JARS v52n2 - Western Regional Conference, Florence, Oregon, Oct. 2-4

Western Regional Conference, Florence, Oregon, Oct. 2-4
Rhodies by the Sea
Bob Bell
Florence, Oregon

Siuslaw and other District 4 members hope to see you in Florence, Oct. 2-4, at the opening of the Western Regional Conference Friday evening when nurseryman Mike Bones welcomes attendees to our new Events Center.

Saturday and Sunday workshops will include:

• Dick Cavender, past Director of District 4, will share his 30-year association with R. occidentale and hybrids.

• Sharon Collman, WSU entomologist, will help us get "bugs" out of our rhodies.

• Dee Daneri, ARS Executive Director, will teach us landscaping with heaths and heathers.

• Harold Greer, hybridizer, nurseryman and author, will be Saturday's keynote speaker.

• Herb Gustafson, Director of International Bonsai Congress and author, will acquaint us with this centuries-old discipline.

• Eleanor Philp, a former nursery owner and enthusiastic photographer and lecturer, will show examples of her work and how to "shoot" rhodies.

Sunday's hybridizer's roundtable guests: Bruce Briggs of Briggs Nursery, Roy & Evelyn Thompson of Willard Thompson Nursery, Dan Bones of Rhododendrons Plus and plant pathologist Jim Gerdemann.

You may purchase examples of local R. occidentale and R. macrophyllum , along with a variety of hybrids, during the three days of the plant sale.

You may travel north by tour bus to Yachats (Yah-hots) and the Gerdemann's garden, Sea Lion Caves, picturesque Devil's Elbow State Park and the Heceta Lighthouse. Or take another bus south to Shore Acres Botanical Gardens, a former private estate featuring sizable rhodies. Visit local gardens and nurseries. Tour a dozen lakes within a ten-mile radius of the Events Center. Drive/ride dune buggies. Take a riverboat excursion up the Siuslaw River. Golf at two local courses. Visit Old Town...Florence offers activities for everyone.

Our local weatherman says the first week in October should bring daytime highs in the mid-sixties and nighttime lows in the forties. As for rain, one guess is good as another. This is Oregon! So, come have a great time with us!