Our speaker for the evening of October 21st is Mike Stewart, owner of Dover Nursery in Sandy, Oregon, but much more than this.
He didn’t begin his working life, however, as a nurseryman. After working in the U.S. Forest Service, he went back to school to receive a Master of Arts in Education degree, and was a high school music teacher from 2972 to 1979. He evidently ‘found himself’ in 1979 when he became the owner of Dover Nursery. In this position, aside from running the nursery itself, he was on the Board of Directors, the Long Range Planning Committee, and the Industry New Technology Research Group of the Oregon Association of Nurseries.
He has also been a Research Foundation Trustee, Membership Chairman, Vice President, and, from 2003 to 2005, President of the American Rhododendron Society. And he is currently Vice President of the Rhododendron Species Foundation.
But, as he says in writing to me, I would probably be ‘more interested in knowing a bit about our nursery’ than about him. I’m not sure about that, but he continues,
My wife Maria and I own the Dover Nursery . . . where we grow over 1,000 varieties of rhododendron, including deciduous azaleas, species and hybrid rhododendrons. We have been producing rhododendron for the past 34 years. We supply 70 retail garden centers around the United States [and some in Canada], both east coast and west coast. Our emphasis is on growing rhododendrons that we consider to be very high quality varieties. We do a fair amount of testing of new hybrids for several of the west and east coast hybridizers, and we only introduce those varieties that we consider to be worthy. We do all our own propagation. Our facility includes 30 acres of field grown plants and over 2 acres of greenhouses. We produce both field and container grown rhododendrons. Although we are a wholesale nursery, we always enjoy visitors and will gladly give tours through the nursery and display garden. Rhododendron Society members are welcome to purchase plants.
Mike’s other interests—though it’s hard to imagine his having time for them—are skiing, being a private pilot, music, and being the co-author of The Pacific Coast Rhododendron Story.
His subject in speaking to the VRS will be ‘Hybrids and Hybridizers of the Pacific Northwest’, a subject on which he is obviously very well qualified. And I can vouch for his attractive, personable manner.
