PBS Forum

The PBS Board is happy to announce the appointment of Bridget Wosczyna (pronounced wah zeen a)as the US Bulb Exchange director! Bridget lives in southeastern Pennsylvania  and is a dedicated South African bulb nut - although she seems to like an infinite variety, just South Africans more! A lurker and member for several years, she is excited to be giving back to PBS who she says has provided so many bulbs and a great education, since she really knew nothing about bulbs when she started learning about them more than 10 years ago.

I just had a conversation with a member who lives in a remote area, with intermittent dial-up. He has an android and finds interacting with the internet difficult at times due to poor service. Just passing that along for what it's worth....

Regarding android/smart phones, they cost a lot, decidedly don't like being physically abused in any way, require more finger dexterity than I have and the monthly charges are double what I pay for a dumb phone. Plus, I do not have time to mess around with a bunch of "apps", let alone any social media. What money I have or earn has other priorities.

And yes, I drop my phone on an irregular but not infrequent basis, or leave it in the house to avoid the mud,the buckets of water and watering cans and the dog who finds empty pots, coffee cans, sticks and anything else that strikes his fancy to be wonderful toys. I still have the old phone with his baby teeth marks on it. Miracle of miracles the damage was only cosmetic.

Now that I've been receiving notifications by email of responses on the forum long enough, I'm beginning to remember to log in to the forum without a reminder which is probably how it should be. We could continue the notifications for a short period when we first go fully forum as a training exercise...

This situation(s) with Paul Christian is truly bizarre, especially with Diane in Canada not being able to access the website. I just went to PC's website with no problem (I'm in the US), but to think EU customs is deliberately sabotaging imports, if this is the case, is too much. Have there been any verifiable cases of obstruction?

There must be an end-run around this mess.There's mention of sending to Ireland; what about forwarding from the US?

As some of you know, due to the overwhelming popularity of the seed and bulb exchanges (US), the PBS Board has split this position into separate bulb and seed exchanges. The bulb exchange will occur 2-4 times a year, the seed exchange 2 times a year.

We are taking applications form volunteers to run the bulb exchange. If you are interested, please contact me or another board member. These exchanges are an extremely important part of membership in PBS, and are unique to PBS. Other plant societies have one exchange, nearly always of seeds only, once a year.

You need to know about plants but don't need to qualify as an expert and you will use MS Word and Excel software as well as stamps.com software. Supplies are provided and expenses are reimbursed. We prefer your location not be Siberia or the US equivalent due to the nature of our exchanges.

Please contact me if you have any questions.