The “Gateway to the West,” St. Louis, Missouri, was the site of our just recently completed Annual ASHS Conference, and if you didn’t make it you missed a dandy! I want to personally thank Mike Neff, Tracy Shawn, and the entire headquarters staff who worked extremely hard to make the meeting both educational and enlightening while keeping an eye on making it financially accessible. Also a “hearty” thank you goes to all the members who worked on colloquia, workshops, oral presentations, and posters. It was indeed a smorgasbord of horticultural delights of which many will soon be able to be viewed after the fact due to the magic of ASHS Editor of Digital Information Resources Tim Rhodus and crew.

I have written in other columns that I like to think of horticulture as a rich, colorful, and strong tapestry. I checked with brother Webster and his definition is: “a heavy hand-woven, reversible textile, commonly figured and used as a wall hanging, carpet, or furniture covering”. Our recently completed annual conference really drove home that point of the tapestry of horticulture. I view each of us as a thread in the tapestry of horticultural science. The beauty of our tapestry is derived from the fact that we each bring our own color threads (our unique scholarship and talents) to the fabric that makes up the colorful and dynamic tapestry of horticulture. I personally like to think of the large tapestries that hung on the walls of the castles in the Middle Ages. Many of those tapestries depicted horticultural themes. I feel very confidant that Jules Janick, recently inducted into the ASHS Horticulture Hall of Fame could present a lecture on the “Use of Horticultural Tapestries Throughout History to Brighten and Enrich the Living Environment”. How better to brighten a dull, damp, and musky environment during the long winter months than having a large and brightly colored tapestry depicting a couple of fair maidens and knights frolicking in a garden full of an array of brightly colored flowers, trees, and shrubs. I believe that you can instantly see the impact horticulture had on improving the living environment during the Middle Ages.

The Many Threads of Our Horticultural Tapestry

I think the unique talents and gifts that each of us bring to the field of horticulture is what makes our horticultural tapestry and society so vibrant with color. The tremendous depth and breadth of activities and scholarly pursuits evidenced at the annual conference also makes our tapestry strong. As I reviewed the program of the recently completed conference, it only reinforced the fact of how many threads of basic and applied science were running through the tapestry. Also it was clearly evident that extension or outreach threads were weaving around the basic and applied research threads. The industry threads were again weaving through the others connecting and strengthening the tapestry. The colorful teaching or resident education threads that help bring the science and art of horticulture to life in the tapestry and touch the lives of so many young people of all ages were woven throughout the tapestry. The threads of those that work with the Master Gardeners were found woven throughout the tapestry and touching the lives of gardeners and gardening, the largest recreational activity in the world. The international thread weaves through all the others reminding us that the world is getting smaller and that horticulture is indeed an international science that touches the lives of everyone everyday. We also have what I call the administrative thread that weaves through the fabric supporting the tapestry. It is imperative the we have strong administrative leaders at all levels of horticultural endeavors, men and women of vision and action with a heart of service to others and not to themselves. We also have the colorful thread of youth weaving through the fabric in the ACB clubs and graduate and undergraduate students who will be the threads that will replace the aging threads in the tapestry.

As you can see horticulture is certainly a colorful and strong tapestry made up of many individual threads of different sizes and colors. It is a tapestry that everyone throughout the world views every day of their lives even though they may not know its name. I believe that the he strength of our society and of the horticulture industry that we serve is our diversity both in the array and depth of the science and also the art of horticulture.

As I sat in the evenings with friends Fred S. Davies, Larry Knerr, and others at the watering hole called “Martini’s” discussing “heavy” technical and philosophical subjects of scientific importance, Freddie said that I should leave a quote at the end of each article. I thought since I did one in the first column I would continue on. So here is my second quote, this one from Lt. General Sam Damon, who is a character in the novel “Once an Eagle” by Anton Myrer:

“That’s the whole challenge of life - to act with honor and hope and generosity, no matter what you’ve drawn. You can’t help when or what you were born, you may not be able to help how you die; but you can - and you should - try to pass the days between as a good man or woman.”

- Reflections, William J. Lamont, Jr., August 2009 ASHS Newsletter