1. home and garden

Newsletter of the American Conifer Society Central Region
Call for
nominations
I
t’s that time again: the Central Region is soliciting
nominations for officers
and a national director.
Current officers are Ethan Johnson, president; Byron Baxter, vicepresident; David Speth, treasurer;
Martha Smith, secretary/reference garden coordinator; and Bill
Barger, national director.
Nominations should be sent to
Chris Daeger, cdaeger@ihill.org.
by April 24.
And here’s a suggestion: if you’d
like to get more personal satisfaction out of your ACS membership,
consider volunteering yourself
for one of these positions. Getting
involved is one of the best ways to
increase the benefits of belonging
to any organization and making
your life more interesting.
The Friday night speaker at the 2015
ACS Central Region Annual Meeting will
be well-known horticulturist and plant
propagator Mike Yanny.
What’s in this issue:
Spring 2015
Along with details of this year’s annual meeting (including photos) and
the upcoming elections, you’ll find a stunning full-length picture of a
2,300-yr-old sequoia (p. 6); a discussion of how the mountain pine beetle
is heading toward the midwest and the importance of the keystone species it threatens (p. 5); an invitation to the Indianapolis rendezvous (4)
and the Rowe Arb plant sale (3); how tree diseases are being treated with
garlic (8); how some people actually eat “stinko ginko” (7); farewell
to Edelweiss Nursery (9); president’s message (10); why there was no
Winter Issue (11); how drones plant trees (8); and of course the Conifer
Comix, where you’ll get the straight scoop on those Viagra conifers, and
more (7). Enjoy!
More details and
updates for the
Green Bay meeting
P
lanners of the ACS Central Region 2015 annual
meeting have announced
that the venue will be the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center
in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on July
10-11. A group rate of $109 per
night is available: just mention
your ACS affiliation. You must
make your own hotel reservations
by calling 1 800 333-3333.
An informative flyer and registration forms have been mailed to
all Central Region members. You
can also register on-line at the
Important Memo:
Be sure to scroll down to pages
12-13 for the list of pre-and
post-meeting gardens. Don’t forget to print them out and bring
them along when you leave for
Green Bay!
ACS website, www.conifersociety.
org. Registration fee is $150.
The “free-styling” garden tours
have been scuttled due to lack of
parking at some of the stops: busses will be provided. The tour includes five outstanding private
gardens (see photos on pages
2-3), the Green Bay Botanical Garden, and Rose Hill, a small unique
nursery with miniature conifers
and much more.
See you in Green Bay in July!
Our speaker for the Friday evening session of the Green Bay meeting will be Mike Yanny, senior horticulturist at Johnson’s Nursery
(http://www.johnsonsnursery.com/) and owner of JN Plant Selections in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Johnson’s Nursery has grown
from a 1950s hobby to become one of the premier midwestern
plant propagators with more than 15 introductions and 1,500 varieties available for both wholesale and retail customers. JN Plant
Selections, formed in 2012, concentrates on licensing growers for
the protected plant cultivars purchased from Johnson’s Nursery.
Sneak preview:
Here’s a peek at what you can look forward to
at the 2015 Central Region Annual Meeting
Conifers at the
home of Dan and
Kitty Doersch
share the space
with Japanese
maples and lots
of flowers that
are started in
their greenhouse.
Tom and Vonnie Baye tend one of the five private gardens we’ll tour
during the Green Bay meeting. They have more than 300 conifers,
250 of them miniatures and dwarves in rock gardens and troughs.
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 2
Green Bay Garden Tour:
The 15,000+ sq. ft. Arendt garden features
more than 200 conifer cultivars representing
11 genera and 49 species, as well as over 800
perennial cultivars. This is truly a “celebration
of plants!”
Garden tours are about more than just conifers: a
large part of the fun is hobnobbing (or slumming,
but who cares about the difference when you’re all
wearing ACS logos) on the bus and in the gardens.
Meet new friends, make memories!
Rowe Arboretum sale
will be held in April
Several outstanding gardens will be open for preand post-conference tours to make your Green
Bay excursion even more worthwhile. Find details on pages 12-13 of this issue of The Coniferite.
Pictured above: the Conrad garden in Eldorado,
which is just northwest of Fond du Lac, at the
bottom of Lake Winnebago. (Well, you know
what I mean.)
The Rowe Arboretum, Indian Hill, Ohio,
will hold its annual plant sale on Saturday,
April 25, from 9-noon. You’ll find trees,
shrubs, perennials, annuals, large houseplants, succulents and cacti (some rare,
from the estate of Miggie Jacobs), books,
and much more, at 4600 Muchmore Road
in Indian Hill.
Members’ Day is Friday, April 24, from
2-7 p. m. Not a member? Contact rowearb@
ihill.org or call 513-561-5151 for info.
