer at 815 PorterSt. Apt 301, Richmond, VA 23224. Annual membership dues are $40 per year. Miscellaneous inquiries may be sent to the editor (address below) for forwarding to proper individual.

Sandra McDonald, Ph.D., EditorMid-Atlantic Rhododendron News and Notes4302 Chesapeake AveHampton, VA 23669