QBARS - v33n4 1980 Convention to be Held on Cape Cod

1980 Convention To Be Held On Cape Cod
A. R. Brooks, Mass. Chapter

The Massachusetts Chapter will be hosts to the Society at next year's convention, May 29 through June 1, 1980. Our headquarters will be Dunfey's Resort in Hyannis, a beautifully appointed conference center set in a golf course, not far from the waterfront. The program will be centered around the theme "Success with Rhododendrons: Lessons from the New England Experience".

From the rock-strewn hillsides of central Massachusetts to the sand dunes of Cape Cod, through stern winters characterized by frequent visitations of frigid air masses from the Canadian Arctic, and through equally exasperating summer heat waves, rhododendrons have been grown as garden plants for well over a hundred years. And they are being grown and hybridized today by the hundreds of thousands, in a range of forms and colors far exceeding the limited list of ironclads available to our grandfathers. What does it take to succeed with rhododendrons under these extreme conditions?

This question will be explored from a number of different points of view, by a series of eminent speakers in the fields of geology and climatology, by commercial growers, hybridizers, landscape architects, and amateur growers. We believe their experiences in coping with, and succeeding in spite of, our peculiar adversities, will be invaluable for growers all over the country.

Of course, no rhododendron lover would visit Cape Cod without a trip to the Dexter estate in Sandwich, now owned and operated by the Lilly Foundation under the name of Heritage Plantation. We are, of course, planning a tour of Heritage Plantation, as well as several other outstanding gardens in the Cape Cod area.

Friday evening will feature an event as renowned in the gastronomic world as Dexters are in the rhododendron world: a traditional New England clambake, with fresh lobster.

For those members who wish to bring along spouses or other family members who are not yet infected with 'rhododendronitis', there will be tours of nearby areas of historic and scenic interest, including the Pilgrim colony of 1620 in Plymouth and the replica of their ship the Mayflower , the Cape Cod National Seashore on the outer arm of the Cape, and historical Sandwich, of Sandwich glass fame.

The annual Breeders Round Table will be held on Sunday, under the direction of Ed Mezitt, the creator of 'PJM.' and a host of other fine new hybrids. Also on Sunday, a number of other places of horticultural interest will be open for those who wish to extend their visit, including the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, where many of Wilson's introductions from the orient were first grown, Weston Nurseries, where one of the most extensive hybridizing programs by a commercial grower is being carried on, and the Hunnewell estate in Wellesley, where some of the first hybrid rhododendrons to be planted in America, in the 1850's and 1860"s, are still going strong.

We in the Massachusetts Chapter look forward to welcoming you next May on Cape Cod!