Schleppy time down south Opelousas, Lafayette, Gloster

by Harold Hopkins

Something about the people, the new magnoliaphiles we hadn't met place(s), and the weather at the before, plus those wonderful folks who American Magnolia Society's l982 inflate the attendance figures —the annual spring meeting turned it into a spouses and relatives. Everybody put in kind of magic, despite some considerable hiking, lots of looking and unexpecteds that perha ps shouldn' t listening, and a great deal of riding. have been so. Those with whom we' ve From the lingering leavetakings taking compared notes say they had an place in the balmy late afternoon enjoyable time and learned something, sunshine, at the somewhat fabulous and that's how meetings are ultimately Gloster Arboretum not so far from judged. It was probably good Natcher-Under-the-Hifl and the River, treatment. weather like a baby's kiss, we' re convinced that just about and a gratifying number of Magnolia everybody was reluctant to surrogates that did the trick. The acknowledge the meeting was at an meeting was divided among two sites in end. It helped hearten many of us for Louisiana and one in Mississippi and several more weeks of struggle with because of the distances from point to winter's grip. point things didn't always come Good treatment as referred to here together on schedule. means the friendly and unflagging, Conspicuously absent was the efforts of the hosts. members of the anticipated abundance of blooming Gresham A. M. S. chapter, to make Magnolias, done in by tricky weather. everybody feel welcome and wanted. A For the truth is that practically all the notable though not the only instance of Asiatics had already flowered and this was the concentration of Kenneth faded two or three weeks beforehand. Durio's wife Belle and her deputies on As one native put it: "We had no spring. We went right from winter to summer. without a transition. " Even though most of the Asiatics had popped and gone, it was still a bit early for the more dependable show of the native (summer flowering) kinds. No matter. There were plenty of other flowers around to be admired. The combination of very decent things that did arrive together produced a crowd of well above 50, a good turnout as AMS attendances go. Included were many enthusiastic old or Touring USL campus at Lafayette. 3 and signed a resolution expressing the Society's appreciation for Joe McDaniel's long service, created for him the special office of president emeritus, and voted to present him a life membership card. Hashing out business, the board adjourned late in the evening and then we, personally, encountered a minor handicap. We thought we were driving back toward the motel at Lafayette, In the magnolia woods ai Glosrer. but we weren' t. A wrong turn had us well on the way to Baton Rouge before Dean McCoy discovered our error and bed around 2 m. filling everybody up on Cajun food and we got ourselves to a. lagniappe. The cheerful help of the Saturday morning the Durios did a numerous Durio clan kept many an capital job of directing the cars and overenthusiastic member from getting vans to the campus of the University of lost along some bayou. The personal Southwest Louisiana in Lafayette," by attention Sara Gladney paid to the way of the "Cathedral Oak, a majestic comfort and ease of every person who specimen of the southern liveoak, arrived at Gloster was reward enough Quercus virginiana, that has an to make the job of getting there incredible spread of well over a worthwhile. The unfailing kindness and hundred feet. At the university's lra interest of all, including the faculty Nelson Horticulture Center, Society people at the University of Southwest members were welcomed by Ellis Louisiana at Lafayette, left no room Fletcher, dean of the College of for improvement. Agriculture, who later conducted a The Society's 1982 meeting opened tour of the campus and its extensive at dusk Friday, March l2, with a kind plantings, including many unusual of candles-and-incandescence reception specimens of Magnolia grandiflora and at the Durio home, an adjunct of the various hollies. There's also an alligator showplace Louisiana Nursery in pond but we saw none. Apparently Opelousas, a dozen or so miles north they submerged in terror at our of Lafayette, Each member was thundering approach. Dr. Dennis furnished with refreshments and a bagful of mementos attesting to the attractions of southwest Louisiana, then was led into a country dining room and a table loaded with both conventional fare and local dishes such as crawfish etouffe', a bayou country specialty. After attending to their appetites the Society's board got down to business and elected Phil Savage president, succeeding Joe McDaniel, whose illness prevented him from attending or standing for office. Kenneth Durio was elected vice president succeeding Phil and Dick Figlar was re-elected Sara Gladney receives Gresham secretary-treasurer. The group adopted award from Dean McCoy. impressed by a superior specimen of one of our favorites —Magnolia liliJ7ora nigra with long buds and large flowers of as deep a purple as we' ve ever seen. almost black on the backs of newly opened tepals. The Durio specimen came (rom Joe Hickman, who got it from an Illinois nurseryman, who got it from the Netherlands. At Louisiana nursery. most of the magnolias are planted on raised beds to compensate for the sluggish drainage that can occcur in the bayou country after frequent rains. Back in Lafayette. Saturday night, Soigne of rlelicaciei ar Durin '.s the Society's third Todd Gresham in& ludeil boiled i ran fish ffiiregriiund). award was presented to Sara Gladney 77iui'. i Ferrii . 