Rhododendron Truss Show & Sale – Important Info

As detailed in the latest ARS, Mass Chapter newsletter, the Truss Show and Sale will be held this coming weekend, June 5 & 6 at Weston Nurseries in Hopkinton, MA.

 

Due to the dearth of blooms at this time, we are making a last minute change to the show:  we will include FOLIAGE as well as flower entries.  Though most blooms have gone by, foliage is more advanced than normal.  For some types it is at or near peak.  Please think about what you have that will display well and bring them to the show.  The Schedule and Rules for foliage entries is attached.  The truss schedule is in the last Newsletter.

 

The Show and Sale will be held in two tents located up a small incline in back of Weston Nurseries' sales office.  Though you can get to them by walking in back of the sales office and through the Statuary area, volunteers and those with show entries should drive around the left side of the sales office & parking lot to the tents to drop off plants and people.  To get to the tents via auto, enter Franklin Road, the first street on the left side of Weston's sales office & parking lot.  Very quickly after entering this road, take a right onto a gravel driveway.  Go through a small parking lot and up an incline to where you see 2 very large tents.  We will have signs within Weston's sales area to direct pedestrians to our show & sale area.

 

Volunteers, including people with show entries, must not park in any of the prime parking spaces near the sales office.  Please respect our host's wishes on this.  Instead, we will park a short distance up Franklin Road.  A shuttle van will be available to take you from the tents to this parking area and back. 

 

Below are additional details regarding the show, including the inclusion of foliage entries, from CJ Patterson our show steward.

Joe Bruso

 

Because a census of current bloom shows a dearth of variety and a paucity of numbers, it has been decided that a foliage show will be added to the regular Truss Show to, as it were, plump up the numbers.  If the weather is fine, we may have a greater attendance of the public to the Show than we have had in many years, and we would like to impress them if we can.  I call upon every member to do his duty and help us talk to the public, answering questions and in general being
helpful.

The foliage show schedule will be our standard format, and we are attaching a schedule to refresh your memory.  Remember that this will be a BENCHED show and your efforts will be evaluated by judges.  If you want to bring foliage entries, I advise you to take them at least 12 hours before transport and condition them, plunged up to the petioles in cool water out of sunshine.  If your cutting is limp by the time you make it back to the kitchen, it is probably too soft to use.  Choose cuttings that are completely expanded and at least a little stiffened (a limp biscuit is unlikely to be viewed favorably by the judges).  If it has tomentum (fuzz on upper leaf surface), exercise EXTREME care, as the merest touch of the top of the leaf will likely be marked and cannot be repaired (trust me on this).  Take extras if you need to, and enter the one that made the trip in best condition.  Re-cut the stems at an angle just before you go to bed, and again in the AM (cut extra long shanks so you have room).  Do not crowd your entries, bent leaves retain the mark--remember these are probably not going to be mature enough to withstand the cavalier handling that they get in a fall foliage show.

 

CJ Patterson