SHASTA CHAPTER

Spring Plant Sale

Our biggest annual event and fund raiser, the Spring Plant Sale was a big success. Thanks to all the members who worked so hard and long on it! This year it was held at the home of Sue Neumanso a special thanks to Sue for being so generous with her space. Also special thanks to Bev Shafer and Mary Jo Arnberg who supplied truck loads of plants!

This year we increased our coffers by $1,000.The plants donated by you, our members, were responsible for three quarters of it, the raffle made up the remaining quarter. All proceeds from the sale go to the club to fund speakers, add to our library or support our community activities. These are: the entrance to Etna, the rock garden at the library, the entrance to Johnson-Joss and the Hallie Daggett Cabin.

We took in three new members due to the sale and one ex-member rejoined. Thanks to Peggy Whipple, our chapter chair, for organizing and running this big event and to everyone for making it a big success.

International Interim Rock Garden Plant Conference

The conference will be held Friday, July 21st through Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 at Snowbird Resort in Utah. It will be sponsored by the North American Rock Garden Society and hosted by theWasatch Chapter.

The first half of the conference entails many wonderful speakers:

Loraine Yeatts: Western Alpines: Life on the Tundra

William Parry: The Geology of the Western Cordilleras

Noel Holmgren: Penstemon
James Reveal:     Eriogonum
Sean Hogan:     Lewisia and other succulents
Elizabeth Neese:     Southern Utah
Richard Hildreth:   Snowy Range
William Gray:    Wasatch Mountains
Stuart Winchester: Ruby Mountains
Noel Holmgren:   Teton Mountains
Rick Lupp: Growing and propagating western alpines:
                                       How I do it over here
Graham Nicholls: Growing and propagating western alpines: How I do it over there

Field trips to the Ruby Mountains in eastern Nevada, Cliff Breaks & Tushar Mountains in southern

Utah, Teton Mountains in southern Wyoming, Snowy Mountains in southern Wyoming and Wasatch Mountains in northern Utah are planned for the second half of the conference.

SNOWBIRD EVENTS: includes all meals and 12 lectures at Snowbird, from the
evening Reception on Friday, July 21st until the Sunday morning departure for field trips; also includes the Wednesday, July 26th, afternoon Plant
Sale, and the evening reception and closing Banquet, with a presentation of slides from all five field trips. Price: $450. Without Wednesday reception and Banquet: $375

Post-Conference Tour:

Immediately after the conclusion of the conference, there will be a trip to the Bighorn Mountains of northern Wyoming departing Snowbird on the morning of Thursday, July 27th and returning to Salt Lake City on Tuesday, August 1 (5 nights, 6 days).

There will be overnight stays in Riverton, Burgess Junction and Cody, Wyoming, and daytime stops or extended hikes in and around the Wind River Range, the Bighorn Mountains and the Absarokas.

FIELD TRIPS: includes all meals,* transportation, and hotel rooms (based upon double occupancy) for the three-day field trips, beginning with departure from Snowbird on Sunday morning, July 23rd, till the return to Snowbird on Wednesday afternoon, July 26th; as well as the Wednesday Plant Sale, reception, and closing Banquet, with a presentation of slides from all five field trips. Price: $500. Without Wednesday reception and Banquet: $425

For details on the conference and the post conference tour see the NARG web site.

* Those on Tetons trip will purchase one dinner in Jackson, WY, on their own.

Hallie Daggett Cabin Project

By Narda Krum

Three intrepid workers joined Kay McKee and me at the first (of many) work days to refurbish the landscaping at the Hallie Daggett cabin in Park. They were intrepid because the temperature was a blistering (for May) 92 degrees.

The second work day planned for an earlier start to beat the heat was cancelled due to another trick of Mother Nature, rain.The rescheduled second work day was hampered by jury duty for one and illness for another, but work is progressing and one can actually see the cabin now. Watch for further progress on our latest community project.

Photo by Betty Petry

YARDSMART: Nandina has spread far from 'heavenly' roots

By MAUREEN GILMER, DIY Network*

(SH) - In China, the Nan-din shrubs are often found just outside doors to the house. According to a Victorian author, should anyone have a bad dream it was confided to the "home shrub" to ensure no harm would follow.

