A bus trip has been planned May 22 to Plant

Introductions, Inc. (PII), Watkinsville, GA

followed by lunch at the State Botanical Gar-

dens and a self-guided tour. We will meet at

the Augusta Municipal Building (Court

House) Parking Lot at the corner of 6th and

Greene Streets in Augusta. We will leave

promptly at 7:00 a.m. and returning around

6:00 p.m.

PII is currently breeding and evaluating thou-

sands of seedlings and selections in the fol-

lowing genera: Abelia, Acer, Aucuba, Caly-

canthus, Cephalanthus, Cephalotaxus,

Distylium, Emmenopterys, Gardenia, HY-

DRANGEA, Lagerstroemia, Lantana,

Loropetalum, Maackia, Magnolia, Nandina,

Pinckneya, Punica, Pittosporum, Rhaphiole-

pis, Rhododendron, Rosa, Spiraea, Thuja,

Ulmus, Viburnum … and others.

“Plant Introductions, Inc.” & State Botanical Gardens Bus Tour

Saturday, May 22, 2010 7:00 a.m.—6:00 p.m.

“Upcoming Events”

May 29, 9:00 AM Pendleton King Park

Galore Plant Sale

Franke Pavilion

June 5, 8:00 AM—Sell-out CSRA Hydrangea Society Plant Sale

Aiken Farmer‟s Market

(See inside for details)

June 24, 8:00 AM—5:00 PM 1st Annual Hydrangea Conference &

Garden Tour

Savannah Rapids Pavilion

3300 Evans to Locks Road

Martinez, GA

August 19, 7:00 PM General Meeting,

TBD

November 18, 7:00 PM General Meeting

TBD

Volume 7, Issue 2

Spring—2006

CS

RA

Hy

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an

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oc

iety

Volume 7, Issue 2

Summer 2010

THANK YOU to all

Board Members who fur-

nished refreshments at our

March 2010 meeting.

Also, thank you Jacque

Rees for providing plants

as door prizes. If you

would like to volunteer

to bring refreshments to the

August meeting, please

contact Faye Camley (803-

270-8757).

„Mme Emile Mouillere‟

„Limelight‟

„Lanarth Lavender‟

Hydrangea Bella Anna

„Harmony‟

„Blue Billow‟

„Geoffrey Chadbund‟

„Lemon Wave‟

„Penny Mac‟

„Hayes Starburst‟

„MidoriBoshi Temari‟

Fellow Hydrangea Society members:

It is with great pleasure that I get to be

your guest writer for this newsletter.

Luckily for both of us, it‟s only this

once. Hope everyone is enjoying the

weather and getting their hands dirty.

It is that time of year when our hydran-

geas have leafed out and the flower

buds are ready to burst open. This is

why I love gardening — it‟s magic!

Pam and Irv have been working and

traveling all over the area in an attempt

to obtain the latest varieties of Hydran-

geas for our plant sale on June 5th. Irv

has found some beautiful varieties that

are just being introduced on the market

this year, so I know you don‟t have

them yet. Pam is getting a rather large

list of companion plants that will look

great with our hydrangea collections.

So be ready to expand your pallet of

plants. Pam and Irv are ordering from

Dudley‟s and Nurseries Caroliniana

and Carolina Nurseries (Moncks Cor-

ner, SC).

Let‟s not forget about the Augusta Hy-

drangea Society Plant Sale at Pendleton

King Park on May 29. Kay Bowman

and Kay Mills have once again done a

fantastic job in selection and planning.

The varieties offered between the two

sales will be very different this year. So

you may have to go to both to get all

varieties you are looking for. A list of

available plants will be posted on the

website as soon as the information is

finalized.

The bus tour to Dr. Dirr‟s Plant Intro-

ductions, Inc. has been a great success.

We own Kay Bowman and Valerie Mar-

tin a hugh thank you for working so hard

in getting this organized. It should be a

very educational day and what day isn‟t

great when you get to see three gardens!

If you haven‟t signed up for the Hydran-

gea Conference on June 24th, get your

money and registration form to Patricia

Smith. The information and registration

form are on our website

www.csrahydrangeasociety.org

Pam reported that we have 87 paid mem-

bers. If you‟ve forgotten to pay your

membership, it‟s not too late. Remember

we have special events each year that are

made available only to our membership.

Last year we had the tour of four beauti-

ful gardens. This year we are doing the

bus trip to tour and talk with Dr. Michael

Dirr at Plant Introductions, Inc. Who

knows what these crazy people are going

to tempt us with next year, but you

wouldn‟t want to miss out!

I hope each of you have enjoyed our

speakers as much as I have. Our next

meeting will be August 19th and our

speaker is Lisa Barlett, owner of Green

& Grow and Gardens to Go. Lisa‟s topic

is “Jekyll and Hyd-rangea”, the many

faces of genius. You don‟t want to miss

out on another educational and fun meet-

ing. See you there!

