Here, in a message from study weekend chair Loren Russell
<loren.russell@comcast.net> is the ultimate cure for cabin fever! Please
forgive me if you have received this message already, but no one ought to be
left out of this wonderful opportunity. Also, there was talk of having a get-
together of PBS 'ers. Whether specific gathering is planned or not, this
weekend is sure to include plenty of geophytes!
Message from Loren Russell: Invitation to the NARGS Western Winter Study
Weekend.
Hello all, I'm writing as Chair of the Emerald Chapter (NARGS), and I'd like to
personally welcome you to come to the 32nd Western Winter Study Weekend, which
we host on March 5-7 at Valley River Inn in Eugene, Oregon. If you have
attended a Study Weekend in the past, you already know that the mix of slide
lectures and displays, nursery vendors, garden visits, and the chance to meet
and mix with experienced and enthusiastic gardeners, is intoxicating, and can
become one of the highlights of the year's calendar. Many rock gardeners,
myself included, can echo NARGS President Bobby Ward in tracing this "love of
their life" back to their first Study Weekend.
ABOUT THE 2004 WWSW
Our meeting promises to live up to the Study Weekend tradition, and I think
that both WWSW regulars and those of you who have never been to a NARGS
national meeting will find very attractive. First, since Eugene has never
hosted WWSW before, few of you will had had a chance to see our local gardens
and nurseries in the early spring. Early March is a time of awakening and
beauty here -- I can assure you that you will see why we call ourselves the
"Emerald Chapter."
The theme of our conference is "Braving the Elements", with our program
covering general theme of garden ecology, on the one hand, and of the
adaptations of rock and woodland plants. Adaptation is truly an organizing
principle in the garden and one you'll enjoy hearing about and discussing. I've
found each of our speakers excited and eager to speak to our theme.
We have a strong group of speakers: Panayoti Kelaidis is of course one of the
outstanding plantsmen and explorers of his generation, and always a pleasure to
hear. He will give the Saturday banquet talk "Old Friends", and also "The Rock
Garden as a Laboratory". His wife Gwen Kelaidis, a botanist and garden
designer, and past editor of ROCK GARDEN QUARTERLY, returns to the West Coast
for the first time in years; her talk is entitled "Living with a Rock
Gardener". We have other WWSW favorites, some of whom have been absent for
years: David Hale in "From the Top Down" will address growable plants from
"impossible" places: Ernie and Marietta O'Byrne will share their secrets in
"Garden Niches: From Woodland to Desert", and Art Kruckeberg will explore
how geology shapes plant communities in "Plants Grow by Geological Consent.
All of our speakers are of course known for their knowledgeable, well-
photographed talks.
This year WWSW does not feature a speaker from "across the water", but we
have two British ex-pats, David Mason (Evolutionary Adaptation -- from
Wilderness to the Garden") and John Lonsdale ("Choice Bulbs", "Pushing the
Limits -- Growing Challenging Plants in the Open Garden") both of whom will
approach "applied ecology" in a manner that I think will open many eyes.
David, an Oregon nurseryman with a classic British horticultural education, has
vast experience with all aspects of alpine and perennial gardening, while John,
perhaps best known as a bulb grower and expert on the genus Crocus, was at the
top of the AGS show ring when he moved garden to Pennsylvania about ten years
ago. John also is an "in demand" speaker and outstanding photographer: his is
one of the great garden websites -- "The Lonsdale Garden" -- well worth
visiting online.
Our program is rounded out by my short talk "The Element of Desire" and by
Tanya Harvey ("Adaptations of Oregon Native Plants") -- among Tanya's
accomplishments are her award-winning photos in both the AGS and the NARGS
journals.
