The Kiwis Are Coming Again
F. W. Mosher Jr., Mill Valley, California
Our clarion call across the Pacific has been answered in New Zealand. Approximately fifty Kiwi rhododendron enthusiasts are expected to attend the American Rhododendron Society's convention being held in San Francisco April 26-30.
Two tour groups have been scheduled, both providing for stopovers at the conference, first ever held in California. All will receive a warm welcome just as did the Kiwis who visited the West Coast in 1967.
Members of the New Zealand Rhododendron Association, through arrangements made by the Union Travel Service, are making a round-the-world flight which provides for attending both the American Rhododendron Society national show and convention, April 26-28, as well as the Royal Horticultural Society annual show May 2. Professor J. S. Yeates, president of the New Zealand Rhododendron Association and Ronald Gordon, chairman of the Pukeiti Trust, are co-leaders.
In explaining the interests of his tour group, Dr. Yeates writes: "Types of interest include most rhododendrons grown on the Pacific Coast, not much in evergreen azaleas, but considerable interest in deciduous azaleas and rising interest in Malesians. Several members of our party are breeding rhododendrons." All tourists in this group are either members of the New Zealand association or of the Pukeiti trust.
The second New Zealand group will arrive in San Francisco on April 25 and spend six nights in San Francisco under arrangements made by Marion Steiner of the All Points Travel Service, San Mateo. Following the A.R.S. convention, visits are scheduled to Yosemite, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone national parks, inside passage cruise to Alaska, and Canadian Northwest scenic points. Attendance at the Eugene, Portland and Tacoma rhododendron shows have been scheduled. In San Francisco, the first group will register at the St. Francis hotel, and the second group at the Stewart hotel.