Get out there and get dirty,

Jacque Rees

Page 2

Vice-President’s Message

Hydrangea Society Plant Sale

Saturday, June 5, 2010

8 a.m. until Sell-out

Aiken Farmers Market

(corner of Richland & Williamsburg Streets)

Over 40 varieties of hydrangeas

(including Climbin, Arborescens,

Macrophylla, Paniculata, Serrata, and

several Tree Form hydrangeas) and 20

varieties of companion plants have

been ordered for our fifth annual plant

sale on June 5, 2010. We‟re excited to

offer some hydrangea varieties that are

new to our sale, including the „Edgy‟

and „Let‟s Dance‟ series.

Companion plants offered will include

ferns, weigela, heuchera, hostas, leop-

ard plant and Solomon‟s seal. The

companion plants have been carefully

chosen to perform well in our southern

gardens, and to compliment the beauty

of hydrangeas with their striking foli-

age and off-season blooms.

Plants will be available in many sizes

and will fit into any budget. Proceeds

for the sale will be used to fund our

annual grants, and to educate our mem-

bers and the public about hydrangeas.

As always, volunteers will make this

event successful. If you would like to

help by unloading hydrangeas on Fri-

day, June 4, 2010 setting up for the

sale at 6:00 a.m. on June 5, 2010 or

selling hydrangeas, manning a Society

Information table, or providing refresh-

ments at the sale, please contact Pam

Glogowski at 803-642-5226 or Irv

Magin at 803-648-1909.

Hosta

Acanthus

Your help is both needed and ap-

preciated!

V OLU ME 7, IS SU E 2

Photo:

http://images608.bloguez.com/images60

8/page107/

Although hydrangeas are marathon

bloomers, they will sometimes wilt as

soon as they are cut from the plant.

Here are easy flop-stopping steps, so

you can admire your home-harvested

bouquet for more than a week.

Snip flowers when the stems are

firmest (during the coolest part of

the day, either early morning or

late evening), and where strongest

(at the woody stem, not the green

shoot.)

Bring a bucket of water with you

to the garden. After cutting a

bloom, submerge the stem.

Increase the hydrangeas‟ water

absorption by slicing each stem at

a 45-degree angle and piercing

the bottom with a straight pin.

Then plunge each stalk into boil-

ing water for 30 seconds. This

helps prevent air bubbles and

softens the sticky sap inside

the stalk that can halt water

flow.

Remove hydrangeas from hot

water, then place in a vase of

room-temperature water.

Blossoms are ready to be ar-

ranged. Good Housekeeping,

July 2009

I also watched a YouTube

video that suggested cutting

the stem „in‟ the water (which

alleviates the air bubble) and

then place in a water filled

vase. It was also suggested to

cut the stems every couple of

days to help keep fresh longer.

Page3

“Enjoy Them Even Longer

CSRA Hydrangea Conference & Garden Tour

Savannah Rapid Pavilion

\June 24, 2010

8:00 a.m.—5:00 p.m.

The 1st Annual Hydrangea Conference & Garden Tour will be hosted by the

CSRA Hydrangea Society, June 24, 2010.

Pre-registration fee for one day conference including garden tours is $15,

received by June 10, 2010. Registration after June 10 is $20 based on

space availability.

Just one of our many speakers will be Josh Kardos, Ph.D, Plant Breeder

for Plant Introductions, Inc. will be speaking on “What Every Gardener

Should Know about Hydrangea Propagation and Breeding”

For registration information visit our website: www.csrahydrangeasociety.org

Membership: The 2010 Membership Form can be downloaded from:

http://www.csrahydrangeasociety.org/membership.htm Please print, fill out and mail to Pam Glogowski,

1008 Murray Ct., Aiken, SC 29803

Directors Irv Magin

Bill Hayes

Kay Mills

Rick Rasmussen

Gloria Wade

Kay Bowman

CSRA

Hydrangea

Society

Valerie Martin, Editor

CSRA Hydrangea Society

P. O. Box 15601

Augusta, GA 30919-1601 Officers

Chris Randall, President

Jacque Rees, Vice President

Pam Glogowski, Treasurer

Valerie Martin, Secretary

The CSRA Hydrangea Society was organized on October 3, 2003. Meetings are held

on the third Thursday of March, May, August and November.

The Objectives of the Society are:

To promote the growing of hydrangeas;

To conduct programs that will encourage and assist its members in the growing of

hydrangeas;

To emphasize the pleasure and benefits to be derived from growing hydrangeas.

"Despite the gardener’s best intentions,

Nature will improvise.”

Michael P. Garafalo