Donations for the sale are welcome.
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 3
ACS Rendezvous:
Clockwise from top left: Kittle
garden; Park home; Park garden
with Skylands and newly registered
Picea pungens ‘Millbrook’ behind
gingko ‘Spring Grove’; Terri Park
with Tom and Evelyn Cox
Join the “Circle City” garden tour
coming to Indianapolis May 16 & 17
T
he 2015 ACS Indianapolis Free
Garden Circle Tour will showcase four outstanding “Circle
City” gardens plus a unique nursery on
Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17,
from 9 am to 7 pm. All ACS members and
their guests are invited.
The tour, which should take an estimated 8 hours (including lunch and rest
stops), can start and end anywhere on a
circle (albeit a somewhat squashed and
lumpy facsimile of the one “Circle City” is
famed for), the point being that it matters
little from which direction you approach
the city: follow the tour, and you’ll end
up where you started.
Organizer Terri Park notes that if
you have about 1-2 hours travel time on
each end you can do it all in one 12-hour
day trip. However, if you intend to stay
overnight, book your hotel ASAP: May is
Indy 500 month and this is qualifications
weekend.
The various gardens offer a cornucopia of horticultual experiences. Jay and
Terri Park’s nearly four acres, which
they’ve been improving since 1978, is
primarily but not exclusively coniferous.
Dan and Vicki Kittle’s typical suburban
lot has served as a research trial site for
a local scientist and has a diverse collection of conifers interspersed with water
features and both traditional and unusual plants, with abundant evidence of
zonal denial.
Although Bill McKnight is a bryologist, his garden description doesn’t mention mosses or lichens: instead, his criteria for plant selections include fragrance,
unusual and spectacular, naturalistic,
and orange or purple, among others.
His three acres encompass 100 different
gymnosperms, 250 isolated specimens,
and 20 beds, including a 1,000 sq. ft. vegetable garden.
Dr. Dale Guyer practices alternative
medicine and maintains a healing garden, a wonderful retreat packed with a
mature collection of conifers as well as
rare deciduous trees and complementary perennials.
As an added attraction, Andy and
Carol Duvall, of Duvall’s Nursery, South
Lyon, Mich., will be selling their unique
conifers in the Park driveway.
Registrations can be made online at
conifersociety.org, or by contacting Steve
Courtney at acsnationaloffice@gmail.
com.
— Thanks to Terri Park
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 4
Dendroctonus ponderosae:
Headed for the Central Region?
Mountain pine beetles pose threat to Minnesota conifers
T
by Pete Moss
he mountain pine beetles
that have devastated millions of acres in the Rockies
are on the march, and the ACS Central Region is on their itinerary.
Scientists from the University of
Minnesota and the Minnesota Dept.
of Agriculture say there’s no evidence
that the insects have established a
beachhead in that state yet, but it’s
more than possible that a vanguard
is already in position, just waiting to
launch an attack. They’re already established in the Black Hills of South
Dakota. Some dead mountain pine
beetles were found in a shipment of
logs to Minnesota two years ago.
By 2012 the beetles killed nearly
all of the mature lodgepole pines (Pinus contorta) in northern Colorado
and southern Wyoming, affecting
watersheds, future timber production, wildlife habitat, recreation,
transmission lines, and scenic views,
as well as a fuel build-up that could
result in catastrophic wildland fires.
Almost 125 million acres have already been affected.
The concern in Minnesota is that
disaster could strike the state’s 191
million red, white and jack pines. Research has shown that these are as
vulnerable as the already-devastated
lodgepoles. Ponderosa, whitebark,
limber and Scots pines are also susceptible. After Minnesota, Wisconsin
and Michigan would be sitting ducks.
Ontario is also on the radar.
Bark beetle outbreaks are natural,
but extended drought, warm winters,
and aging dense forests have contributed to a vast epidemic.
The insects breed in and tunnel
through a tree’s water-conducting
tissues just under the bark. They
can only breed in trees larger than 5
inches in diameter. They’re unusual
in that they actually need to kill a
tree in order to reproduce.
When populations are small, they
prefer stressed, mature or over-mature (80 yr.) pine, but as populations
increase they become less selective.
Females only lay about 60 eggs, but
that’s sufficient for an invasion: their
swarms have been massive enough
to be seen on Doppler radar.
Scientists race to save
not just a single species,
but an entire ecosystem
M
ost people are aware of the Herculean efforts being made to find
cures for human diseases such as AIDs
and cancer; fewer are mindful of similar
endeavors made on behalf of trees.
For example, many research projects
are currently focused on reinstating
whitebark pine trees to the north-central
Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest,
which is primarily a battle against mountain pine beetles and white pine blister
rust.
The whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a keystone species (see glossary)
that grows at high altitudes where other
trees can’t survive. Devastated by mountain pine beetle and white pine blister
rust, it has been declared an endangered
species in Canada and awaits that designation in the United States. Hence the
rush to save it.
