Annual Steele Lecture: Maurice Foster – HYDRANGEAS FOR COLD CLIMATE GARDENS

WORTHY AND NEW HYDRANGEAS FOR COLD CLIMATE GARDENS

Hydrangea expert Maurice Foster will present the Steele Lecture for 2018 with a discussion of new and noteworthy hydrangeas, including suggestions of cultivars for trial in eastern Canadian gardens. Maurice will show us some choice selections in the hardy species, arborescens, paniculata, and heteromalla. Maurice’s special interest and the focus of this talk will be on the less well-known Japanese and east Asian species called serrata, the mountain hydrangea,. These are hardy to at least Zone 6. Also to consider are some forms of aspera and involucrata as well as macrophyllas that can flower on current year wood, plus non-maritime forms and hybrids that might be worth a try. Add in some of the newly introduced species and some of his own seedlings, and this will be a talk not to be missed.

Bio—

Maurice Foster VMH is an amateur gardener who has been a member of the Woody Plants Committee of the RHS for 22 years, past Chairman of the RHS Rhododendron, Camellia and Magnolia Group, a trustee of the Tree Register of Britain and Ireland and a life member of the IDS and the Magnolia Society. He has travelled widely in search of woody plants, notably in W China and the Himalaya. He opens his 15 acre garden and arboretum to groups by prior arrangement.

Please remember to bring your membership dues for the 2018-2019 year – due September of each year! Thanks