VRS PICNIC JUNE 28
by Theresa McMillan

Our June picnic will be held at the Widdowsons' (the address above) on June 28 at noon. There is parking for about 20 cars on the lawn of the Widdowson property. Extra parking is available on the opposite side of West Saanich Road. The side nearest the house is a bike lane. Bill McMillan will be helping with the parking.

You are asked to bring a wrapped savory, salad or dessert. Tags labeling eggs, dairy, nuts or flour for people with allergies will be appreciated. A fruit punch, tea and coffee are provided.

Lunch will be served about 1 p.m. and will feature barbequed salmon grilled to perfection by our volunteer chefs. Please bring your own cutlery, plates and mugs and don't forget chairs to sit on!

A donation of a rhododendron, companion plant or other plant is welcome for our raffle. Each person will receive a plant. Trophies from April's Show and Sale will be presented to the winners.

For those members who cannot drive, please phone one of the members of the VRS Board (next page) and we will see how we can help you. It would be great if you can come!

This club affair in a lovely garden is not to be missed!

A Review of April's Talk
by Bill McMillan

Ted Irving addressed the issue of why major cooling, which had a major impact on magnolia and rhododendron evolution, occurred from 50 to 33 million years (Ma) ago. This cooling led to Early to Late Oligocene glaciation.

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have a major impact on global temperatures. Both natural processes and human activities influence these levels today but we had not yet become a factor 50 million years ago. Thus global temperatures then reflected mainly changes in the sun's output, variations in the earth's orbit and CO2 from natural processes. During the 15 Ma following the breakup of Gondwanaland, what is now India moved about 8000 km northward. During this voyage, much carbonate-rich equatorial material was subducted and melted at depth. Resultant volcanic activity released large volumes of CO2 into the atmosphere, which caused warming.

At about 65 Ma, when India was still south of the equator, these massive outpourings of lava created what are now called the Deccan Traps. At about 50 Ma, when this immense volume of volcanic rocks passed over the equator, they were deeply weathered by the abundant rainfall and warm temperatures. Equatorial rains dissolve CO2 to produce a weak carbonic acid solution. This acid rain reacted with the weathered volcanic rocks and produced carbonate minerals, removing large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, which resulted in cooling and heralded the onset of glaciation. Subsequently, little equatorial material was subducted as India continued its journey toward its present position. When India collided with Asia, two continental masses met causing crumpling, uplift and formation of the Himalayas. Related climate changes, like the onset of monsoon seasons, and sculpting of the high mountains and deep valleys by erosion coupled with the influence of glacial and non-glacial epoques helped drive rhododendron evolution and speciation.

Plant evolution does not follow the traditional Tree of Life but is more akin to the spread of a bramble. Ted pointed out that plants, like continents, migrate. Botanical disjunct populations can result when, for example, glaciation or disease has erased the population in the plant's original range but not elsewhere.

Ancient magnolias originated in North America, where fossils are found as old as 95-85 Ma. They had migrated to Greenland by 88 Ma and later to Eastern Siberia by 30 Ma, and Asia where fossils are in rocks 30 to 50 Ma. There is no evidence they reached the Far East before 10 Ma. Now these populations have drifted genetically and are disjunct.

Plate tectonics can also isolate populations. For example, the opening of the northernmost Atlantic Ocean about 60 Ma ago separated plant populations that were once related.

NO REVIEW OF MAY'S TALK Unfortunately, due to illness, both our editor, Theresa McMillan and former president, Bill McMillan were not able to attend the May 4th meeting. Thus we are unable to report on Joe Harvey's talk on "Reminiscences of an Out of Control Hybridizer". We wish we had been there.

Tofino in March
by Joe Harvey

The Victoria Rhododendron Show and Sale 2009 Report
by Lois Blackmore

A report on the ARS conference in Everett, Washington (from the May 2009 newsletter, The Yak)

by Norma Senn

When I arrived at the Peace Arch border crossing on my way home from the ARS conference in Everett Washington, the border guard asked what I'd been doing in Everett. When I told her I'd been at a rhododendron conference, she wanted to know what on earth people would do at such an event. She was genuinely curious, and not trying to be difficult. So, I told her there were all these nice people from around the world who liked to get together to talk about rhodies, look at rhodies, take pictures of rhodies, hear talks about rhodies and visit wonderful gardens featuring rhodies. She was interested enough to want to know what there was about rhododendrons that made them so special, but how can you explain what it is we all enjoy so much in a 30 second conversation? So, I told her (briefly) about the variety of flower types, all the flower colours, and that the Pacific Northwest is a great place to garden and grow rhodies. She said her parents had a couple of nice big red ones in their garden, and yes, they were very pretty. Who knows, maybe I've sparked some interest.

An ARS conference really is a great place to see, hear and talk about rhododendrons and the Everett conference was very enjoyable and ran smoothly. I arrived at noon on Thursday, just in time to hop on the bus for my first tour. We visited two lovely gardens Thursday afternoon, one Jeanine and Rex Smith's garden, the other Rhody Ridge. Both are woodland gardens with native overhead vegetation providing shade and shelter. The gardens have some elevation changes which gives a pleasing sense of walking in the woods. We were fortunate in the weather during the tour days, and it was great to be outside enjoying the sunshine.