Cathy Cripps, a mycologist at Montana
State University and one of the scientists
working to save the whitebark pine, has
found hope in a native fungus called Siberian slippery jack, or Suillus sibiricus.
When spores of this fungus are injected
into the soil around the pine seedlings,
the seedling survival rate increased by
10-15 percent. “That might not sound
like a big difference, but a small amount
is a big deal considering the labor-intensive process,” Cripps said. “Instead of being bad guys, these fungi are beneficial.
They help plants take up nitrogen and
phosphorus from the soil. That’s a big
deal.” (White pine blister rust, another
Glossary:
Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis);
a 5-needle pine, the only North
American stone pine. Whitebark
pine grows in the highest elevation
forest and at timberline. Its distribution is essentially split into two
broad sections: one following the
British Columbia Coast Ranges, the
Cascade Range, and the Sierra Nevada; and the other covering the
Rocky Mountains from Wyoming to
Alberta. It is often found in stunted
krummholz stands.
Krummholz: a forest of stunted
trees near the timberline on a
mountain; also called elfinwood.
Keystone species: A keystone species is a plant or animal that plays
a unique and crucial role in the way
an ecosystem functions. Without
keystone species, the ecosystem
would be dramatically different or
cease to exist altogether. In the case
of whitebark pine, fat seeds in the
round purple cones are an important food source for red squirrels,
grizzly bears, and Clark’s nutcrackers — birds that are also responsible for the trees’ propagation. (Unlike other pines, whitebark cones
do not open by themselves: they require squirrels or Clark’s nutcrackers for their propagation.) Grizzlies
also eat squirels and raid their middens, or caches: when such foods
are lacking, the bears are more likely to create problems for humans at
lower altitudes. The trees also help
regulate snow melt, thus affecting
everything from trout to drinking
water. And they are a nurse species,
the first to reappear after a fire or
avalanche, paving the way for firs
and spruces. In brief, the disappearance of the species would have
widespread ecological effects.
type of fungus, is one of the “bad guys.”)
Cripps noted that large-scale innoculations are already planned for nurseries
in Canada, and that innoculating fungi
into nursery stock is common in Europe.
“As we work to save the vital whitebark pine, it is essential to use all available tools,” she said.
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 5
“The President” stands
for a portrait photo
How can you take a picture of a tree that’s
247 feet tall and 27 feet across? Step back
far enough to get the entire monster in your
viewfinder and you won’t be able to see the
tree for the forest!
This is why The President, a giant sequoia
located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National
Park east of Visalia, California, was never photographed in its entire majesty —until recently, when National Geographic photographers
teamed up with scientists who climbed the
tree with pulleys and levers, taking thousands
of photos. Of those, 126 were selected and
melded into one fantastic image, seen here.
The President is estimated to be 2,300
years old, with two billion needles. It is said
to be the third largest tree in the world as
measured by bole volume: 45,000 cubic feet,
with another 9,000 cubic feet in the branches
(some with a diameter of 8 feet).
The tree was named after President Warren
G. Harding in 1923. It lives in the neighborhood of Chief Sequoyah, the 27th largest giant
sequoia in the world, and the Congress Group,
two stands of less-impressive trees representing the House and Senate. — Thanks to Ethan
Johnson
A few of life’s
imponderable questions...
Did Noah keep his bees in archives?
Do pilots take crash-courses?
Do stars clean themselves with meteor showers?
Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID he just whipped out a quarter?
Have you ever seen a toad on a toadstool?
How can there be self-help “groups”?
How do you get off a non-stop flight?
If peanut butter cookies are made from peanut butter, then what are Girl Scout cookies made of?
If you jog backwards, will you gain weight?
If swimming is good for your shape, then why do
whales look like they do?
If you take an Oriental person and spin him around
several times, does he become disoriented?
Why do the signs that say “Slow Children” have a
picture of a running child?
Does that screwdriver really belong to Philip?
—Compiled by Jack Pyne
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 6
“Stinko biloba”
has its fans
Some people eat it up
by Douglas & Connie Fuhr
G
inko biloba — that black
sheep of the conifer family — has a rotten reputation, literally: the odor of the
apricot-like seeds of the female
has been described as akin to a
mix of vomit and putrid cheese.
But in a case of one man’s poison being another man’s meat,
some people actually seek out the
vile-smelling fruit — to eat.
According to an article in The
Wall Street Journal, Chinesespeaking foragers in New York
relish the annual fall harvest. The
ripe orange flesh surrounds a
white, pistachio-sized nut that can
be shelled and cooked. “They’re
great with rice, or in soups,” one
gleaner said.
