The annual meeting in San Francisco was a great occasion, and a hearty “thank you” goes to all who helped make it so enjoyable. A special thanks to Bob and Linda Ehrhart, who opened their home and magnificent camellia garden to everyone on Thursday and to the Northern California Camellia Council who stocked our hospitality suite; to Richard Buggeln for the website demo; to Brad King, John Wang, and Doulas Ruhren for the Friday morning program; to Harlan Smith and all the members of the Camellia Society of Modesto who hosted our annual show on Saturday at the E&G Gallo Administration Building; and to Ralph Peer, II, for his wonderful reminiscence of his father at our Saturday evening banquet. The tours of the camellias at Stryling Arboretum and of the Filoli Gardens were icing on the cake, and an extra treat for those who stayed through Sunday. The camellia blooms in California were at their peak, and a pleasure to see. We really appreciate the hard work and hospitality of everyone involved.

Our Fall meeting will be held in historic Charleston, which has the distinction of having three gardens on the Camellia Trail. Plan now to attend and join the fun in September. You can register via the website. I hope to see you there.

Most of you know that Ann Walton graciously agreed to return to ACS service as our Interim Executive Director in September of 2008. Ann truly loves the American Camellia Society, and she served in that capacity for about seven months. I don’t know what we would have done without her. Although we still have a vacancy in our Executive Director position, Ann stepped down as the Interim Executive Director as of March 31st. Most of her administrative duties have been assumed by Celeste Richard, our Operations Manager, who was introduced to you in the last issue of the Journal.

Celeste was able to train under Ann for four months and she has demonstrated a great ability to learn quickly. We are in good hands. Ann will continue to handle publications as a consultant. THANK YOU, ANN!

Camellia Petal Blight continues to plague growers all across the country, and a “cure” seems to be elusive as ever. Our ACS Board recently ratified a $100,000 fund to support research toward controlling petal blight, with an award of $20,000 for an effective control agent or material. We have been supporting the New Zealand Camellia Society’s research effort, too, with monetary contributions. However, despite many years of effort, no one has come up with a fungicide or other material that seems to work, so the best that we can do for now is pick up our blooms and practice good garden sanitation. The best hope may lie in genetics. I’ve noticed that some camellias seem to be more resistant to petal blight than others. Much like cold-hardiness, perhaps there is a genetic factor that we can identify and utilize to breed in better resistance to petal blight. If you have some ideas about how to do this, contact Dr. Bill Bennett, the Chairman of our Research Committee, and share them.

At our Spring meeting, the Board acted to establish a permanent Trust endowment. The campaign to do that will be starting soon under the leadership of Larry Barlow. If you have some experience or an interest in working on our Endowment Campaign, I hope that you will volunteer to help and participate. It’s the way for our American Camellia Society to have a bright future for generations to come.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and thanks for being a part of the ACS. -- Roger Vinson