Norma Senn, our speaker for the evening of March 19th, is currently a member of the Fraser South Rhododendron Society, which she has served as president, though she has recently moved to Victoria.
Norma has recently retired from her position as Director of the Dept of Agriculture at the University College of the Fraser Valley. During her career of over 20 years at UCFV, she taught a wide variety of courses in horticulture, biology and even agronomy, and served as head the department. Previous to that, she was an urban horticulturist and nursery specialist with the BC Ministry of Agriculture. As part of her responsibilities in this position, she set up the first Master Gardener programs in Canada, and continued to work with the VanDusen Master Gardeners as a regular lecturer in botany and plant propagation.
As far as Rhododendrons are concerned, Norma says that she hasn't met one yet she didn't like, but as she has just moved to a new and (sadly) smaller garden in Victoria, she thinks she will have to specialize in dwarfs that can be tucked into existing beds. She is, however, looking forward to trying to grow some of the slightly more tender types, since she now has a true Zone 8 garden.
Norma has a reputation as an excellent speaker. She will offer VRS members a brief history of horticulture in the Pacific Northwest. Her talk is entitled ‘Walking in the Sasquatch's Footprints’. This presentation was originally prepared for the 2006 western regional fall conference at Harrison Hot Springs. She was extremely well received at the time, and while some of you may have heard her, you will not want to miss the updated lecture. For the rest of you, it should be a new treat.
