John Mitchell, Attorney General of the United States during the Nixon presidency, said (about the Watergate scandal) "When things begin to unravel, they unravel completely." The latest news to unravel is that Bibbs Gamber, of Dothan, Alabama, was responsible for the original idea from which our Alpine Topic Of the Week is descended. Kelly Irvin (to whom Jim Waddick gave credit for the TOW idea in the first ATOW announcement on Alpine-L almost a week ago) has sent me -- and copied to the PBS (Pacific Bulb Society) list -- tidbits that give credit to Bibbs Gamber. Excerpts from his personal message follow my signature, below.: I'm happy to report that, as Kelly emphasizes, Alpine-Lves have recognized the importance of continuing to intersperse questions and answers about other topics among the ATOWs, resulting in a healthy and interesting mix. Thank you, Ann Kline, for your recollections of Mary Sue Ittner's success with the Topic-of-the-Week idea on the IBS emailinglist some five years ago. Does anyone have an email address for "Alabama Grandma" (Bibbs Gamber)? If so, please post it directly to Alpine-L. She deserves thanks from any of us who appreciate her contribution. If you are reading this on the PBS list (to which I'm copying this posting), please post her address to Alpine-L-request@nic.surfnet.NL if you are not a subscriber to Alpine-L, and therefore unable to post directly, to it. I'm tempted to suggest a change of name for our ATOWs to AGTOWs (for Alabama Grandma Topic of the Week -- er, excuse me, I mean Alpine Gardening Topic of the Week). I suppose that's going too far, but I'll be happy for anyone to use either abbreviation. Whichever, you use, would you mind putting it at the END of the subject headers instead of at the beginning? As in: Subject: Smaller iris (ATOW) instead of Subject: ATOW - Smaller iris I know our original ATOW announcement showed it at the beginning. Please forgive me for the goof.. .And don't forget to read about Alabama Grandma's brilliant contribution following my signature. Greetings to all, from Harry (Harry Dewey, moderator, Alpine-L) Kelly wrote me: <<<<<I must add a critical name to the formula. Her name is Bibbs Gamber, and she offered the idea within a month of joining the IBS Forum back in December of '98. Nothing ever happens if an idea is not first conceived and expressed. Also, the discussion formula that was devised and named GENERA52 for the year 1999, was nothing so nearly elaborate and effective as what Mary Sue and her talented, enthusiastic team have put together. I must emphasize, if nobody minds, that its critical success is in being "married" to the existing spontaneous behavior of existing e-mail lists; a bringing together of opposite approaches. I do not believe a scheduled-only topics based list's or a spontaneous-only topics based list's, separate success, equals the combined success of both styles within ONE list. The idea is based on a theory of cooperation where 1 + 1 no longer equals 2, but maybe 3 or 4. When I put GENERA52 together, it took 2 or 3 months for people to realize spontaneous topics were still an invited and, I believe, necessary part of list discussion. Essentially, having both helped remove lulls in discussion that would normally exist if only one of the styles was an acceptable part of list protocol. Again, thank you for your comments. They sure made my day (or even year).... Information I found in my records on "Bibbs"... > My name is Bibbs Gamber from Dothan, Alabama. Zone 8b. I normally use > Alabama Grandma as my signature. > > I grow and hybridize tetraploid double daylilies, while also growing many > other perennials, bulbs, shrubs and trees. I have been a member of > onelist > bulb forum for about two weeks and have thoroughly enjoyed it and have > been > chatting with several in the chat room, but they all talk about IBS > and their > friends in IBS so I finally joined IBS. I am truly looking forward to > knowing > which bulbs will grow best for this southern area. > > I do grow daffodils, crocus, anemones, amaryllis, hippeastrums, scilla, > haemanthus, hymenocallis, iris, lycoris, allium, and a few more. Until > talking with Sheila, Bud and Gary, I did not realize that so many > people grew > the species of bulbs. That is very interesting. Seems like one would > run out > of the kinds they could grow. I am interested in growing just about > anything in this zone unless they are very invasive. Like > ornithogalums! they > are everywhere in the garden! I would love more alliums and hippes, > Harry Dewey wrote: > It is very kind of Jim to say that, but credit belongs to Kelly Irvin > and Mary Sue Ittner. -- Mr. Kelly M. Irvin The Bulbmeister 4407 Town Vu Road Bentonville, AR 72712 479-685-1339 USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 6b E-mail: mailto:bulbmeister@bulbmeister.com Website: http://www.bulbmeister.com/ Forum: http://www.bulbmeister.com/forum/ >>>>>