What that Westerner may have construed as talking to the shrub was more likely a conversation with the door god, Men Shen. It was he who guarded the house against demons, allowing the family to sleep peacefully without being troubled by demonic dreams.

During the height of the English Empire, little was known about the mysteries of Asia. Those who did venture into China to trade no doubt misunderstood a great deal of what they saw. In terms of the Nan-din shrub, or what we know now as nandina, the Chinese planted it near doorways because it was pretty. They also liked to grow nandina at temples, and this led to its common name, sacred or heavenly bamboo.

Today we allow nandina to grow freely into a large bushy shrub. The multiple stems tend to grow straight up in an almost bamboo-like form. Chinese gardeners would carefully clip away the lower foliage to allow these rods to show through the few remaining wisps of leaves. If you could see a well-pruned nandina in the Asian style you would instantly understand why it is visually grouped with bamboo. You would also realize how tragic it is when gardeners routinely shear this natural beauty into square or oval shapes.

Unlike bamboo, this evergreen shrub - more akin to barberries - has whole lot more color to offer. The original species, Nandina domestica, produces bright red new growth that faded to a very vivid lime green. It blooms in open trusses of small white flowers in summer. By the winter holidays the heavy bunches of bright red berries rival holly as holiday decor.

When cut, these berries hold their color and shape and are coveted by flower arrangers.

Over the past 20 years the standard and dwarf nandina with its variable color has come of age. While there are more than 60 named varieties, many of Japanese origin, breeders in America and New Zealand have made some striking new introductions.

These produce far more intensely colored plants in a wide range of reliable sunset hues from burgundy to gold that literally glows. With the advent of gardens designed with colored foliage, nandina is the backbone of the winter palette.

Sienna Sunrise, introduced By Mornvoia in 2003, is the hottest new variety. At maturity it reaches just three to four feet tall, making an excellent year around color accent for smaller landscapes. Plum Passion has been around awhile, and is known for the purplish coloring of the accent foliage. It is taller, to about five feet, and well suited to the bamboo-like pruning style.

The most outstanding dwarf is Firepower, developed in New Zealand. It reaches only about 30 inches tall and wide at maturity. Dwarfs are bushier in form and make a great low hedge. It's often used in masses that exploit the benefit of its off-season color.

In the wild, nandina is found in sheltered ravines and valleys in the warmer parts of China and southern Japan. The climate there is similar to the American south and far west. The species is hardy to Zone 6, but the named cultivars may be slightly less cold tolerant. In general, nandinas are pest and disease free, requiring no special care. In fact, they are so eager to grow in Florida that it is listed there as a Class I invasive.

Nandina plants also have been known to live for more than a century. While it is not actually a bamboo, nandina is certainly heavenly. The Chinese got it right: plant at doorways where you can enjoy the evergreen beauty and color year around. But don't pay them too much attention as you pass by or Men Shen might get jealous and cease to guard your dreams.

Maureen Gilmer is a horticulturist and host of "Weekend Gardening" on DIY Network.
E-mail her at mo@moplants.com.

*This article was reprinted with her permission. Editor

Heavenly Bamboo ‘Moyers Red’
Nandina domestica (spring foliage)

Heavenly Bamboo Atropurpurea Nana ‘Firepower’

Nandina domestica (winter foliage)

My Continuing Education as a Rock Gardener

By Bobby J. Ward*

If you have ever spent time at the Denver Botanic Gardens clambering over the rock garden with curator Panayoti Kelaidis, you have an appreciation and understanding of one man's passion for rock gardening. DBG's rocky outcrops are laden with at least 4,000 plant species, each "cuter than a bug's ear," Panayoti will tell you. At the DBG, I have been hard-pressed to keep up with Panayoti, who can recite the provenance of each plant while he glissades among the ledges. However, Panayoti's infectious obsession for rock and alpine plants in Colorado is not unique. The love for this special type of gardening is enjoyed by North American Rock Garden Society members all over the United States and Canada, and indeed around the world. The DBG is but one example of numerous public and private gardens displaying rock and alpine plants.