Apparently the bland-tasting
nuts pick up the flavor of whatever they’re cooked in. The trees,
and their culinary employment,
are especially prevalent in East
Asia. In places like Iowa... well, not
so much.
Ginkoes, with their distinctive fan-shaped leaves, have been
widely planted in cities due to their
extraordinary resistance to diseases, pollution, and pretty much
everything else, according to the
Journal. “At over 200 million years
old, they survived whatever killed
the dinosaurs, and some of them
withstood the atomic bomb blast
that struck Hiroshima in 1945.
‘They leafed out again the following spring,’ said Peter Crane, dean
of Yale University’s school of forestry and the author of a recent
book on the ginko tree.”
Their odiferous messiness was
ignored (or unrecognized) in favor of their hardiness, which was
okay for a generation: it’s impossible to sex a young ginko, it takes
at least 25 years for a female to
produce its first fruit, and then
only if it’s close enough to a male
ginko.
Yet, most people seem willing
to tolerate the downside to enjoy
the more copacetic attributes. In
some cities, including Iowa City,
Iowa, offers to remove healthy
female trees drew very little response.
People still plant ginkoes: the
only wild ones are in remote
parts of China. It has been on the
International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list of endangered
plants since 1998.
And yes, despite those distinctive leaves, ginkoes are conifers.
Shards...
from Clay Potz
When you reach a certain age, you realize that “normal” is nothing more than a
setting on the dryer.
*
Daylight savings time is here. Why
are they saving it and where do they
keep it?
*
Even after all these years, I still can’t
figure out why a washcloth that gets
soaped and rinsed several times a day
has to go in the laundry to get clean.
*
Becoming a Christmas tree is a consolation prize for an evergreen that
didn’t make it as an ACS Conifer of
the Year.
*
I don’t suffer from insanity; I enjoy
every minute of it.
ate
stin
a
r
c
o
r
P
!
NOW
Public service announcement:
If you have seen this unusual landscape planting that has been
ricocheting around the internet you have probably been told that
it’s the Canadian Headquarters of Viagra. This is not true. (Viagra is
not a company and has no headquarters: it’s a drug manufactured
by Pfizer, Inc.)
This building is actually the corporate offices of Swagelok Northwest, located in Portland, Oregon, at 815 SE Sherman St. The company manufactures valves and fittings for gas and fluid systems.
If it concerns conifers, you can rely on The Coniferite!
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 7
Some tree diseases are cured
with a garlic injection
S
by Virginia Pienne
eriously diseased trees in
the United Kingdom are being saved with injections of a
concentrated form of garlic, according to a BBC report.
Garlic is one of nature’s most
powerful antibacterial and antifungal agents. It contains a compound
called allicin, which scientists are interested in harnessing.
While the technology is only in an
experimental phase, tree consultant
Jonathon Cocking claims that “over
the last four years we have treated
60 trees suffering badly with bleeding canker of horse chestnut. All of
the trees were cured. This result has
been broadly backed up by 350 trees
we have treated all over the country
where we have had a 95% success
rate.”
Oak trees with acute oak decline
— which eventually kills the tree
—have improved after being treated.
In laboratory conditions allicin kills
the pathogen chalara which is responsible for ash dieback.
The solution is made by a company in Wales. “Organic cloves of garlic
are crushed,” said Mr Cocking, “and a
patented method is used to amplify
the volume of allicin and improve the
quality of it so it is stable for up to
one year. Allicin in the natural world
only lasts for about 5-10 minutes.
“If you go back to the tree the day
after and crush a leaf that is in the extremity of the crown, you can often
smell the garlic.”
system. The needles are positioned
to get allicin evenly around the tree.
The moment the active agent starts
to encounter the disease, it destroys
it. The poison is organic and isn’t rejected by the tree.
In addition to being impractical for
widespread application, the method
has skeptics among tree experts. Prof.
Stephen Woodward of Aberdeen University cautioned that being organic
and plant-based doesn’t mean it can’t
harm an ecosystem: “For example,
cyanide is plant-based.”
Dr. Anne Edwards from the John
Innes Centre, one of the first to identify ash dieback in a coppice wood
in Norfolk, said that this treatment
would not be effective for ash dieback: “In a woodland setting we really have to let nature take its course.
It’s very depressing.”
The Woodland Trust also favors
a different approach. That organization is investing £1.5m in a seed bank.
The idea is to grow trees that are fully traceable and therefore free from
foreign disease. “Our native woodland needs to build its resilience to
disease and pests. By starting from
the beginning of the supply chain we
can insure that millions of trees will
have the best possible chance of survival in the long run.”
New job for unmanned aircraft systems:
Two people can plant 36,000 trees a day
D
by Frasier Furr
rones — unmanned aircraft, not male bees or any
of the various human varieties
— are everywhere. Once the purview of the military and model
airplane hobbiests, they can now
be found making aerial photos for
real estate agents and crashing on
the White House lawn. And the
phenomenon is just getting off the
ground.
