New York Chapter

     American Rhododendron Society

     President & Newsletter Editor: Jim Fry, e-mail: JimsCreatures@Verizon.net , tel 631-495-6531

       Chapter Website: NYRHODODENDRON.ORG 

       ARS Website:      http://www.rhododendron.org

                              Sunday – November 20, 2016 – 2:00 PM – Main Greenhouse Classroom

                                                               Speaker – Ron Rabideau

                                                      Expedition to Southeastern Tibet

Ron grew up in Massachusetts loving plants and has been (in his own words) a "plant fiend" since early childhood. His grandmother taught him to grow vegetables when he was about eight and his father taught him to deadhead rhodies not long after. The interest he developed then in growing things, has never diminished.  Ron has a BS in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1983 and has been an active member of ARS since the early 1980s.  He has been hybridizing since the mid-1980s, with one introduction: "Absolute Citron." Ron first worked at a small central Massachusetts garden center.  In 1997 he moved to NJ and was hired by Hank Schannen, a noted Rhododendron expert, to manage the startup of Rare Find Nursery. After spending 18 highly educational years there, Ron has now taken a new position at Mercer County Community College as Horticulture lab instructor and greenhouse and teaching/display garden manager. There is a large Rhododendron Garden there with irrigation, installed by the Princeton Chapter 20-25 years ago but it was abandoned due to deer pressure. With some newly installed fencing and Ron's enthusiasm it might be time to bring it back.

In 2002 Ron had the opportunity to join a Longwood Gardens sponsored expedition to southeastern Tibet, one of the richest places in the world for Rhododendron species and many other temperate plants. Ron will share his experiences travelling there in this interesting presentation of plants, places and people.

Refreshments for this meeting H-P

It would be greatly appreciated if members with last names beginning with the above letters provide the refreshments for this meeting.

President’s Message

We had our usual turn out for Bobby Scherer’s talk on water plants and speaking for myself I found it quite interesting and informative.  This is coming from a guy who considers anything not a rhododendron to be just potential mulch!  Some of our members maintain water gardens with fish and water plants so they were well aware of Scherer & Sons Nursery.  Twenty-two people attended the meeting and I once again, erred on the number of refreshments brought in.  Too many cakes and other goodies.  Oops, I’ll try not to let that happen again. 

                                                                          2017 March Luncheon

Even though our luncheon is in March, I’m going to let all our members know that we will be having the affair in a smaller room.  Maximum capacity is 25 people!  I’ll repeat that:  25 People only.  When the announcement is made sometime in early 2017 please make your reservations.  It will be first come-first serve.  No exceptions.

                                                                  Website’s Missing Links

Anne Martin notified me that some of the links on our website weren’t working.  I’ll do what I can to fix the problem, however I do know that one of the sites is permanently shut down.  That one is JimsCreatures.com.  Since I no longer am in the quasi-business of junk sculpture I no longer need the site.

                                                                     New Member!

We have a new member.  His name is John Redpath of Southampton, NY.  Hopefully he can make the long journey in from the South Fork to one of our meetings.

                                                                    Confession Time

After 20 years of being an active member of the chapter and serving as president for the third time, newsletter editor forever, publicity person, and website guy  I’ve come to realize that I have been running out of steam and I’ve been just “phoning in” my job lately.  That bothers me a lot and I hope that you will cut me a little slack while I work on building up my energy level. 

The fact that I’ve been running around trying to replace a lot of plants that died because of the summer drought or that wood chips seem to be getting heavier could be having an effect on me this fall.  Some might say that I’m getting old.   To them I say, “Naah”.

See you at the meeting.

                                                                                                                                                    -Jim Fry

Meeting Schedule for the coming months:

Nov. 20, Ron Rabideau

Jan. 8, Jim Fry , Gardening- A love/Hate relationship

Feb. 12, To be announced   

Join the NY Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society:  Become a member of the ARS. On a piece of paper put your name, address with zip code, phone number, e-mail if you have it, and name of spouse. Send it with a check for $40 made out to ARS-NY Chapter to Marianne Feller, 88 Old Field Road, Old Field, NY 11733-1646