QBARS - v27n1 ARS 1973 Annual Meeting

The A.R.S. Annual Meeting Program
Pittsburgh, Pa.
May 24 - 27, 1973
Felix A. Robinson, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.

The educational sessions of the Pittsburgh Meeting have no central theme but promise to cover a variety of diverse and exciting topics. Dr. David G. Leach has scheduled many honored speakers for all of the sessions.

On Thursday evening, Dr. Robert L. Ticknor, President of A.R.S. will speak on "Controlling Size and Flowering in Rhododendrons". Dr. Ticknor is a Professor of Horticulture with Oregon State University based at the North Willamette Experiment Station. His full time is directed to research on ornamental plants including rhododendrons.  Dr. Ticknor is a native of Portland, Oregon and a graduate of Oregon State University with a B. S. in Nursery Management. His PhD was earned at Michigan State University in Pomology. He spent five years in nursery culture research at the Waltham Field Station of the University of Massachusetts before returning to Oregon in 1959.

Friday morning, Prof. Clarence E. Lewis, Professor, Department of Horticulture, Michigan University will be our guest speaker. His topic "Companion Plants and How Best to Employ Them in Rhododendron Plantings" received such acclaim at Hidden Lake Gardens that we have asked him to repeat it for our annual meeting.  Prof. Lewis received his BS at Cornell University in 1934 and his MS in 1947 from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. He was Assistant Landscape Architect for recreational areas for the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Birmingham, N .Y., 1935-37; Associate Professor at State University of New York in Farmingdale, New York, 1937-57; lecturer in plant ecology at New York University, New York City, 1943-54; Associate Professor of urban planning and landscape architecture at Michigan State University, 1957-58; Associate Professor of Horticulture, 1958-64; Professor of Horticulture, 1964 -.  He has been cited for "Distinguished Service and Outstanding Teaching in Horticulture" by the American Horticultural Society, Inc. 1970 and is author of more than 400 articles and bulletins for professional and popular horticultural magazines, journals and newspapers.

Mr. Arthur Trimble of the Eastman Kodak Company is one of the best known flower photographers in America. He serves on the photographic committees of the American Daffodil Society and Men's Garden Club of America and has presented several programs on flower photography at yearly conventions of various horticultural groups.  Mr. Trimble will speak on the subject "Picture Your Rhododendrons in Color" and will demonstrate and describe how to photograph rhododendrons as flower portraits rather than snapshots.

Dr. Peter L. Steponkus, Associate Professor of Horticulture at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York is widely known as a dynamic speaker who presents his subject with a flair. The title of his talk will be "Cold Hardiness of Rhododendrons and Other Ornamental Plants - Past, Present and Future".  Dr. Steponkus received his BS at Colorado State University in 1963, his MS at the University of Arizona in 1964 and his PhD at Purdue University in 1966. He is a major researcher in the areas of cold acclimation of woody plants and thermal inactivation of plant growth and has published numerous papers on the subjects. He is the recipient of many awards and grants, one of the most noteworthy being the National Science Foundation Grant.

Mr. Michael Black is the renowned explorer and discoverer of new rhododendron species throughout Asia and Malaysia. He has made numerous expeditions and is probably the world's leading authority on these exotic rhododendrons. He is a member of the Royal Horticultural Society's Rhododendron Group.

Dr. Gerd Krussman is the Director at the Dortmund Botanical Gardens, Dortmund, Germany and author of the book entitled "Rhododendrons" published in England. The title of his speech will be "German Rhododendron Breeding in the Past and Today".

The following is an excerpt of his letter to David Leach dated September 29, 1972:

" Now a brief biographic picture from yours truly: 62 years old (still going strong), born in that part of Rhineland where the Rhine is leaving Germany for Holland; son of farmer; college education, then 6 years of practice in the nursery business, followed by very intense dendrological education in the world famous Spath Nurseries of Berlin (at that time having 1100 employees and 1000 acres of nursery land); 10 years as a dendrologist at the Spath firm, only task was "to look that every tree or shrub sold was true to name". Had to keep contacts with foreign botanists speaking German, English, French and Dutch. Have traveled for botanical purposes in all countries of Europe, from North Cape to South Greece, from Ireland and Portugal up to Moscow, Leningrad and the Caucasus, Eastern United States, Canada and South Africa (and Japan in 1973). Have written 26 botanical books, some very expensive (two over $100), some translated into English, Spanish, French. Since 1950 Director of the Municipal Botanic Gardens of Dortmund with the biggest collection of trees and shrubs on the European Continent (about 4500 varieties), with 15,000 rhododendrons in about 400 varieties; past 3 years, Director of the New National German Rosarium at Dortmund, 2,000 varieties of roses. Would that do? If not, I could further tell that I am 6 feet, 1 inch tall, healthy (with only minor faults), God-fearing, un-political, free from debt and not previously convicted!"

Sunday, May 27
Symposium on the Hybridizing of Rhododendrons under the direction of Dr. August E. Kehr, Staff Scientist for United States Department of Agriculture's National Program Staff. (This is an all day session which will start at 9 A.M.). A trip to Fallingwater is planned as an extra for those who can stay over.

ANNUAL MEETING TOURS

Longue Vue Country Club
sits on the Rolling Hills side in Allegheny County overlooking the Allegheny River and the Oakmont Boat Basin. The drives and walkways are planted with many rhododendron planted by Orlando S. Pride.

Orlando S. Pride Nursery
specializes in the selection and breeding of azaleas, hollies and rhododendron. The Pride Hybrid Azaleas from this nursery have been rated as the hardiest in existence by world authority Dr. David Leach. At present Mr. Pride is involved in a project begun in 1955 to breed the famous Rothschild Azalea with the Ilam Azaleas from New Zealand. While this work is far from complete, six of the new Pride hybrids have already been acknowledged as "outstanding superior".

Boat Ride to Old Economy Village featuring an excursion on a Mississippi stern-wheeler, "Gateway Clipper", from Point State Park on the Allegheny River to the Pittsburgh Point and the start of the Ohio River. Down river the group will lunch aboard the Clipper and dock at the town of Ambridge. A bus will then take visitors to Old Economy Village, a restoration of the 19th century communitarian venture of the famous Harmony Society. Economy was the third and final home of the Harmonists whose society was formally established in 1805.

Gardens of Rhododendrons at Newington
Home of Mr. and Mrs. J. Judson Brooks, co-chairman of this year's program. Newington is 150 years old and one of the first homes to be built of brick west of the Allegheny mountains. The brick was made on the grounds. The rhododendron plantings go back to the turn of the century. Newington has held a reception on May 30 for the last 50 years.

The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
A unique research facility for studies in the history of the plant sciences.  It is housed in the penthouse of Carnegie - Mellon University's Hunt Library, which was dedicated on October 10, 1961 as the gift of the late Mr. and Mrs. Roy A. Hunt. The major strength of the Library's collection is in works published between 1550 and 1850; particularly those on systematic botany, herbs, early agriculture and gardening and accounts of early voyages of exploration. The Library also possesses two notable collections: the Strandell Collection of Linnaeana and the Michael Adanson library of botanical books and manuscripts.

Fallingwater
In Mill Run, Pennsylvania is one of Frank Lloyd Wright's most widely acclaimed works. It was designed in 1936 for the Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar J. Kaufman. The key to this setting is the waterfall over which the house is built.