'tliller ai riglu. at a banquet ceremony. The first two awards went last year to Jack Fogg and Joe McDaniel, who have been the stalwarts of the Society dunng its 20- Wollard of the faculty led a tour of the odd years. Sara and her husband the Nelson Center. late Frank Gladney have devoted much At the morning meeting, President of the facilities of the Gloster Phil Sasage described pests and Arboretum to improvement of diseases o( Magnolias and their Magnolia culture, first by receiving, control. and Ferris Miller talked about protectmg. and perpetuating the the expanding collection of hundreds of Magnolia hybrids Magnolias now around 200 growing developed in California in the late at his Chollipo Arboretum on the tip 1950s and early 1960s by Todd of Tacan Peninsula, in South Korea. Gresham, and second, by inviting Ferris has collected and grows three several members of the society to take forms of M, sieboldii at Chollipo. that over selection, naming. and distribution is, those with purple. crimson. and of the outstanding among these yellow stamens. Ferris later distributed hybrids. young seedlings of the rare, yellow- A well articulated color photo slide stamen form to all attending. and presentation by Dick Figlar described offered seeds of various plants to members from Chollipo's seminal distribution. Saturday afternoon was given to inspection of the operation and plantings of the Louisiana Nursery in Opelousas, Kenneth Durio demonstrat- ing grafting techniques and pointing out set eral neiser Magnolia hybrids, including some late bloomers which still bore Ilowers. Among these was the sensational yellow-flowered Magnolia ' 'flirabeth, bred and offered to the nursery trade by the Brooklyn Botanic USE Ag Dean Ellis Flercher displays Garden. Ourselves. we were much iuriegaied Magnolia grandiflora plant. Rouge and east of Natchez. Carl Amason was too trusting of our navigating and we didn't make the optimum turn on our way through Baton Rouge. Result: we saw a little more of the countryside than we' d planned. Some others were delayed v too, and the tour of Gloster's Magnolias, only a few still in bloom, didn't get under way for a time. Gloster is all the good things Joe McDaniel and others have written about it, a magnificent collection of native and foreign plants holding their own in heavily timbered country, A Georgia-Pacific mill lies between the town and the arboretum. The Gresham hybrids planted at Gloster in the early l960s have in many cases been Magnolia grandiflora's foliage enveloped by Gloster's lovely woods. variability takes some kind of cake The main tour was led by Sara with this leaf growing out of a leaf Gladney. Satellite tours formed too, led (front and back views shown). Bon by whomever walked the fastest. The Hartline says the whole tree is that mixture of indigenous and cultivated way. It's somewhere in Missouri, but plants in their woodland setting so we didn 't catch the exact location. beguiled some strollers that there were side tours and mini tours. Enough Gresham hybrids were flowering to his last year's visit to view the tender hint at the riot of color that obviously tropical species, Mognolia splendens, in had lighted up the forest a couple of its Puerto Rico rain forest habitat (see weeks before. article, this issue). Chris Early showed Like the Louisiana Nursery and a number of his favorite color slides. other points south, Gloster suffered After breakfast Sunday, everybody some damage from the low, low boarded cars and vans for Gloster temperatures of the past winter, but it Arboretum, 75 or 80 miles distant in wasn't so obvious as at Opelousas. A southwest Mississippi, north of Baton fine specimen of Magnolia delavayi

