NRS Memories – 30th Anniversary September 2022

June and John’s Special NRS Memory:

The N.R.S. began during the fall of 1992.  By then, we’d begun landscaping our Nanaimo property including the addition of a number of rhododendrons. The founding president of the club, Ward Porter, was our neighbour back then.  Every month, he would tell us: “You should come to a meeting, you’d really enjoy it!”  For the first couple of months, we would find excuses, as a garden club really wasn’t on our radar.  Finally, in the spring of 1993, we relented – we thought that we’d go to a meeting and that would be the end of it.  Obviously, we couldn’t have been more wrong.

Our first meeting was in the spring of 1993 and the speaker was Terry Richmond who featured “Yak” hybrids.  He had also brought plants to sell.  Of course, we went home with a couple of rhododendrons and decided to return for the following month’s meeting.  We joined the club at that meeting and we’ve kept coming back ever since.

We’ve enjoyed the various club events (auctions, tours, sales/shows, etc) and have learned so much through the years.  Here we are 29 years later, and what keeps us coming back?  It’s the people that ultimately make our club strong and vibrant.  We sometimes think that we use rhododendrons and horticulture as an excuse to socialize and get together.  We enjoy seeing each other, sharing gardening stories, telling a few tall tales and making the club work.  It’s always been the people that have drawn us and kept us coming to the N.R.S.  We have made so many wonderful friends and met such a wide variety of people through the club.  That first meeting turned out to be a life changer! 😊

Ron Sutton & Rea’s Special NRS memories:

I have two special memories involving the NRS.

Moving to the Vancouver Island from Ontario we were impressed by what can be grown here. We joined the NRS in October 2017, while temporarily living in Nanaimo, and just before finding our place in Fanny Bay.

At the very first meeting we attended, we were approached by Dick & Ann Beamish, who extended an invitation to tour their garden, which we accepted. The second was when another member, Craig Clark, took me to see UBC’s Botanical Garden, where I got to see some special species rhododendrons in bloom. It was also Craig who also got me hooked on purchasing specie rhododendrons from the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden.

Always enjoyed our potluck get togethers.

Rosina Schmidt’s fond NRS Memory:

Years back when I arrived from Ontario and purchased my current property, I studied the gardening books about the different climatic zone on Vancouver Island and what plants deer do not eat. In my postage stamp size lot, three deer with collectively 6 fawns strolled day in and day out.  Whatever the gardening books suggested planting as deer resistant, ‘my’ deer ate it all. The problem was, that those deer did not read those books.

On one of the hikes on our wonderful hiking trails, I cried my heart out on the shoulder of another hiking friend, Mike Miller, who offered to come over and see my beginner’s garden.  Mike’s suggestion was to plant Rhododendrons, which are poisonous to deer and they do not eat. At least they do not graze on most of these kinds of plants.

Since I did not have much knowledge about Rhododendrons, I decided to join the local Rhododendron club, where Mike was a member also. It was a happy ending. 

Ken & Madeleine Webb

A “Cutting” Expedition in Chris Southwick’s Garden – photo: Ken Webb

I am sending this picture that was taken at Chris Southwick’s on a Cutting Expedition that Art Lightburn arranged for us about 5 or 7 years ago. It was a wonderful day and we had so much fun with members from a lot of different Chapters. I think that this was where the whole idea of the small Fall Conferences in Parksville started. At lunch, we had discussed doing this on an annual basis.

From Dorothee Kieser:

Congratulations, Nanaimo Rhododendron Society on your 30th anniversary. While not a founding member, I joined in the mid-90’s on the suggestion of Dick Beamish, Trevor & Sandy Evelyn and Craig Clarke and have enjoyed being a member all these years. NRS has accomplished a great deal during that time: new projects such as Bowen Park, propagation of rhodos, and being part of District 1 to establish the Greig Species Garden at Milner Gardens and Woodland. To me the fun parts are the social engagements (open gardens, Christmas Auction, End of Year Picnic) but equally the monthly meetings where we have had some excellent speakers and good learning opportunities. Most recently, Lionel De Rothschild comes to mind.

