Hawksridge Happenings

Click here for 25th Anniversary Party Pictures

Wow, Spring is right around the corner! What a fast fall
and winter. A lot has happened since my last newsletter. First, on a personal note, Susie and I were blessed with a beautiful granddaughter in December named Ellery. Now onto business. Our 25th year celebration was a huge success. Thanks to everyone who visited and celebrated with us.
We will leave some pictures from that day on the website
for a little while longer.

We had a great day when the IPPS international group toured our place and had a fish fry with us. We had folks here from Japan, England, Australia, New Zealand and everywhere in between. They began in Washington, DC, toured thru western and central Virginia then down
around the Greensboro area, to us and on to Asheville
before eventually making their way to Chattanooga, TN, via Nashville. A long and winding road but everyone we talked
to that made the trip had a fantastic time.

I was able to visit Belgium in August for the International Hydrangea Society Meeting. It was held in Ghent on the campus of the University of Ghent. What a beautiful city
and country. I missed the pre-conference tour but was able to take the trip down to France to visit the Mallet's Garden
to see the most or one of the most extensive Hydrangea collections in the world. One of the holy grails for the Hydrangea enthusiast (nuts?) of the world. Anyone that
is deep into the Hydrangea world probably has Corinne Mallet's Vol. 1 & 2 of Hydrangeas. They were the first reference books we bought on the genus and are still used regularly. The US was well represented at the conference,
in attendance, as well as speakers. Dr. Dirr, Dr. Sandra Reed from the US National Arboretum, Larry Hufford from Washington State University, Dan Hinkley, and Mal Condon, owner of Hydrangea Farm were all on the program.

I also spent some time on the West Coast in September visiting nurseries and gardens. One week was spent traveling with Todd Lasseigne from the Paul Ciener Botanical Garden and Mark Griffith from Griffith Propagation.
A great time with great plantsmen!

We hope everyone has a great spring. Attendance at
the shows was strong and everyone seemed to be
optimstic about the upcoming season. It may
be a challenging year for us all, but as to quote
King Solomon, " This too shall pass."
hyd. conf. group

Trade Shows / Industry Events

NCNLA MANTS NCNLA

Aug 13-15, 2008 Jan. 7-9, 2009 Jan. 13-17, 2009

Greensboro, NC Baltimore, MD Greensboro, NC

Booth # 225 Booth #1135-1139 Booth #413