A “Drones for Good” competition recently held in the United
Arab Emirates drew more than
800 entries from 57 nations. The
goal was to encourage new and
beneficial uses for the miniature aircraft. Ideas ranged from
delivering medicines to herding
Trees of historic or
sentimental value are targeted
whales away from danger; from
Widespread use of the injection monitoring work camps to mapprocess would be expensive and im- ping archeology digs in 3-D; from
practical, but it could potentially help a crash-resistant drone that could
save trees of historic or sentimental be used for search-and-rescue
value.
operations (the winner of the $1
The experimental injection device
million prize) to drones that plant
is made up of a pressurized chamber
trees. Which of course is how this
and eight “octopus” tubes.
The pressure punches the solution news came to appear in The Cothrough the tubes and through spe- niferite.
A company called BioCarbon
cial injection units into the tree’s sap
Engineering designed a drone to
help reforest lands stripped of
trees by lumbering, mining, and
similar human activities. The craft
uses a tiny cannon to shoot pods
containing germinated seeds,
along with a dose of fertilizer, in
barren areas. When the pod hits
the ground it breaks open, spilling
its contents. The company claims
that two operators could plant as
least 36,000 trees a day. The current norm is 1,500 trees a day at a
cost of about $3 per tree, the company claims.
The new technology — if it
flies — won’t put traditional tree
planters out of work. Even with
both types of planting, and 100
teams of drone operators planting a billion trees per year, it still
won’t be enough to catch up with
the deforestation going on today,
a company spokesman said.
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 8
Debbie & Josef Braeu
Edelweiss Nursery closing
the gates after 35 years
J
osef and Debbie Braeu, ardent
coniferites, ebullient broomers,
and owners of Edelweiss Nursery
and Garden Center in Duluth, Minnesota, are closing their garden gates
with a farewell “thank you” party on
June 30, their last day in business.
Joe is well-known at ACS meetings,
having donated many rare specimens
to the auctions, some of them bringing top dollar in the money-raising
event. (Debbie, alas, is usually left
behind to tend to the business.)
The closing is a landmark in a long
career devoted to horticulture. Born
in Germany, Josef got into the field at
the age of 14. After an internship and
working in Sweden, he expanded his
experience in ornamentals, design
and maintenance in both park systems and the private sector in Canada before moving to Duluth.
He found Duluth’s unique climate a
challenge. Locations near Lake Superior are rated Zone 4, but away from
the big lake it’s Zone 3. Its forested
hills offered many micro-climates,
T
he significance of the edelweiss: If a gentleman brings
a lady an edelweiss flower, it is
TRUE LOVE because edelweiss
does not grow on the pathways
but off the beaten path and it
takes great effort to acquire
this special flower!
which in itself interested Joe. And
yet, design possibilities were limited
by the stock available locally.
The
landscaping
business
launched in 1979 was followed by
the retail nursery in 1987 as a way
to introduce the general public to a
fabulous array of nursery stock. He
convinced a few clients to “try” stock
that had been previously untested for
hardiness: to the delight of all, many
varieties flourished.
Josef has introduced many dwarf
conifers and other unique trees,
shrubs, and perennials. He seeks
out new and exciting plant material
as well as developing new cultivars
from cuttings from trees in the area.
His landscape designs have broken
the set bounds in Duluth and offer
inspiration to many gardeners. He’s
definitely a trend-setter.
Debbie said the couple plans on
selling and donating special conifers
to arboretums this summer, and “if
someone contacts us after June we
may be able to find more treasures
for them.”
In an indication that they won’t be
leaving the world of conifers, she related an experience they had in New
Mexico recently. “A woman near Corona had contacted us about a broom
in a piñon pine. We found the house
and tree and learned something
quite interesting: back in 1947 her
Duluth, Minnesota, has an interesting
mix of growing zones and micro-climates, but there was a limited palette
of plants available —until the Braeus
and Edelweiss came to town.
brother was helping the rancher on
the adjoining property when they
discovered the famous Roswell UFO
crash site! Of course, the broom will
have UFO in its name!”
She added, “Knowing Joe as I do,
he will continue to develop more conifers and keep his hands dirty.”
Edelweiss will be open from May
9 until June 30. It’s located at 5175
Washburn Rd. Phone 218-525-3949
or email djbraeu@yahoo.com.
ACS members are cordially invited
to the last hurrah. — Jerry Belanger
Josef Braeu’s landscaping talents are
clearly visible at Edelweiss Nursery
in Duluth.
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 9
President’s message:
Fascinating people make
it a joy to serve ACS
The rewards of cherished relationships are incalulable
Ethan Johnson, President
ACS Central Region
A
primary reason I so enjoy serving the American
Conifer Society is all the
fascinating and talented
people that have made this such a
relevant and respected institution.
