We love attending the Conifer Society national meetings and we know their format: establish a headquarters in a hotel conveniently located near worthy conifer viewing, be it private, public or park. Board buses, visit conifers, repair to the hotel for dinner, rinse and repeat. It’s a great way to enjoy Coneheads and conifers. But what if our hotel was located in one of the most comprehensive and beautiful conifer gardens in the country? What if we could view choice specimens simply by walking out the doors of our rooms and into a conifer wonderland? That’s what you’ll be doing June 6 – 8, 2019 when the Western Region hosts the national meeting at The Oregon Garden Resort.
The Oregon Garden, an ACS Reference Garden, was established in the 1990s by the Oregon Association of Nurserymen to showcase the products of Oregon’s #1 industry, horticulture. In partnership with the ACS, largely through the efforts of our own Doug Wilson, TOG’s conifer collection has grown into one of the best places in the country for viewing choice cultivars, meticulously labeled, in beautiful combination with companion plants. Early June in Oregon is still very spring-like, with lingering blossoms, fresh new growth on conifers and the possibility of showers. The moist air, abundant rainfall and cool nights produce healthy, vigorous plants that often show themselves to be stellar specimens of their species.
Because TOG is so lovely (and because there is much, much more to see than the conifer collection), we are designing this meeting with ample time at the Resort. In fact, Saturday’s agenda is entirely at the Resort! No buses, flexible scheduling and a wide variety of activities should make for a relaxing, informative and fun day. We will not only have space in the schedule for viewing the conifers, we will have aesthetic pruning demonstrations, workshops and lectures, and free time for strolling, loafing or spa treatments. We will also provide suggestions for nearby attractions, such as Conifer Kingdom/Rare Tree Nursery (3 miles from TOG), Silver Falls State Park (11 miles from TOG) and Western Evergreen (14 miles from TOG). As there is no public transportation from the airport to the Garden, we expect that most of you will have rental cars. For those that don’t, we will have a group of volunteers who will happily provide transport and we plan to use TOG’s shuttle to get to and from Conifer Kingdom. We are still finalizing the schedule, but will release it with plenty of time for you to make any bookings you wish.
Our dinners, our breakfasts and one of our lunches will be onsite at the Resort or the Garden. Guests at the Resort can enter the Garden at any time, even when it is closed to the public. In June the days are long and the weather mild. You can stroll the conifers with coffee or cocktail in hand, and your room is close by if you need a wrap or an umbrella.
For the full itinerary and speaker list, and details of a post meeting tour on Sunday, June 9, visit http://conifersociety.org/events/event/2019-national-meeting/
Image copyright Janice M. LeCocq for the American Conifer Society.
