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Bill,
could
there not be a plea sent out to all Hosta Societies, for anyone who may
have
taken slides
of The Lachman Gardens, asking if they could send copies of their slides to
some
one who could
go thorough them picking out the best shots to use on a website, talks, even a
book.
This could be done for other Treasured Gardens as well, some of which are
already
gone.
I think losing
such treasures would be terrible. And if there is something that can be
done
about it, then
it should be done.
Hosta people
are giving people and I think this can be done.
IGLH
Sam I Am
Hi Everyone,
Last year something happened that got me thinking about what we should be
doing that we would regret not doing later. After the death of William
Lachman, his wife Eleanor decided to move into a managed care facility and
sell their house and garden. I never managed to get up there for a visit, so I
will never see the place where so many fine hostas were born. The Lachman
garden was one of the many truly important hosta gardens I had on my list of
places I wanted to see. I talked to a few people last year about this and
found that some would be interested in doing something. Two local societies
decided to fund the photographing of Alex Summers' fabulous garden in southern
Delaware. For $500 or so we will be able to take 1000 pictures of this huge
private garden and scan them in for use on the internet. I don't know where
they will end up, but as Bob has shown us with the wonderful HostaLibrary, a
website nowadays can easily hold 1000 or more color photos. If these are shot
initially with slide film, they can be used in the future for talks as well.
We have 40 rolls of slide film for Alex's garden.
Other
famous and important gardens are reaching their last few years of
existence around the world, and I would like to ask you all to stop and think
about whether you can work with your local societies to build a photographic
record of these gardens before they disappear forever. The Lachman garden is
gone forever, with only a few pictures taken there to show what it was like,
the beds which once were home to the young seedlings that grew up to be
'Cascades' and 'Galaxy', 'Robert Frost' and 'Sand Pebbles', and so many more
have been flattened and seeded with grass or planted with marigolds and
impatiens. It's too late to preserve it for those of us who never saw it, or
those who will come along after us, but there is still time to record some of
the others. It's up to us---------can we do it, or will they slip away
too?
.........Bill Meyer
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