Yes, I’m stepping aside — term limits.
See the call for nominations on page
1 and don’t be afraid to get involved.
While the monetary rewards are nonexistent, the rewards of cherished relationships are incalculable.
People I especially want to recognize in our region include Rich and
Susan Eyre of Illinois, who started
organizing the July 10-11, 2015 Green
Bay Wisconsin meeting last spring.
They have been great advocates for
the ACS over the years, contributed
countless plants for ACS auctions and
to public gardens, organized many
meetings and rendezvous, and made
many presentations on conifers for
our landscapes. Currently, Rich and
Susan’s generosity is unparalleled.
Gary Whittenbaugh of Iowa, who
has recruited more members to the
ACS than any other person by offering a free conifer to people who will
sign up on the spot, continues with
presentations and workshops. Gary
also coined the term “garden rendezvous,” setting the benchmark for this
type of ACS get-together, and advises
us to go places we have not met at
before — like Green Bay Wisconsin.
Dennis and Carole Groh organized the fall rendezvous in southeastern Michigan last year, not to
mention the Conifer College and the
best-attended meeting in ACS history (Ann Arbor 2012). Dennis has
contributed greatly over the years
to put the ACS on a firm footing with
regard to finance and good conservative practices.
Other “pillars of the society” I
would like to recognize are Marvin
(and the late Emelie) Snyder of
Oklahoma, who the society’s highest
award is named after. Marvin has remained involved, recently providing
guidance to Powell Gardens of Missouri, a recent recipient of an ACS
Reference Garden grant.
Professor Ed Hasselkus of Wisconsin is another one of the “treasures” of the society. A former student of Ed’s, Mike Yanny, will be our
speaker at the Central Region Meeting in Green Bay this July. Ed has set
a high standard with regard to curation of the Longenecker Gardens at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Arboretum, and the many excellent
research-based presentations and
articles he has made and written
over the years. Ed also served six
years as chair of the Jean Iseli Memorial Award Committee.
Bill Barger of Ohio, our “Master
of Ceremonies” at ACS Central Region Meetings, has donated countless hours to the ACS. Has anyone
attended more ACS Board Meetings
than Bill? Perhaps he deserves a purple heart, or at least a purple fir cone
in recognition. Bill’s rare conifer donations to the auctions at meetings
have been numerous, and he has often served as auctioneer during the
last 10 years.
Lastly, I want to thank Gary and
Kaye Gee for their many contributions to our auctions (both donations
and purchases) that have made all the
difference of late. Gee Farms hosted,
along with Hidden Lake Gardens, the
ACS National Meeting in 2012 that
was arguably the best ever.
Excuse me for not going on in
more detail about the contributions of Chris Daeger, Dennis Lee,
Rich Larson, Ron Elardo, and our
awesome newsletter editor, J.D. Belanger. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. — Ethan Johnson
ACS national past president Ethan Johnson has been plant records curator at the
Holden Arboretum in Ohio since 1989.
Conifers forever!
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 10
Editorial:
Why are you an ACS member?
T
his is the Spring Coniferite:
you might have been wondering what happened to
the Winter issue.
Or maybe not.
Probably not, because the truth is, nobody seems to care. And the Central Region newsletter isn’t the only ACS publication with that problem.
This brings up several questions. Are
publications no longer viable? Is there
something wrong with the newsletter, or
the American Conifer Society, or is it too
much bother to go to the ACS website to
read a newsletter that isn’t mailed?
I’ve heard three people (in addition
to myself) say that a newsletter is an
important benefit of ACS membership.
Yet, all three regional newsletters are
struggling. In the Central Region, almost
a third of the members don’t even see it
because they don’t have (or haven’t provided us with) an email address.
The editors get just about zero input
from readers, even though reader participation is essential for such publications. Maud Henne, editor of the Southeastern Region newsletter, wrote in her
Fall issue that she had the same problem
as the Central Region editor: no reader
input. No Winter issue for them, either.
Suzanne Mahoney, editor for the Northeastern Region, writes of similar challenges.
Ron Elardo, editor of the Conifer Quarterly, has also been appealing for more
reader participation... and for many, the
CQ is the only benefit they get from ACS:
the meetings, Conifer of the Year, Seed
Exchange — none of those apply to a significant portion of our society.
The Western Region doesn’t have a
regular newsletter: they do everything
on the web, which has been touted as a
great new resource and wave of the future. But several coniferites have told us
they seldom or never glance at the ACS
website. (News flash: I just noticed a discussion on that website headed “Where is
everybody?” The web has the same problem as the newsletters!)
