QBARS - v18n1 Annual Meeting Plans

Annual Meeting Plans
Marjorie Baird, Chairman Annual Meeting Committee

Members of the Seattle Chapter are not only proud of Seattle's famed hospitality but also of their own gardens, and are looking forward to the Annual Meeting of the American Rhododendron Society when they will have a chance to show their guests collections of Rhododendrons surrounded by the most beautiful mountain and marine setting in the country.

Our magnificent annual Rhododendron Show will open Friday, noon, May 15, and run through Sunday evening, May 17. It will be held at the Civic Center, site of the recent Century 21 Exposition, and only nine blocks away from the Edgewater Inn, where guests will be billeted. The Inn is on Pier 67 and is Seattle's downtown harbor front showplace. (If you have a "water-side" room, you can even fish from your balcony!)

Friday evening we will enjoy a no host dinner at one of Seattle's numerous excellent restaurants and plan to hear a lecture with slides, by Mr. E. H. M. Cox, of Perth, Scotland.

Saturday morning there will be a little time to visit the Show before the noon luncheon (at Edgewater Inn). Mr. David Leach will give a talk after the business of the Annual Meeting.

The latter part of the afternoon and evening will be devoted to a boat trip across Elliot Bay to Blake Island, where we will have a barbecued salmon dinner and see Tribal dancing by local Indians (no firearms, please, they're friendly!) The buildings are covered so weather will not be a factor unless the winds are of gale force.

Sunday will be a day of garden tours, including the University of Washington Arboretum. A Hood Canal tour, via Puget Sound ferry boat, to see R. macrophyllum in its native habitat can be arranged. Day trips to Mount Rainier National Park can be arranged.

You may also want to revisit the Show. Seattle's thirty-year average temperature for May is 66 degrees in the afternoon, 49° at night. The record high is 92°, low, 35°. The rainfall averages 1½ inches in May.

Bring a warm coat, and rain gear (in case our prayers for good weather are not answered). The ladies may want to wear slacks on the boat trip. Rubber or heavy-soled shoes are a "must" for garden tours, and beach walking.

Send your checked list of events, with your name and address and registration fee, so that our Registration Chairmen receive it by April 1.

The registration blank is printed on the last page of the enclosed ballot so you won't mutilate your Bulletin when you clip it. Send it in now!

Visitors from afar should try to arrange for more than a two or three day stay. There is so much to see and do in this area and we would be most happy to be your guides. You should allow time to visit Vancouver Island. the city of Vancouver, in Canada, and the Test Garden and other fascinating gardens and nurseries in Oregon.

Make next May your Pacific Northwest vacation!