Sniping Gelsemium sempervirens One view of the huge 'Cathedral' oak 'Pride of Augusta'on USL campus. in Lafavene. propagation method for various Gresham hybrid selections in connection with Gloster Arboretum's distribution program, and a grafting demonstration by T. O. Warren, my fellow swamp rat who enjoys a reputation from his work of selecting and improving native fruit-bearing plants such as persimmon, pawpaw, muscadine, mayhaw, euonymous, mayhaw (hawthorn) as well as nuts such as pecans and hickories. Gresham hrbrid ai Glazier uiib 12 As time ran out, members headed repais. for whatever airport they had decided could offer them the best way home, including Lafayette, Baton Rouge, had been killed to the ground, but Jackson, New Orleans, even Houston. Dick Figlar found a green shoot arising Some took advantage of attractions from the root mass and pronounced it such as New Orleans to extend their spared. Tom Marek and l found time in the sunbelt. Some overnighted marvelous collections of things like at Gloster so as to tour the pre-Civil Stewartia. The grafts of Magnolia War plantation homes in the dealbara, the Mexican relative of M. nearby Natchez area the next day. We hope macrophyiia introduced to this country they noticed the timber-size crape a few years ago, are doing fine. and myrtles Lagersiromia t'ndica) that differences from thc latter appear to be ( adorn the grounds some slight. of of these early homes. After a period of "visiting, " or We dallied afterward a few days with getting reacquainted, a luncheon of relatives on the Gulf coast to catch southern fried chicken and the fixings up on our oyster and shrimp feeding and was served by Sara Gladney's staff. were entranced the woodland riot of The schedule of program presentations by Clifionia monopbyiia (black ti-ti), was begun in the hallway of the older whose pink-white racemes this time of and larger of the houses on the former year run honeybees crazy. The whole farmstead, but there was not enough time left in the day for completion. Dr. Richard Stadtherr of Louisiana State University talked on selections of M. grandiflora made at LSU, Bill Dodd, superintendent of parks of Mobile, Alabama, presented a heartwarming portrait and biography of and tribute to the memory of Todd Gresham and gave a summary of Gresham's hybridizing work and the legacy of Magnolias he left. Lola Koerting spoke briefly on Brooklyn Botanic Garden's program of breeding yellow-flowered magnolias at its Kitchawan Research Station at Ossining, New York. Bobtailed from the events were talks by John Giordano and John Smith Gresham hi brid wirh nine-inch plus demonstrations on their successful flou er. Photos Slide Project

Larry Langford has volunteered to take charge of putting together the American Magnolia Society's first color slide, ' photograph program. Larry will organize contributed color transparency slides and color or black- and-white photographs into units and sets for loan to members and others for showing. Donors who want to keep copies of Late-blooming Gresham hsbrid in prize Magnolia pictures should have Glosier woods. duplicates made for contributing to the Contributed transparencies thing makes us regret, again. that program. William Bartram had a severe and photographs should be sent, along with pertinent information inflammation that temporarily robbed for cataloguing and classifying. to Larry him of his eyesight during his stay in follow~: this area just over two centuries ago. Langford as (by mail) P. O. Both black ti-ti and ti-ti (Cyrilla Box 146. Gibson, TN, 38338; (by LIPS) c o Milan Products 104 racemiflora) often keep company with Corp. . Hwy. East, Milan, TN, 38358. magnolias in south Mississippi, and it appears that ti-ti does the same thing in Puerto Rico (see Dick Figlar's story). . . . Short Takes Here's who made it to the 1982 meeting, at least half of them bona fide Arnold Arboretum's project to members: "reforest" Ravenswood Park in Dennis Wollard, Kathy Freeland, Carl Massachusetts by using its own Ferris Miller, Nancy Hagerman. Joseph progeny is under way. Peter Del Hickman, Philip Savage. Jr. , Lola Tredici reports that 600 seedlings Koerting, Sara Gladney, Harold Hopkms, germinated from seed collected off Richard B. Figlar. trees in the park at Magnolia. Tom Marek. Frances Marek, Edward Massachusetts„were planted on May 2. Horder. Mae Horder, Virginia Wmkler, The park or swamp already has around Ralph Smith, Carl Amason, Lib Dodd, 60 trees of the sueetbay. Tom Dodd, Robert Macintosh, Robert McCartney. Peter also reports more good news. L. Dean McCoy, Dwight Crocker, A half-dozen plants of Magnolia Richard Stadtherr, Brendan Boudreaux. biondi two to three feet tall have Tina Boudreaux, Ken Durio. III. Chnsti survived the past winter planted out on Durio, Phelan Bright, Fay Bright, Fred the grounds of Arnold Arboretum, and McLeod. there was no dieback recorded, which Delynne Lilly. Mike Lilly, T.O. Warren, means those who have, or will have, James Anding, Ben Parry, John Smith, one of these plants can plant it outside John Giordano, Andrew Rasmussen, and be reasonably assured it will Christine Rasmussen, Larry Langford, survive the winter. Peter's Chris Early. account of what's Ferry Hartline, Bon Hartline, Larry being done to proliferate this McNair, Ken Durio. Belle Durio, Dalton newly introduced Chinese species, Durio, Albert Durio, Liz Wyble, Allen including free distribution to members Wyble, Byran Lalonde, Charlotte Lalonde, of this society, was given in the same W. E. Fletcher. JoAnn Fletcher, Bill Dodd. issue of MA& sol IA.