Summer 2008

                                              

Geoffrey Charlesworth

September 29^th 1920 – May 14^th 2008

 

Raised in an England mining village, Geoffrey Charlesworth won a scholarship to Cambridge University. During wartime, he was recruited as a codebreaker to Bletchley Park. There he met Norman Singer (former NARGS president) and formed a partnership that lasted almost sixty years.

Geoffrey passed away after a short illness at Kimball Farms, not far from his former South Sandisfield, MA, home and garden.

He leaves a rich legacy in The Opinionated Gardener and A Gardener Obsessed as well as various other NARGS publications.

photo: Pam Johnson

“Being happy is dirt under your fingernails, wearing old clothes, having a good idea get better the longer you work at it, starting a new bed, giving plants away, and listening to rain.”

He will be sadly missed by a legion of friends. A celebration of his life is planned by the Berkshire Chapter for October. Please see the Fall Quarterly for a detailed obituary. Donations in Geoffrey’s memory may be made to the Berkshire Botanical Garden, PO Box 826, Stockbridge, MA 01262 Elisabeth Zander

       From the President

       For those who did not attend the Eastern Winter Study Weekend it must be stated you missed a great meeting. The major highlight of the conference was Geoffrey Charlesworth's retrospective talk which brought back many memories of earlier days of our Society. The EWSW was a big success in that it reached its full attendance limit and made over $2000. for the National organization. We hope the host, the Berkshire Chapter, did as well also. We want to thank all those who helped put on that meeting. Though we would like to individually mention all those who helped, we will only mention two people:.Pamela Johnson, the conference Treasurer, for doing so many things besides being Treasurer, and Peter George for the splendid concept of changing the traditional date of the meeting from January to the better weather date of late March. There is a small window in which winter weather stops and intense gardening time begins. By the attendance record and from comments made by participants, we feel that window was achieved.

       As most of you know, national membership is slipping significantly over the past few years, and this is often reflected in lower attendance in our conferences. We in the Administration Committee have tried to stem this downward trend by several means. One such measure was to send to all chapters membership ideas and suggestions. It is our belief that National membership can only improve with increases in local membership. This puts the burden on our 36 chapters to find the initiative and to do what ever it takes to improve local membership.

       The second means by which we can improve membership is to get the word out to the general public. It is my pleasure to announce the recent publication of several gardening books:

       Chasing Wildflowers by Scott Calhoun. This describes the NARGS 2006 Interm-international meeting at Snowbird, Utah and the field trip to Cedar Breaks, UT. This is all done for the purpose of discovering western wildflowers.

       Cutting Edge Gardening in the Intermountain West by Marcia Tatroe, (Marcia is the wife of our Treasurer, Randy Tatroe.) She covers gardening in the high arid west and discusses the use of these suitable plants for the rock garden.

       Hardy Succulents: Tough Plants for Every Climate, by Gwen Kelaidis, (our former Quarterly Editor). She gives gardeners everything they need to know to select, grow and maintain these easy to grow succulents.

       Besides these three new books, Bobby Ward has been doing a splendid job in getting articles published. The most important was his "Ready to Rock" article in Horticulture Magazine of Dec/Jan. 2008. Bobby is not alone in getting articles written. Ann Spiegel's "Set in Stone" in Martha Stuart Living, March 2008 was very interesting. Her photographs and description of her own spectacular rock garden in New York State helps greatly

       Another sudden event helped get the word out about rock gardening. We must thank Alan Grainger of the Ohio Valley Chapter, (who lives in Kentucky) for stepping up at the last minute to be involved with a radio interview: WFPL, PBS Lexington, KY requested someone to be interviewed on the radio program "HomeGrow" to talk about alpine plants.

       It is important to thank all these authors and commentators for advancing to the general public details about our favorite plants and for giving our Society important recognition.

       You to, as a member of NARGS, can advance our Society by writing articles. As some of you may now know, the winner of the Geoffrey Charlesworth Writing Prize was given to Kristl Walek at the Ottawa Annual for a well written article in the 2007, Summer Quarterly issue. Her "Seed Perspectives, Production, Collection, Cleaning, etc." in Vol. 65, No 3 was considered both good for beginners as well as for advanced gardeners. Next time the prize may be yours if you write an article.

       Speaking of the Ottawa Annual meeting, we feel that despite the low turn out, the meeting was a great success. The field trips were good, the garden visits were particularly great, and as always the friendships and camaraderie were excellent. The highlight of the business meeting may have been the hilarious awards ceremony.

       Dick Bartlett, NARGS President

 

 

    Upcoming Events.

 

January 30- February 1, 2009: “Some like it hot”, (or the brighter side of global warming.) The Eastern Winter Study Weekend,  hosted by the Potomac Valley Chapter, in Reston, VA. Speakers to include Tony Avent, Mark Bridgen, Richard Critz, Bill McLaughlin, Peggy Olwell, Richard Olsen, J.P. Roux, Nick Turland, Judith Tyler.

 

March 13-15, 2009: " Revitalizing the Rock Garden", in Portland, OR.

Speakers include Rex Murfitt, Carlo Balistrieri, Ian Young, David Sellars, John Lonsdale, Fred Weisensee, and Scott Vergara.  We will have an exceptional   number of specialty vendors for this event.  Open gardens will be scheduled. The eastern Columbia River Gorge should  also be in bloom at that time of year for those who have time to do a day trip before or after the conference.