Doug Jolley, Barbara Hall, and David Taylor arriving at thearboretum. Photo by S. McDonald.

Entry to the Arboretum.

MID-ATLANTIC RHODODENDRONNEWS AND NOTES

A Publication of the Middle Atlantic Chapter of the AmericanRhododendron Society

Vol. XLV No. 2 May 2018CALENDAR OF UPCOMING MEETINGS

Oct 19 - 21, 2018 ARS Fall Conference, Chattanooga, TN

Rhododendron website addresses:American Rhododendron Society http://www.rhododendron.org/ARS Store Order from Amazon thru this site http://arsstore.org/MAC Website (UPDATED REGULARLY) http://www.macars.org/UVA Special Collections http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/Old Quarterly Bulletins & JARS http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JARS/Rhododendron Blog www.rhododendron.org/blog/Friends of the National Arboretum http://savetheazaleas.org/FONA’s Save the Azaleas and Boxwood site

SPRING MEETING IN STAUNTON ANDHARRISONBURG by Sandra McDonald

We had a glorious weekend for our MAC SpringMeeting, April 27-29. Thirty-seven members hadsigned up for the meeting.

The meeting started Friday evening with a non-judged display of rhododendron trusses and azaleasprays, followed by a plated meal at the Holiday InnStaunton Conference Center. President JeanneHammer did a presentation on the 2017 ARSConvention in California she attended showing thegardens she visited and the hazards of traveling bycar there. A landslide had one road blocked that ledto a lengthy detour. Different things caught theattention of Jeanne Hammer and Don Hyatt whoalso had attended the convention and took photos.

Following the program we had a brief businessmeeting electing three directors: Bill Bedwell, SandraMcDonald, and Lloyd Willis. Socializing in thehospitality room rounded out the evening.

Saturday was a lovely, sunny and warm day whichwas just right for our tours. After car-pooling toJMU’s Edith J. Carrier Arboretum, we met in theFrances Plecker Arboretum Education Building for abrief introduction to the arboretum by ArboretumDirector Jan Sievers Mahon. We divided into twogroups for walking tours of the arboretum with JanMahon.

Doug Jolley, Barbara Hall, Debby Sauer, Don Hyatt, and DaveBanks entering the arboretum. Photo by S. McDonald

Jan Mahon outside the education building. Photo by S. McDonald.

Bill Stump. Photo by Jeanne Hammer.

Jan Mahon talking to a MAC group. Photo by J. Hammer.

MAC members in the education building getting ready to tour. Photo S. McDonald.

Jan Mahon leading tour of the arboretum. Photo by S. McDonald.

The Arboretum has a very nice website withmuch information available.https://www.jmu.edu/arboretum/affiliates.shtml

They even have old and new newsletters online:https://www.jmu.edu/arboretum/newsletters.shtml?newsletter=current

Our tour of the arboretum ended with a heartybox lunch at the Pavillion.

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Bridge over the lake. Photo S. Mcdonald.

Inanna Garretson at Heartflame Garden. Photo S. McDonald.

Heartflame garden. Photo S. McDonald.

Doug Jolley auctioning plants. Photo S. McDonald.

President Jeanne Hammer.

After lunch we left for our tour of HeartflameGardens in Beldore, Virginia, near the ShenandoahNational Park. The garden features daylilies whichwere not yet in bloom for our visit, but there weremany different kinds of plants on 1.5 acres ofcultivated land. Many different plants were inbloom and we did see a gigantic white oak tree therewhich appeared to be several hundred years old.

We arrived back at the Conference Center in timefor our book sale (Thanks, Theresa), our plantauction (Thanks, Doug), and the social hour. We thenhad a nice banquet buffet followed by a veryeducational slide presentation by Doug Jolley. Dougfirst updated us on the current status of the pests: theemerald ash borer and the spotted lantern fly. Thenhe went on to his main topic “Naturally Neighbors: ALook at our Native Ericas and Native Orchids” inwhich he noted which orchids were often found withwhich rhododendrons because they grew well in the

same habitat.We closed the meeting with the P4M, and then

adjourned to the hospitality room. Glen Kauffmaninvited attendees to see his garden on Sundaymorning.

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Working at the arboretum in the cold: Glenn Kauffman, SharonHorn, Margaret and Lloyd Willis. Photo by Jeanne Hammer who wasalso working.

The Willis garden. Photo Margaret Willis.

Koromo-shi-kibu in the Willis garden. Photo M. Willis.

RON AND NORMA BROWN UPDATERon Brown was able to attend our dinner on

Friday evening with the help of Jan Scanlan. He andNorma got together again at Brookdale afterNorma’s previous fall, but then Norma had anotherfall and broke her femur necessitating more care atanother facility for a while.

MAC VOLUNTEER WORK GROUP AT JMUARBORETUM

March 8 was a workday for MAC volunteers atthe arboretum. The volunteers’ work is one of thereasons that the arboretum looked so nice for ourvisit.

DEATHSLongtime member William Templeton (Temp)

Norris, M.D. of Salem, Virginia, died on February26, 2018.

Robert (CID) Scallet of Batesville, Virginia,died in December of 2016. Mrs. Scallet said theyloved how prominent his nickname was in ourmembership roster!

IN THE CROZETGARDEN by LloydWillis

It is May 10, 2018 asI sit down to write thisarticle. I am thankfuland filled with joy at thebeautiful spring we havehad so far.