HOW TO REGISTER
You may register online or by mail; individual registration for the meeting is
$138, which includes two breakfasts and the Saturday banquet. This is one of
the more affordable fees for a NARGS meeting in recent years. After January 31,
the fee will go to $150 (this deadline has been extended from January 10} The
If you are a member of NARGS, you received a brochure in ROCK GARDEN QUARTERLY,
with a mail-in form. All information on registration can be found in this
brochure. If you don't have the brochure at hand, or if it is more convenient
to register online, just go to the NARGS website <http://www.nargs.org/> and key to
"meetings". Under Western Winter Study Weekend, you may download and print the
mail-in form, or register and pay directly on the NARGS secure site.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Rooms at the meeting site, Valley River Inn, are available at $99 [plus tax]
per night through February 8. Phone 800-543-8266; please ask for "NARGS room
block" to receive the conference rate.
TRAVEL
Eugene is approximately 110 miles south of Portland on I-5. Visitors to WWSS
may fly into Portland and rent a car, or directly to Eugene. Unless an
extended itinerary is planned, most air travellers will probably fly into
Eugene -served by Horizon, America West, and United Anyone who does plan to
extend their visit and rent a car may consider visiting at Siskiyou Rare Plant
Nursery in Central Point, OR. That's just 3 hours south of Eugene, and SRPN
will be open to the public Monday through Friday during the first ten days of
March.
We will be having garden visits in Eugene and Corvallis [40 miles north of
Eugene, 10 miles off I-5] on March 5, 7, and 8. It may be useful to know that
our growing season is usually close to that in Victoria, a bit ahead of
Portland, and about a week behind Medford, Woodland plantings like those at
Hendricks Park and Greer Gardens should be getting good early color in
Rhododendrons and companions. And the O'Byrne garden {Northwest Garden
Nursery] is simply remarkable at that season; it is surely one of the most
spectacular private gardens in North America. Without denigrating the other
open gardens, I'm appending the O'Byrnes' listing below.
Although I don't want to put myself in the O'Byrnes' league, my garden in
Corvallis will be open throughout the meeting, and I'd very much welcome WWSW
visitors here; anyone coming this far should visit Ella May Wulff's garden
about five miles from here. She is an officer in the Heather Society, and has
assembled a comprehensive collection of hardy heaths and heathers.
In addition, we will have leading vendors at the meeting, and there are also
many excellent nurseries throughout the Willamette Valley. A page listing
vendors with links to their websites is found at:
http://peak.org/~parsont/emerald/…
If you would like to know other possibilities while you're here or if you have
other concerns, please ask me. I'll be happy to answer your questions, or
direct them to the responsible person.
loren russell
loren.russell@comcast.net
chair, WWSW 2004
POSTSCRIPT: NORTHWEST GARDEN NURSERY
Ernie and Marietta O'Byrne
86813 Central Road
Eugene OR
Nursery/Display Garden
March to October
Normal hours: Thursday - Saturday 10-6, or by appt.
The rest of the year by arrangement
ESPECIALLY FOR THE CONFERENCE, THIS GARDEN WILL BE OPEN 10-6 Friday 3/5; 1-4
Sunday 3/7, and 10-4
Monday 3/8!
"We invite you to come and wander in our collector's garden surrounded by
meadows and forest. The woodland garden is at its peak from February to June
with hellebores, bulbs, podophyllums, cyclamens, epimediums, corydalis,
primulas, arisaemas, ferns, and the blue Himalayan poppy and oh so much more
jostling for room.
"In June the perennial borders take over, and they do take over, with a feast
of color. The rock garden comes alive with color in April. It houses a
collection of many rare treasures, many planted in troughs and containers. A
large new xeric gravel garden shows you the innumerable dryland plants that
thrive in our area with little or no summer water. There is also a
conifer/grass/heather garden with a handful of canna, kniphofias, and other hot
colored perennials thrown in, at peak in late summer and fall. If you are tired
of all that lush growth and color, rest on one of our many benches or watch the
frogs in the goldfish pond.
"Winter interest: Hundreds of hellebores in all their glorious forms and
colors, Cyclamen coum and early spring bulbs, blooming under Daphne mezereum
and hamamelis, and a huge, glorious contorted filbert. Conifers ad evergreens
give shape and texture. In the gravel garden, Iris, tulips, anemones, and other
rare bulbs will show off their color."
Ernie O'Byrne
Northwest Garden Nursery
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