American Conifer Society

Do you have business management experience? Want to work from home? Like gardening — especially conifers? The American Conifer Society is looking for an experienced individual to manage its business affairs. For more info, download the following PDF job description.

Click here to download the ACS Job Description

May 17-18, 2013
ACS members Sara Malone's and Jan Curry's gardens will be included in the Sonoma County Medical Association Alliance and Foundation garden tour on May 17/18 in Petaluma CA. This is the longest running garden tour in Sonoma County. Admission fee with proceeds donated to a variety of Sonoma County nonprofits. For ticket purchase or more information see: http://www.scmaa.org/events/garden-tour.php. The ACS will have a table staffed with volunteers at Sara's garden.

June 15, 2013
Rendezvous at French Prairie Perennials in Dundee, OR. For more information contact Joe Carli at joe.carli@spadafarms.com.

June 29, 2013
ACS Western Region assembles at Quarryhill Botanical Garden in Glen Ellen, CA, to celebrate Quarryhill becoming the first ACS Reference Garden in California. There will be a discussion of conifer populations in Asia and some stories about the challenges of seed collection from Executive Director and primary collector Bill McNamara. Also, docent-led tours of the conifer collection. Time TBD. See Quarryhill website for background on the garden. For more information contact Sara Malone at formandfoliage@gmail.com.

September 13-15, 2013
ACS Western Regional Meeting, Phoenix Inn, Olympia, WA (Save these dates; details coming.)

For more information about the program please contact Jim Brackman at Treeguy45@comcast.net or

ACS Seed Exchange
5621 Old Highway 410 SW
Olympia, WA 98512

Completed Order Forms may be either emailed or mailed to the above addresses or faxed to 360-273-6048 attn: Jim Brackman

Please note that donated seeds are open pollinated.

I want to thank Ethan Johnson and Manuel Meier of The Holden Arboretum for their efforts to collect a wide variety of seed. Also, thanks to Suzanne Mahoney for her donations.

If interested in donating seed, please contact me at any time.

Feel free to email pictures of seedlings or comments and suggestions. I hope to generate renewed interest and participation in the exchange in the next couple of years.

Jim Brackman

The new 2012 Seed Exchange form can be downloaded here:

Download ACS 2013 Seed Exchange details

Download ACS 2013 Seed Exchange Order form.

Applicants need to meet certain requirements. These requirements are specified in the ACS Scholarship page as Eligibility Requirements. Questions and inquiries are welcome at any time.

Please contact:

Gerald P. Kral
ACS Scholarship Committee
900 Winton Road, N.
Rochester, NY 14609
Email: gkral1@rochester.rr.com

The 300 + 1 The 2012 ACS National Meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan Text by Ron Elardo

The Big Top at Hidden Lake Gardens Photo by Ron Elardo

No, this was not the Battle of Thermopylae + 1, nor was it a metaphorical victory. It was, however, the largest single gathering of coniferites ever in the history of the American Conifer Society. From far and wide they came to renew acquaintances and make new ones. They came to be educated in the first-ever Conifer College, 197 of them. They arrived in the Land of the Maize and Blue and then ventured out to see gardening visions beyond belief.

The planning for this Meeting began two years before the actual moment occurred. There were easel presentations and flow charts at Hidden Lake Gardens as Dennis Groh led the way. Carole Groh was there, as were Andy Duval and his wife Carol too. Kaye and Gary Gee came down from Stockbridge to contribute and to offer input and direction. Steve Courtney was there as the future host at Hidden Lake Gardens as was Gerry Donaldson, Head Grounds Keeper at HLG. I had the privilege to be there from the ground up. Jack Wikle was tasked to collect materials for and to co-author Plants & People: The Harper Collection of Dwarf and Rare Conifers. I was to oversee the editing and design layout of the Harper Book. Steve Courtney and I edited the work together.

In Pursuit of Pinsapos

Text and photos by Tom Cox

Fulfilling a promise to my wife Evelyn, in December 2011 we traveled to Spain for the first time. Given it was December; we elected to visit the region of Andalusia in the southern portion of the Iberian Peninsula. This region shares a three-quarter mile land border with the small British territory of Gibraltar and is bounded by both the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.

