Bill Tietjen To Be New Seed Exchange Chairman
Kay Ogle, Mercer Island, Wash.
After two years as Seed Exchange Chairman, I have regretfully resigned and the Seed Exchange will be in the capable hands of Bill Tietjen, Guilford, CT. Bill has recently retired and at the present time is also serving as President of the New York Chapter of the ARS. He brings to the job a life-long interest in rhododendrons and great enthusiasm for the Seed Exchange program.
Bill will be in touch with all former contributors to the Seed Exchange to be sure that they have the correct address for this year's contributions and we are both hoping that 1980 will see many new names listed on the Contributor's page of the catalog.
For the benefit of new contributors, I would like to make a few suggestions. Do not pick the seed capsules too green. Wait until the pedicels start to turn brown, then, ten days drying in an open container in a warm room should cause the capsules to split open and release the seed. Do not crush the capsules - if you do there is no way that the seed can be separated from the chaff. Wrap the seed carefully in several folds of paper and label it with the proper name, date collected, your name, and whether it was hand pollinated, open pollinated, or collected in the wild. Keep in mind that we cannot list in the catalog any seed received in a quantity that will not make more than five packets.
The most urgent need is for hand pollinated seed of good forms of species and collected in the wild seed. We are especially short of deciduous azaleas, both species and hybrids.
Send the seed as early as you can. January 15, 1980, will be the last day for seed to be included in the catalog and the earlier you send it the more it helps to spread the work load for the Seed Exchange. This year 740 orders were filled (100 more than last year) from a catalog listing 923 different items (170 more than last year) so Bill needs all the help we can give him.
I know that next winter I am going to miss the excitement of opening each day's mail to see what new and interesting seeds are arriving and I will miss the interesting notes and orders that came from all over the world. It has been a very interesting two years and I know that Bill will enjoy it as I have.