A few years ago I attended every ACS
meeting and get-together I could, including national conventions in North Carolina and Oregon. Seeing conifer-centric
gardens, meeting and mingling with
conifer-oriented gardeners, seeing and
sometimes even buying plants at the
auctions and at nurseries specializing
in conifers... these were not only educational, fun, and sometimes quite productive (I wouldn’t have many conifers
had it not been for those meetings), but
they also provided most of the material
for The Coniferite. (One national board
member told me I was the only outsider
in memory to sit through one of their
boring meetings.)
Last year I wasn’t able to attend any of
the distant meets. Without those meeting-generated photos and articles there
is very little a volunteer editor can contribute to a newsletter. Sadly, members
who can’t attend these events in person
don’t even get to experience them vicariously. Even so, filling more than a few
pages requires more than meeting reports: it requires input from members.
W
hat kind of input? NEWSletter
might be a misnomer: aside
from meeting reports, how much news
does ACS generate? We need more than
that.
I believe a regional letter should
provide a personal link to people with
similar interests, much like the impromptu get-togethers at rendezvous
and other meetings: conversations.
These come from discussions between individuals who are fascinated by
gymnosperms, which gives them a great
deal to share even when they have very
different backgrounds, skills and experiences.
What is there to talk about? Maybe
you wonder about others’ experiences
with deer or rabbit repellents, or can
share your own. Perhaps you have a
question (or advice) about a cultivar,
or transplanting, or what to do with
those seemingly vast spaces between
trees when you plant tiny seedlings as
far apart as the experts recommend. No
garden consists solely of conifers: what
other plants do you like, and what first
attracted you to conifers? Personally, I’d
like to know what happens to conifer
collections when the collector moves, or
dies. Or maybe, how do conifers affect a
home’s resale value?
In addition to beating the drum for
reader participation in The Coniferite, I
have personally contacted ACS members
(selected at random from the directory)
in an attempt to generate such stories.
The response was abysmal. Apparently,
no one cares. It’s discouraging.
I
could go on at length in this vein,
and become even more caustic. For
example, why even bother belonging to
the ACS: what’s in it for me? Actually,
that’s what I did when I had only two
pages of material for this issue.
But then I got some leads from Ethan
Johnson, and material from David Speth
(who later sent much more). More came
from Terri Park and Chris Daeger (one of
our most regular contributors). Others
furnished photos pertaining to the Green
Bay meeting. My news nose sniffed out
the Edelweiss story and Debbie Braeu
helped with details.
After uncounted hours of work, dozens of emails, and even several very rare
(for me) phone conversations, voilá, this
newsletter magically appeared.
We can do it again. All it will take is
for you, and 3-4 others, to share a few conifer thoughts — how you got involved
with conifers; why you value—or don’t
value—your ACS membership; why a
certain conifer is your favorite; what you
like or dislike about The Coniferite, the
meetings, the web, or ACS.. Even if you
think your garden isn’t worthy of being
included in a tour, you have at least one
picture that makes it look like a masterpiece. Let’s see it!
Of course, if my initial assessment is
correct, nobody is even reading this, and
nothing will happen. The newsletter will
melt away like hostas in winter, and no
one will even notice. That doesn’t bode
well for ACS.
— Jerry (Jd) Belanger, Editor
coniferite@gmail.com
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 11
ACS Central Region 2015 Annual Meeting Pre/Post Garden Tours
Be sure to print these pages to serve as your
guide to these great Wisconsin gardens!
Allen Centennial Gardens 620 Babcock Drive
Madison, WI 608-576-2501
Open 7 days per week
No admission fee
Larry and Sarah Conrad, Eldorado
South-central Wisconsin
Larry & Sarah Conrad
W9311 Seiler Rd,
Eldorado, WI 54932
920-872-2748
Thursday – all day
Friday – all day
Sunday – after noon
Oak Lawn Cheese Factory originates from the 1850’s and sits
surrounded by the farms that served the factory in its original calling. During the past 30+ years, Larry and Sarah have
gardened approximately two acres, mostly developed from
cow pasture. Their gardens are populated by a huge variety
of plants. The Conrads grow thousands of bulbs ranging from
daffodils to orienpet lilies, annuals, perennials, trees of all
sorts, especially one of Larry’s favorites… magnolias. Larry has
been growing conifers for many years as well but has recently
become more interested in them with many recent cultivar additions to their garden.
For garden pictures, see http://conradartglassgardens.blogspot.com
Rotary Botanical Gardens
1455 Palmer Drive
Janesville, WI 53545
608-752-3885
Open 7 days per week.
$7.00 per person admission charge
ACS
ACS has twice recognized the Rotary Botanical Gardens with
the Jean Iseli Memorial Award. The 20-acres are home to many
dramatic and themed gardens, including a conifer collection.
Included are less formally-structured gardens including one of
the very few Fern and Moss gardens recognized by the Hardy
Fern Foundation in the United States, as well as Shade, Prairie
and Woodland Gardens.
