ARS Victoria Newsletter – December 2024

• Date: 7th December 2024
• author: Andrew Rouse

PRESIDENTS REPORT

At the ARSV 65th Annual General Meeting held on the 2nd of November 2024, I took over from John O’Hara as President of the Society. John was elected as President in 2011, and during his term he undertook substantial and enduring initiatives for the benefit of the Society that have also supported the maintenance and integrity of the rhododendron collection at the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden.

John pretty much single handedly refurbished the vireya house, a task that had him there for many weeks building and installing the equipment and materials required to house the vireya species collection. The vireya house has become a major feature at DRBG, allowing us to display vireyas that we can’t reliably keep in the collection outdoors. John also led a major refurbishment of the nursery facilities, commencing with the construction of a potting shed, allowing the ARSV Tuesday group to propagate and pot up plants under cover. The potting shed also houses the nursery database computer and seedling propagation cabinet, also built by John. The next project led by John was building a new shade house that replaced the ‘vireya cage’ and adjacent lean-to shade house. The new shade house abuts the main shade house and has been set up with benches that enable more efficient management of the various potted rhododendron collections. Pleasingly, there has been a noticeable improvement in the health of our collection in the new shade houses. Most recently, John arranged for the installation of a new propagation glasshouse and he has recently completed the fit-out. This glasshouse augments the existing one and provides a high humidity environment without excess moisture, which will reduce the risk of hard-to-root cuttings from rotting out.

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