Congratulations Jane on your new role as President, I wish I was able to attend the cocktail party, Saturday and meet the other members, but I knew that I still needed to pay membership ( I've been a lurker for years and paid a few times, but being from the east, it seemed as if I would not get much...clearly I am wrong! And now, as I am swimming in many South African bulbs, I will need to share some with the group, so I will join, assuming I can join online - will go check now. I met a few members at the NARGS meeting, including you Jane, finally, which was very nice ( even though you told me that you did not know me), at least I am familiar with your name and books, and it was an honor to meet some other members too. Best regards from a New England which is slowly becoming more springlike and with a Tropeaeolum azureum in full bloom in the greenhouse.....finally after four years of no growth, and with a tag that had read 'T. Tricolor", I am thrilled. Matt Matt Mattus On 3/16/09 5:43 PM, "Jane McGary" <janemcgary@earthlink.net> wrote: > I'd like to thank the surprisingly large number of PBS members who > traveled to the NARGS Western Winter Study Weekend, including some > such as Dell Sherk who came all the way from the Atlantic states. We > had a pleasant chat session Saturday evening and enjoyed plenty of > bulb information in the talks, including a splendid presentation on > growing bulbs from seed and in containers by Ian Young, and John > Lonsdale's inspiring and amusing saga of how he became a "proper" > (outdoor) gardener in America after doing the alpine-house bit in > England. Both these talks should get a lot more of the audience > growing their geophytes from seed, although there was some untoward > laughter when remarks such as "five years from sowing to flowering" were > heard. > > Thank you, too, to the 20 or 30 people who braved the awful weather > Sunday to drive out to my place and stand in the rain and, briefly, > hail, to look at the bulbs even though they were a month behind > schedule. I wish I had had time to visit with everybody at length and > felt that I was being inconsiderate to almost everyone I started > talking with, because there was always some organizational matter to > rush off to, or some urgent question to answer. We do need to get > together more! > > I accepted the position of PBS president with the warning that I > wouldn't be able to do much until this meeting was over. Now I'm > going to ask people for input so I can formulate some proposals for > more activities we could offer our members. One that seems likely is > small-group tours in different parts of the country, to see bulbs in > flower in the wild and/or to visit gardens and nurseries with notable > bulb collections. A couple of people suggested modeling these on the > outings of the Penstemon Society, in which people car-pool rather > than trying to hire vans or buses. I think this is the way the SIGNA > outings for Pacific Coast irises are done also? I suggested northern > California/southern Oregon as a good place to see lots of wild bulb > species in spring, although the flowering season is very long because > of elevational differences. The Central Coast Ranges in California > might be another good venue, or perhaps the Sierra Nevada foothills > from the Mother Lode country south. I expect a trillium tour in the > US Southeast would be fun, too! And if it ever rains again in > northern Chile, that would be super though rather expensive. > > Let's discuss some ideas here, and I'll make up an agenda for > discussion at our next board meeting. > > With best wishes, > Jane McGary > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/