Acronym adventure

MM, VV, and DD (or is that BBB) are taking it on the road.

Defying the unpleasant weather (well, for the ORV anyway) the gathering in the River City soldiers on, attracting an even more illustrious cast of characters than last year's fêted trip, to wit:

•ARS research geneticist, the 'First Lady'
•Oregon seedling nurseryman, quite the provenance
•south-shore IN plant and art collector, a "hidden" treasure
•co-author of recent "dog"-eared text, Eddie Murphy look-alike
•board members from Bernheim and Yew Dell Gardens
•AHS community forestry honoree, and CJ shutterbug
•Plant Kingdom proprietors
•propagator wunderkind, spanning the south FL-KY

Providing there's no rending of garments or need for joint replacement, it should be a good time.

Have a good time with whoever all those people are SP.

Funny, I have that Dogwoods book (from the library) right in front of me researching that Wolf Eye. Tell them nice work with the book and that my 2 year old daughter can correctly ID the dogwood in the book I am Bunny by Richard Scarry. Very nice illustrations for a kids book.

http://www.amazon.com/Am-Bunny-Golden-Sturdy-Book/dp/other-editions/0375827781

Stay out of trouble

Willis

Willis & levilyla, conflicting instruction at best

Nothing conflicting there. Just don't get caught doing anything that might get you in trouble.

Willis

Well, I had hoped MM and DD would've posted with respect to their experiences of Thursday p.m., but I guess I get to goad them.

Interpretations of the clues above:

•ARS research geneticist, the 'First Lady' = Dr. Margaret Pooler
•Oregon seedling nurseryman, quite the provenance = Mark & Jolly Krautman of Heritage Seedlings
•south-shore IN plant and art collector, a "hidden" treasure = Bob Hill
•co-author of recent "dog"-eared text, Eddie Murphy look-alike = Dr. Paul Cappiello
•board members from Bernheim and Yew Dell Gardens = Mary Ann Thornton
•AHS community forestry honoree, and CJ shutterbug = Mike Hayman
•Plant Kingdom proprietors = no shows
•propagator wunderkind, spanning the south FL-KY = Ben Cecil
•additional suprise guest and fellow staffer = David Fothergill (how can you lose with that name?)

I think a good time was had by all, including an extended stroll around the Whitehall Historic Home gardens (most woody plants compliments of Mike Hayman) by moonlight through the snow (uphill, both directions, sans shoes).

This kind of "salon" or social reception is the brainchild of Mary Ann Thornton, and she has been pulling these off on a regular basis for around a decade. Anytime there is a conference in town, or someone is passing through on their way to somewhere else, or are in town for other reasons, she'll call around and see who wants to just show up and converse. With a day or two notice, an impromptu slide show or other presentation is squeezed in, too.

It is through the efforts of these kinds of people to network the "old dogs" of the professions with the "young bucks" that I was able to immerse myself in the information and experiences of those that came before me. I hope through these continuing efforts today that I can give back some small part of that from which I've benefited.

Vv,

I could guess the first and the fourth but the otehrs were a mystery and yes, I'm slow getting around to commenting. The last 3 days have been a whirlwind, to the point that the computer barely got turned on, except to login at at work and do some emergency planning. I definitely enjoyed the time there, and meeting DD, as well as the others was a fine experience. Mark Krautman seemed pretty interested in the 'Black Lady' Hornbeam so it may be on the market in numbers in shorter order than I expected. The moonlit stroll was enjoyable, especially seeing the large 'Sullivan' Chamaecyparis and the 'White Shield' Osage Orange. The shoes and uphill things definitely added flavor to it. My thanks to all Mary Ann and anyone else who had a part in putting it together. If I'm in town next year, I'd be glad to donate to the slideshow. As far as that goes, if you're putting together a slideshow for other similar receptions and need images, give me a shout and I'll see what I can dig up. Now to recover from the trip.

Regards,
Ernie

Der Decumbent, here, acronymed to DD, I think. I am slow, I admit, but I think I need a translator. Despite having met most of the mentioned people, drawing the line matching column A with the answers in column B remains a challenge. These things killed me in school, too.

Not challenging at all however was the task of having a good time with such a fine group of people as assembled in Louisville on Thursday. Imagine yourself surrounded by a relatively small group of amazingly high profile plant people from all around the country, none of whom are snobby, and all of whom simply can't talk about plants enough. That's a dream all by itself. Add to it beer and wine, a few tasty morsels, an 18something manor house with killer gardens, and--I for one--am repeatedly pinching myself as a reminder that it's real.

Thanks much to VV for the invitation, and the last minute goading it took to convince me to drive 100 miles in snow on a weeknight where I had to get up for work at 430AM the next morning. And it was very nice meeting Ernie (he's as polite and kind and smart in person as he is here on the boards.)

Scott