Central Region Vice President Report

The gladiolus conference at Kalamazoo, MI, on March 14 & 15 was one of the best ever. The Holiday Inn’s Huron Room was a good location as it was adequate for their 31 attendees. Cliff Hartline did a fine job conducting the spike desertification part of the program. He specifically pointed out that judges need to keep two things in mind. Bring along a judges handbook and a cloth tape measure. He went on to say “don’t nit pick” when spike judging.
Move it right along.

At 7 p.m. Karin McDougall showed colored slides of promising new seedlings. Since her presentation wasn’t long, Jim Butler from Minnesota showed colored pictures from last year’s summer shows. This, too, was well received.

Raffle tickets for the stained glass sun catcher were sold by Jim and Karen Otto. This drawing will take place at the national convention. Much discussion took place about the national convention in Minnesota over Labor Day.

On the second day, Mel Schrimpf spoke about happenings throughout the central states. Three central states decided not to hold a Central International Show citing their low numbers to handle one, or no site to locate. This was the case for Michigan. Wisconsin and Minnesota will go it alone; alternating every other year.

Roger Taylor next spoke on bird migration and how to attract birds in your back yard. This man was very knowledgeable on this subject as it is a hobby of his. For hummingbirds, he said to mix your own sweet liquid. One part sugar to four parts water will do the trick. He also said that starvation among birds is rather rare and really unheard of. However, dehydration kills far more birds than starvation.

Dr. Ewart, out of Michigan, next spoke on the update of scented gladiolus. He said in the 20’s and 30’s, scented glads showed up. Six different fragrances were found ranging from zero to three for intensity. Smells seem to liken itself to baby powder. In 1955, the glad,“Lucky Star”, used as a seed parent, developed 01-9A and produced “some” fragrance. Hybridizers, in recent years, are now crossing back to “Lucky Star” to get fragrance. They
feel that something will certainly show up from “Lucky Star”.

A discussion emerged as to the disease called “fusarium”. It was said that aster yellows and fusarium are the same disease. Dr. Ewart then said that this disease is carried over from year to year in the bulb itself. Get rid of anything suspicious.

After dinner at the Holiday Inn, we held the glad corm auction. Burt Scripture from Minnesota was the designated auctioneer and did a fine job moving it right along. A pretty good amount of monies were collected for Michigan from this auction.

Lastly, the drawing for the gladiolus sun catcher was done. This was the main raffle item for the Michigan society. The matching ticket came from New York. Yes, some gladiolus enthusiasts came from long distances.

This was one of the best conferences to come out of Michigan. We hope it continues with even more participation.

Mel Schrimpf
Central Region Vice President