This morning on the

walkway from our house to the garage, I counted145 one inch tall Japanese maple seedlings. Wehave never had such a number of Japanese maple

seedlings in one area. Of course, the plan is to savethem all. Most of the Japanese maples in the yardsurvived the fluctuating warm, frigid winterweather. Two in pots did not. Two that had deerrubbings and looked dead are sprouting from thetrunks.

Lloyd Willis

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Doug Jolley

R. maximum at Cranberry Glades. Photo Doug Jolley.

Small’s Twayblade. Photo Doug Jolley.

Last week when looking from a west windowof our house, the view was blocked by the bloomsof a single dogwood. It was the best bloom everfor that tree and the best bloom of all thedogwoods in the yard.

Today we walked by six foot tall, five foottall, and four foot tall specimens of Gigi in fullbloom. That was quite a treat. Another treat wasto see a ball truss of an orange deciduous azaleahanging like a Christmas ornament—the first setof its green leaves several inches away from thattruss.

There was also joy today in seeing that alleight autumn ferns planted last fall have reachedabout the same size as when they were planted.

Some good news. About a month ago, one ofmy good friends and helper, Jon Hexter, asked ifhe could redo the area where I keep potted plantsbefore planting them. He moved all the plants outof that nursery area and put down four inches ofmulch in an oblong bed. Then he put somesoapstone steps across the bed and then arrangedthe 100 plus potted plants according to size andbotanical likeness. The new nursery bed lookedgreat. Everyone seeing it says it looks great. I’mwondering if Mrs. Willis (Margaret) is the personwho suggested the task to Jon.

So where is the humor in this article? Abouttwo weeks ago, the hostas had gotten to a heightthat I decided it was time to spray them with thesulfur smelling product that usually protects themfrom deer. Since it was after 8:30 pm when Istarted, I had the spray in one hand and a flashlight in the other hand—not a great plan. I am 15minutes into the project on the side of a hill in thedark with sulphur smelling spray dripping off myhands onto my clothes when I remember that afew days before not 100 feet away a bear had beenvisiting trash cans in Crozet. At that point, thehostas were left for thedeer and I moved back tothe house quite quickly.

WINDBEAM WAYWANDERINGS, MAY2018 by Doug Jolley

Spring was late toarrive here this year. Themonth of March and

most of April was cold and often rainy and by thelast week of April, virtually nothing shrub-wisewas in bloom. Last year on the last week of Aprilmost early rhododendrons and many native azaleaswere in prime condition. Since the MAC meeting,things have been in overdrive here in the garden. Injust a little over two weeks, the blooming cycle hascaught up and native azaleas are passing peakbloom and early lepidote rhododendrons arefinished.

It won’t be long until early June brings out thefirst Rhododendron maximum flowers here. Withthe elevation ranges in West Virginia, I can enjoythis plant blooming from mid-June here at lowere l e v a t i o n sthrough most ofJuly when visitingour moun t a i ncounties. Whilethis plant occursthroughout thestate, it is seldomused ornamentallyand seems to bescarcely availablefor purchase. Aspart of my talkpresented at therecent Spr ingMAC meeting, Inoted the number of native orchids and songbirdsthat frequent native rhododendron stands. Small’sTwayblade (Listera smallii) is found almost

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Black throated blue warbler. Photo D. Jolley.

Black throated green warbler. Photo D. Jolley.

Pieris floribunda. Photo D. Jolley.

Flame hybrid and dogwood. Photo D.Jolley.

exclusively growing beneath a canopy of R.maximum. All the sites in which I haveencountered it in Pennsylvania, Virginia, andWest Virginia find it growing beneathrhododendrons along mountain streams.

Black-throated blue and black-throated greenwarblers are just two neotropical warblers that callrhododendron thickets home. With regards to theMAC membership area, the Swainson’s warbler isfound in scattered southern West Virginiarhododendron thickets and then is not at homeagain until habitat offered by the Cypress Swamps

of Virginia’s tidewater. Such is the issue ofchoosing suitable homesites !

One of our first woody plants to bloom isPieris floribunda; another mountain dweller.Fetterbush has found a home in our shade houseand has become a consistent bloomer and lushevergreen plant. When not in bloom, it looks muchlike Mountain Laurel. Davetta and I have triedgrowing this plant without success until placing ournow thriving specimen in the shadiest and whatmust be a cool enough spot in the corner of a shadehouse reserved mostly for woodland wildflowers.By late March for the last number of years, ourFetterbush burstsinto full blooma n d i n i t sp r o t e c t e dlocation stays inbloom for weeks.O u r f a v o r i t e“spot in the wild”is on a mountaintop along USRoute 33 on theVirginia – West Virginia border betweenHarrisonburg, VA and Franklin, WV.

At this writing, a number of native azaleasfrom the MAC Plants For Members program arejust about to bloom for the first time. Given ourlatest warm spell they should be out any minutenow.

� � �Remember all photos can be seen in color andENLARGED at MACARS.ORG. Click onNewsletter on left panel.

R. periclymenoides. Photo D. Jolley.

R. atlanticum × ‘Avocet’. Photo by D. Jolley.

‘Kennell’s Gold. Photo by Doug Jolley.

Rhododendrons in the Willis Garden. Photos by Margaret Willis.

Memberships and renewals should be sent to our Membership Chairman Jeanne Hammer at 231 NRobinson Dr, Macon, NC 27551.

Sandra McDonald, Ph.D., EditorMid-Atlantic Rhododendron News and Notes4302 Chesapeake AveHampton, VA 23669