Rock gardening may be practiced by gardeners of all ages. The age range of members in the Piedmont Chapter of NARGS, to which I belong, has been 23 to 90 (I was somewhere in the middle). My own introduction to NARGS was a Winter

Study Weekend in North Carolina where I marveled at the images of bulbs and hellebores shown by Brian Mathew, witnessed trough planting demonstrations, and became simultaneously amused and mesmerized as Harland Hand rolled around on the floor among pieces of colored construction paper explaining how to "see" plant combinations in the garden using his simple method. I still have give-away plants from that meeting in my own garden: Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Nana' the dwarf Hinoki cypress) and Cyclamen coum with deep-magenta flowers, which I can view from my library window each winter.

I soon learned there are NARGS winter study weekends and annual meetings with field trips that invite you to see woodland spring flora in Pennsylvania or summer alpines in Washington, Alberta, and Alaska - some in full bloom mere inches from a snowfield. Members open their gardens during these NARGS meetings. Brian Bixley's Victorian farmhouse garden in rural Ontario provided one memorable trip among the gardens I have visited. NARGS members also find inspiration from trips to see native plants in their natural habitat. Local chapters frequently include such rambles for their members. The Ruby Mountains (Nevada), Chugach Mountains (Alaska), and Wallowas (Oregon) have been featured on NARGS-sponsored special expeditions.

I have discovered that there is much diversity in gardening styles and plant interests among the society's members across North America, whose domain reaches from Alaska through the Canadian provinces to the U.S. and from the Northeast to the Pacific Coast. Due to regional differences in climate, rainfall, and temperature, gardeners have to adapt.Therefore, Verna Pratt in Alaska does not garden the same way that Nancy Goodwin does in North Carolina. Todd Boland in Newfoundland may not fully appreciate the gardening challenges that Marion Ontario. Larry Thomas's admirable eleventh-floor balcony garden in New York City is far in space and concept from the rock garden at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Under normal conditions without amended soil or raised beds, I have learned that dry land steppe plants of the Colorado inter-mountain basin won't last a minute in the warm nights, high humidity, and the summer heat of Delaware or Maryland. However, with a better understanding of the plants' requirements, such as drainage, soil type, the right amount of shade, and a bit of a green thumb, gardeners have found that many species will tolerate geographical dislocation. And we don't give up if we fail the first time.Tony, of Plant Delights Nursery, in North Carolina, says "I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself . . . at least three times." NARGS members freely interchange the terms "alpine plants" and "rock garden plants," though we are sensible enough to know that not all plants used in a rock garden are from above the timberline.Nor do we always agree on what constitutes a rock garden or how to define it. Past NARGS president Sandra Ladendorf in California has written that "there is no right way to rock garden. But whether you raise alpines in a small trough, a rock wall, a raised bed, on a large mound, in an alpine meadow, or a natural rock formation, the key word is 'drainage'." Baldassare Mineo of Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery in Oregon says that a rock garden plant is simply "any plant that looks good in a rock garden." That definition is good enough for me.

So what do North American rock and alpine gardeners grow in their gardens? Jane McGary in Oregon, notes that "Rock garden plants comprise both evergreen and herbaceous perennials and shrubs, and bulbous plants; a few annuals or biennials may be admitted, such as alpine poppies.In addition to flowering plants, rock gardens may include dwarf conifers, small ferns, and small-scale, non-spreading ornamental grasses."For the neophyte or would-be rock gardener, placing native plants in scale among local rock is often the first, tentative beginning of "rock gardening fever." The late William Lanier Hunt, one of NARGS's early regional vice presidents, told of "demonstrating" a rock garden by carting rocks, soil, and 100-pound blocks of ice into a church basement in Chapel Hill North Carolina, and planting native orchids, Sphagnum, Chrysogonum Asarum Phlox , and other perennials. It was mid-July in the late 1930s, without air conditioning, and crowds poured into the cool room to see"rock gardening coming to the South."