The Smith garden has over 160 different species and 350 hybrids with about 900 individual plants of rhododendrons and azaleas. One of the hybrids I fell in love with on this trip was R. 'Avalanche (Loderi x calophytum). We saw it first at the Smiths', but in other gardens too. This is a large hybrid with snow white flowers and a small cerise red spot in the throat – just gorgeous. The Smiths have some wonderful herbaceous under plantings of things like trilliums, hellebores, hardy ferns, and primulas. They have also planted numerous deciduous trees that add flower, bark interest and fall colour to the garden, things like Stewartia, Oxydendron, many small maples, Parroti. I learned a new term from the Smith's write up about their garden; they, like the rest of us, are suffering from "zone denial" and sadly, they lost several maddeniis and big leaf species this past winter.

R. 'Avalanche'	Rhody Ridge

Not far from the Smiths' garden is Rhody Ridge Arboretum Park. This is a mature 11 acre garden that will eventually become a county park. The owners have lived on the property for decades, and planted and planned the garden right from the beginning to be left as a legacy to the area. The property has many large specimens of older rhododendron varieties, as well as some trees and shrubs, including the largest Stachyurus praecox I've ever seen. In fact, I hadn't realized that Stachyurus can get that big. Our timing was perfect to enjoy seeing sweeping patches of Anemone nemerosa at their peak. As well, the R. schlippenbachiis made a nice show, growing the way I like them, in amongst the trees so that their soft pink flowers add spots of brightness to the woods. The one problem with Rhody Ridge is that the plants are not labelled, and there was lots of discussion among the tour participants about getting plants identified as soon as possible, as that information is in the owner's head. It would add so much to the educational nature of the arboretum to have things positively identified. I understand that based on the visit to this garden, one of the local ARS chapters will try and do something about labelling soon.

The next day, I opted for the day-long trip to Whidbey Island. My bus visited Meerkerk Gardens first. It's been several years since I was there, so it was fun to see how things have grown. Meerkerk is becoming a local gathering place for lots of community activities. Based on Kristi O'Donnell's presentation the night before, it sounds like the staff and volunteers at the Gardens are making a concerted effort to offer programs and events that attract children in the hopes of creating interest in plants and gardens over the long term. There are new propagation facilities and gatehouse, and of course, there's a sales yard. I wasn't planning on buying anything on this trip, but what a silly idea! Meerkerk had lots of one gallon plants of things like 'Seaview Sunset' and 'Starbright Champagne', and I just had to have them. I've been mentally berating myself ever since for not having bought a few more of Frank Fujioka's hybrids while I was there as his 'Vibrant Violet' and 'Saffron Silk' are gorgeous.

R. 'Saffron Silk'	R. Starbright Champagne

One of the things I enjoy at Meerkerk is the "Big-Leaved Rhododendron Valley" and the big-leaved plants have certainly grown since the last time I visited. Some suffered some winter damage, but overall, the plants looked remarkably good.

Meerkerk Garden "Big Leaf Rhododendron Valley"

Our next stop was at Glynneden Gardens, the home of Bill and Mary Stipe. This was an enjoyable stop because, among other things, there is a Northwest Hybridizers' display garden. It was fun to see so many locally bred plants laid out in beds, each bed organized by hybridizer. The next day, one of the lecture sessions reviewed hybrids and hybridizers from the Pacific Northwest, so it was interesting to have seen the plants and then hear Mike Stewart's talk.

Our last stop on the tour was at Frank Fujioka's garden. Wow! There's just no other word to describe it. In his write up Frank says that his garden is a working garden and not a true display garden, but he certainly has an eye for plant placement. I mentioned 'Vibrant Violet' and 'Saffron Silk' are in an area where they are planted together and the colour contrast draws the eye from all directions. It's fun to look at Frank's labels to see what plants are being used as parents for potential new hybrids. And, there are many things to see here besides Rhododendrons as Frank has an interesting collection of Japanese maples and some wonderful small conifers.

R. albrechtii	Magnolia 'Daybreak'

Members of the local ARS Chapters had open gardens that could be visited individually during the conference. I didn't have enough time to get to any except for Don King and Prudence Holliger's garden in Issaquah. Fellow FSRS members Garth Wedemire, Mary Berg and I, plus Bill McMillan from the Victoria Chapter, made a fast trip to see this lovely garden on Saturday afternoon. Bill, Mary and I had travelled with Prudence in China, so we not only wanted to see their garden, but also to catch up on the past three years with Prudence. Don and Prudence garden on a semi-rural hillside that offers great drainage, but possible predation from local wildlife. I can remember Prudence talking about needing to build a better fence around their property to keep the local deer and elk out, but also to keep the bobcats and cougars away from their small dogs. They have some great species rhododendrons (R. pentaphyllum and R. albrechtii were particularly memorable that day), and there were some very nice Magnolias in bloom. A lovely little Phylliopsis was in full bloom and a Calanthe orchid was just emerging. I was sorry not to have been able to get to see some of the other open gardens, and I've just got to get back to the Rhododendron Species Foundation Garden soon. But, so many gardens... so little time...

We Love to Get Material

The Victoria Rhododendron Society Newsletter, YOUR NEWSLETTER, isalways looking for new material, notes, pictures, articles.

Please submit to Theresa McMillan, editor,

either by mail: 562 Hallsor Drive, Victoria, B.C. V9C 1L1

OR by email: wtmcmillan@telus.net