Bud Bennett - Laytonsville MD zone 6
It was around 1969 that we started to judge the Pittsburgh show almost annually. The first several times we stayed at the home of Mary and John Pope. Once their neighbor took me and my two boys to a Pirate baseball game. It was at these shows that I fist meet Handy Hatfield (Stoutsville, Ohio). Handy got up early in the morning in order bring his show entries to the show. I also recall Steve Moldvan doing the same.
It was in 1973 that Pittsburgh hosted a very festive region three meeting, which also included their annual show. Many of my new friends from around the country also attended this event (Jim Cooper, Bertie Ferris, Charlyne Owen and Betty Barnes). Verna and Elton Hickmans' garden was the one I remembered the most, perhaps because it was at their garden that Ed Grovatt used to guest his latest cultivars in the '78 Pittsburgh convention. It was this regional that we saw Ed's ED MURRAY for the first time. Several others that I liked and grew for a long time were CORNWALL (Lambert '66), ROZAVEL (Lambert '65), both were my top favorites. Willard King's CARELESS LOVE ''61 (George Cunningham x Francis Fay) was voted the best clump. My very first cross was using the same parents but it was the reciprocal cross. Almost all my pink, rose, etc. cultivars have this cross in their background.
Another garden visited that day was that of George Hooker. We became good friends and he often visited my garden. George worked very hard to make the '78 Pittsburgh convention a success, unfortunately, George died shortly before the event took place.
The '78 Pittsburgh convention had an unusual event for me. It was Paul Botting winning the Schlumpf Award for a landscape scene, which was a picture of my garden. Later in '89, Patricia Steinborn won the same award using my garden for her slide. Some of the cultivars I remember and grew were:
In 1972 we started our 'almost' annual visitations to Van Sellers at Iron Gate Gardens and at Kate Carpenters in Davidson, NC. This trip also included attending Region 15's meeting in Raleigh. One garden I do remember visiting is that of Jim Cooper and I think that of Bob Elliott. We also took a side trip to visit Mildred Umstead, in Garner, NC. At first we stayed at a motel in Kings Mountain and later changed to a motel half-way between Van and Kate. We now stay in Gastonia, NC, where there are more restaurants close by.
While in Gastonia we discovered Cindy Dye, who many of you visited her garden during the Charlotte convention. Early on when visiting Van Sellers, Ruth would seat and talk with Van's Mother for hours while I visited the garden. Our visits are always 2 or 3 days long and one of the things I enjoyed is meeting and talking with the other various visitors. Sometimes that would be Vic Santa Lucia's sister Grace Stamile and Pat. Sometimes it would be Oscie Whatley who would trying to think of some way to tease me. No matter who, I enjoyed meeting them.
I'm going back to the when I first moved to Laytonsville during the winter of 1961-62. During the winter months not having any thing planted, I planned the layout of the garden. The paths at first, were to be wood chips (I had wood chips, leaf mold, leaves and rotted saw dust stored in the very rear of the yard). After the first several years I found that this was not what I wanted. So, then I spread several yards of stone dust and liked the results. I then ordered 22 tons (the minimum amount a truck would deliver). When I finished I had 2 or 3 yards left over.
From my old house I also brought about 100 'Georgetown' cobblestones. These came from the pavements of the streets of Georgetown, DC. Georgetown was a port during colonial days and the cobblestones were ballast on the ships (from England?) that came to pick up tobacco. With these in mind, I decided to make some edging 'stones' for the paths, out of the surplus stone dust and portland cement. Using a bucket to measure, I then made the 'stones', one wheelbarrow load at a time. The forms were made out of scrap lumber and I got about 18 'stones' from each wheelbarrow load. On a week-end I could do 3 loads. This project took about two years to finish. A picture of the path appears on the outside back cover of the AHS Journal, Vol. 56, No. 2 Summer 2001. The stones are now a decorative pea size crusted stone.
Well, I guess that is it for now, will continue later.
Bud