For more information see: http://rotarybotanicalgardens.org
Located on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, the
Allen Centennial Gardens is the public garden and outdoor
teaching garden for the university’s Horticulture Department.
The 2.5 acre garden demonstrates thousands of ornamental
plants including annual flowers, perennials, tropicals and temperannuals, deciduous trees and shrubs and conifers including
21 individually themed gardens.
For more information see: allencentennialgardens.org
Olbrich Botanical Gardens
3330 Atwood Ave
Madison, WI 53704
608-246-4550
Open 7 days per week
No admission fee to outdoor gardens
Bolz Conservatory admission $2 per person
Olbrich Botanical Gardens features 16 acres of outdoor display
gardens showcasing the beauty of Midwest hardy plants in a
setting of prairie style architecture. Olbrich’s Thai Pavilion and
Garden, the only one in the continental United States, features
an innovative tropical garden in the Midwest. In June, 2005 a
new Rose Garden opened to the public with mixed borders of
Midwest hardy shrub roses and perennials. The Bolz Conservatory, a sunny 50-foot-high glass pyramid, houses a diverse
collection of tropical plants, a rushing waterfall, free-flying
birds, and blooming orchids year-round.
For more information see: http://www.olbrich.org
Longenecker Horticultural Gardens 1207 Seminole Highway
Madison, WI 53711
608-263-7888
Open 7 days per week
As part of the University of Wisconsin’s Arboretum, the Longenecker Horticultural Gardens are internationally recognized
for their collection of more than 2,500 types of trees, shrubs,
and vines. The gardens hold major displays of lilacs, flowering
crabapples, viburnums, conifers and many other plant groups.
The 4-acre Wisconsin Native Plant Garden surrounds the Visitor Center with several hundred species native to Wisconsin.
The garden serves as an introduction to ecological restoration
and the restored and managed plant communities in the Arboretum. It also demonstrates how to incorporate native plants
into home landscapes.
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 12
Southeast Wisconsin
Dorothy Danforth
9345 N 51st St
Brown Deer, WI 53223
Tel: NA
Thursday – all day; Friday – until noon; Sunday – after
noon
Susan Eyre quoted a poet a few years ago in reference to Dorothy’s garden: ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’. This is a garden not to miss. See what amazing beauty can be presented on
a 1/3 acre city lot. For 35 years, Dorothy had been a perennial
gardener, but in 2006 she caught the conifer bug and in short
order transformed her garden with numerous conifers. Dorothy’s garden was part of the ACS Central Region’s 2010 garden
tour. At that time she had more than 160 conifers in the brimming mixed borders she had created. It will be interesting to
see what she has done since then.
David & Sherry Speth
N3596 County Highway A
Sheboygan Falls, WI 53085
920-467-2002
Thursday – all day; Friday – until 2:00; Sunday – all day
David and Sherry garden about 2 acres located in the farmlands of Sheboygan County, WI. Starting with perennials and
vegetable gardens, they became hooked on conifers after listening to Gary Wittenbaugh at a local Master Gardener meeting. The hook became an obsession after visiting Rich’s Fox-
willow Pines and their first ACS Central Region meeting. After
many buying trips and participation in ACS plant auctions,
they currently have over 200 conifer cultivars and over 20 varieties of Japanese Maples. Because of their heavy clay soils,
numerous larger-scale berms have been built to provide better drainage for the conifers and Japanese Maples. Last year
a Japanese style teahouse was added along with a new Asian
themed garden of conifers and deciduous plants. Northeast Wisconsin
Greg & Marsha Meissner
4919 County Road T
Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
920-743-4286 Thursday-all day; Friday – until noon; Sunday – all day
Our nearly 40-year-old gardens include an eclectic mix of
plantings used in a landscape setting. These plants include conifers, hostas, perennials, deciduous trees & shrubs along with
whimsical accents dotted throughout the landscape. Gardens
include a rock outcrop, fieldstone walled vegetable/herb garden & garden pond.
Greg & Marsha own a landscaping company and offer conifers
for sale on site. For more info, see http://www.meissnerlandscape.com/
Greg and Marsha Meissner, Sturgeon Bay
Ridges Sanctuary
8270 Hwy 57
Baileys Harbor, WI 54202
920-839-2802 Open 7 days per week
David and Sherry Speth, Sheboygan Falls
The Ridges Sanctuary was founded in 1939 to protect the most
biologically diverse ecosystem in Wisconsin. Today, it protects
over 1,600 acres of very distinctive topography formed by
the movement of Lake Michigan over the past 1,400 years. It
provides a wide variety of environment conditions from open
beaches to shaded conifer forest. Five miles of rustic trails and
bridges are included for those interested in getting outdoors.
For more information see http://www.ridgessanctuary.org
The Coniferite, Spring 2015, page 13