NRS Memories – 30th Anniversary   September, 2022″ continued:

by Chris Southwick

  • One of my favourite memories in 2020 – (in the midst of Covid-19) when all of the District 1 Clubs got together to surprise John Deniseger and June Bouchard at their house to award them their well-deserved Silver Medal! They were so very shocked and surprised. It was delightful to see how much respect they have in our larger rhododendron community!One fall, June and John organized a fall nursery crawl to the North Island. It was such fun as folks car-pooled and half dozen vehicles drove north to check out the northern nurseries and their fall sales. Some people came home with their vehicles absolutely stuffed with bargain basement treasures!!       We have had so many wonderful presentations at our monthly meetings. I think that some of the best were from Garth Wedemire. He is a wizard with technology and always has the latest hardware and software and knows how to use it. Especially great are his exceptional photographs with no talking, beautifully labelled and set to music. The knowledge of rhododendrons, effort and care in his presentations are outstanding. Thank you, Garth!         One of the best moments – was on a bus trip to Victoria one year at Evelyn and Nick Weesjes’ beautiful garden estate Towner Crest. One of the participants was Jean Rhodes, one of Evelyn’s contemporaries. They were so delighted to see one another. Two very knowledgeable and talented gardeners enjoying their shared love of rhododendrons!The 2012 Fall Conference hosted by the Nanaimo Rhododendron Society. It was such a success! The table favours from many of our local gardens, the welcoming registration table, the silent auction, many talented speakers, and lots of folks from out of town who all seemed to love our community in the fall! The best part, though, was how many of our wonderful NRS members and those from other Island clubs chipped in to help out!   Many years ago, MARS and Nanaimo Chapters of the ARS donated many mature plants to the village of Ucluelet on the west coast. Several pickup loads and a full trailer or two were loaded with some very large plants and we all travelled in convoy over to the Village Service yard in Ucluelet where the plants were unloaded. The Village has planted them along the highway beside the highway trail. The day was fun and the legacy of those plants lives on as the community ensures that the plants continue to be watered and cared for!Sandra Evelyn’s garden cuttings were always something that I personally looked forward to seeing at monthly meetings. Sandra and Trevor Evelyn were very knowledgeable and excellent gardeners who were an integral part of our NRS chapter for many years. Sandra was keen to encourage folks to use the library and she almost always brought some examples of what was blooming in her garden each month. She taught us all a lot about various plants – especially non-rhododendrons! Thank you, Sandra.Trips to Rhododendron Lake have been a highlight of belonging to the NRS. Over the years there have been a number of trips organized by several folks, including some of the MARS members.One of my favourite memories in 2020 – (in the midst of Covid-19) when all of the District 1 Clubs got together to surprise John Deniseger and June Bouchard at their house to award them their well-deserved Silver Medal! They were so very shocked and surprised. It was delightful to see how much respect they have in our larger rhododendron community!One fall, June and John organized a fall nursery crawl to the North Island. It was such fun as folks car-pooled and half dozen vehicles drove north to check out the northern nurseries and their fall sales. Some people came home with their vehicles absolutely stuffed with bargain basement treasures!!One of the best moments – was on a bus trip to Victoria one year at Evelyn and Nick Weesjes’ beautiful garden estate Towner Crest. One of the participants was Jean Rhodes, one of Evelyn’s contemporaries. They were so delighted to see one another. Two very knowledgeable and talented gardeners enjoying their shared love of rhododendrons!The 2012 Fall Conference hosted by the Nanaimo Rhododendron Society. It was such a success! The table favours from many of our local gardens, the welcoming registration table, the silent auction, many talented speakers, and lots of folks from out of town who all seemed to love our community in the fall! The best part, though, was how many of our wonderful NRS members and those from other Island clubs chipped in to help out!       
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Good luck for the next 30 years!

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