There are many styles of rock gardening by NARGS members. Pam Harper, a NARGS member who gardens in coastal Virginia, has pointed out that the great woodland forests of North America have provided a backdrop for "a distinctive American style [of rock gardening] that has evolved naturally in regions of rocky woods rich in wildflowers."Tom Stuart of New York, says that "what North America has contributed more than methods is in the extension of plant materials. Beyond our natives, specifically the are used even more rarely in Europe than here . . . and mosses are more evident here, too." You will appreciate Tom's comment if you visit John Spain's garden in Connecticut, where you see winter-hardy cactus, native to the Canadian plains and the American Rocky Mountains. NARGS members may develop specialist gardens for interest in a specific genus (such as penstemons) or in bulbs (such as crocus). Many rock gardeners grow plants from seed, planting dozens--even hundreds--of pots each year. North American rock gardens may be developed on small city lots or larger plots, particularly if we have plenty of land to tinker with. NARGS gardeners manipulate their sites to make their rock and alpine plants grow, often borrowing techniques such as raised beds from the rich heritage of British rock gardening, or crevice and scree designs from excellent Czech gardeners. From these styles have evolved raised dry sand beds in regions where rainfall is plentiful. This method,espoused most recently by Norman Deno and promoted by Mike Slater and others, improves soil aeration and drainage and reduces rot, thereby allowing plants from the American West and other dry regions of the world to be satisfactorily grown in Pennsylvania, for example, a state with hot, humid summers and nighttime temperatures so high that a plant uses up its stored food reserves for respiration rather than growth and reproduction. A rock gardener can have a lot of fun with tiny plants grown in simple troughs and pots or even in ordinary containers gotten from the nursery.

As I have continued to learn about rock gardening, I have found that the plants we admire and love are grown in a variety of substrates - the gardener ceaselessly striving for perfect drainage and to create a lean soil some plants prefer. Troughs, crevices, tufa, and raised beds become the accommodation for miffy plants. Buns, cushions and other compact plants are tucked and jammed among rocks, on slopes, and berms. Local climate provides constraint, whether it's a wet winter and dry summer as in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, or a relatively dry winter and wet summer in the Middle Atlantic and southeastern U.S. states.

There are also unexpected weather conditions such as ice storms, hurricanes, winds and exceptional rains from El Niño to bring disorder to the garden. I remember a summer day on a visit arranged by Sheila Paulson to admire a collection of praiseworthy trough gardens in Alberta, when suddenly the plants and I were pelted by considerable-sized hail. I had an umbrella, but the poor rock plants did not.

Rock gardeners are sometimes so impatient for winter to end that they construct cold frames and alpine houses, which extend the growing season and give us blossoms during winter days when fingers itch to go outside. We content ourselves till the frost has gone by reading catalogs from such indomitable seed collectors as Sally Walker, scan the NARGS annual seed list, or wait for Alpines Mont Echo, Arrowhead Alpines, Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery, or Wrightman Alpines –a few of the many outstanding nurseries--to post their new plant lists on the Internet.

Panayoti Kelaidis has reminded me that rock gardening is a vibrant, International community of plant enthusiasts who share not only a complex and fascinating art, but also great bonds of friendship. "It fosters enthusiasm and excellence and honors biodiversity and human diversity: a tall order indeed!" Elizabeth Lawrence wrote that "the cultivation of rock plants is the highest form of the art of gardening, and rock gardeners are essentially individualists, each with his specialty, his own dear delight." Welcome to NARGS and to the delight of rock and alpine gardening.

[Bobby J. Ward, a past president of NARGS, lives and gardens in Raleigh, North Carolina.]

*This article was reprinted with his gracious permission.

FOUNDING MEMBER’S CAT

By Beverly Gozzarino

Good news regarding Jeanette Axton’s cat Cricket. Tiffany White's in-laws adopted him, and it sounds like the perfect home. Thank you for sharing his needs at the meetings so that Tiffany thought to approach her husband's family. A happy ending.

ANNUAL DUES

It is time to send in your annual dues of $10.00. Make checks payable to NARG-Shasta Chapter and mail to:

Narda Krum

5932 Miners Creek Road

Etna, CA 96027

See you in September!

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