Pinus pinea Strait of Gibraltar

While this would likely be one of the warmest areas of Spain, it was no coincidence that the region is also home to the only known naturally occurring populations of Spanish fir (Abies pinsapo). Prior to departing I learned that A. pinsapo is Andalusia’s national tree and that visits to see them are quite restricted. They only occur in the wild in three locations and are found growing on the northern slopes of steep mountains at altitudes of 3,300 to 5,900’ (1,000-1,800 m). An exhaustive search on the internet turned up several adventure travel sites which offered tours and a website for the city named El Bosque, where we could obtain permits to visit on our own. Assuming we would be able to find these trees, the latter option was the adventure I had hoped for. The personal pronoun “I” is used here to make the point that Evelyn would have much preferred sightseeing in a historic town such as Cadiz instead of hiking up some uncharted mountain in the middle of nowhere.

Best Western Plus Hotel
1725 Algonquin Rd.
Schaumburg, IL 60173

Join us in the Chicago area to share conifer education and stories, visit lovely gardens and renew our fascination with the woody plants we all love – conifers and their close relatives.

Download 2013 Central Meeting Registration Form.

Jim Kelley, President
ACS Central Region

Description of Norfolk Botanical Garden

The Norfolk Botanical Garden has grown from humble beginnings as a Work Progress Administration project to a 155-acre garden filled with thousands of plants. There are more than forty themed gardens spread across the site. Some gardens focus on a single plant (camellias, hydrangeas, roses), others look at a plant from a specific region (Japan, Virginia), while others provide homeowners with great ideas and or new plants to use in their own garden. The garden has over 12 miles of paved trails and 250,000 visitors annually. NBG mission is to enrich life by promoting the enjoyment of plants and the environment through beautiful gardens and education programs.

The permanent plant collections consist of six primary collections and several other noteworthy collections. These primary collections are Camellia, Crepe Myrtle, Hydrangea, Holly, Rhododendron and Rose. Our Camellia and Hydrangea collection are certified by North American Plant Collection Consortium (NAPCC). Other noteworthy collections include Begonias, Conifers, Iris, Magnolia and Viburnum.

The Norfolk Botanical Garden conifer collection features 28 different conifer genera and 70 species. The conifer garden features 46 different species in 21 different genera. The Norfolk Botanical Garden has many large Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) on the property including the state champion. The R.W. Cross Nature Trail in the Virginia Native Plant Garden features a boardwalk that winds through a bottomland hardwood forest, a bald cypress /water tupelo swamp, an Atlantic white cedar swamp, and a longleaf pine stand. In addition, Loblolly Pine is one of NBG’s dominant canopy species.

• 2013 Meeting Brochure
• 2013 Meeting Registration Form
• 2013 Meeting Post Tour Brochure

Download and print out the three documents above. Send the completed Registration (only) with your check by postal mail to the ACS National address provided. Registration Deadline: June 10, 2013.

In addition to the weekend meeting with interesting speakers, plant auctions and garden visits there will be of a four-day, three-night tour (for an additional fee) of the scenic grandeur and natural beauty of the historic Hudson River Valley, home to some of the influential 19th and 20th-century gardeners who developed the American landscape tradition. We will also have a chance to savor the delicious farm-to-table fare of this major regional food growing region. The Post Meeting Tour will leave by motor coach from the Holiday Inn midday Sunday. We will return to the Inn each night.

Text and photos by Dan Luscombe and Chris Reynolds

In 2008 Chris Reynolds, Curator of the Bedgebury National Pinetum in Kent, and Dan Luscombe, Assistant Curator, traveled to Vietnam as part of Fauna and Flora International’s Global Trees Campaign, which works to save threatened trees from extinction.¹ Bedgebury is the world’s leading conifer collection, managed by the Forestry Commission. The task of Dan and Chris was to offer advice and expertise to the Centre for Plant Conservation (CPC) in Hanoi on measures to conserve five rare and highly endangered conifer species, all of which have been seriously affected by logging, habitat loss, and are likely to be further threatened by climate change.

Text and Photos by Leesa Comarin

When we brought Max home, he was a squirming, eager, inquisitive 12-week-old and 12-pound bundle of energy with big brown eyes. He was intended to become my best and most faithful running buddy and companion. But he and his subsequent rescue friends, Ranger, Cooper, and Rio, besides being my trail running compatriots, have become ace garden guard dogs.

But to back up a bit, I originally gardened in a nice suburban area where I was definitely a pacifist. I believed in live-and-let-live with all fellow creatures and even delighted (can you imagine) in the occasional rare deer sighting. When my husband and I found our dream property in the country. I intended to have it be not only my new garden, but also a form of wildlife sanctuary.