Most of you who live in DC, Maryland, or Virginia have visited the National Arboretum (and if you haven't, you really should). Every spring, the azalea collection explodes with flowers, particularly on the hillside planted many decades ago with the original test plants for many Glenn Dale cultivars. After many years of neglect, this area and the rest of the azalea collection have been expertly renovated, documented, and augmented with companion plants and many other deciduous and evergreen azaleas. I won't go into gory details here (see links given below for excellent summaries of the supposed rationale for this plan as well as the arguments against it), but the powers-that-be have decided not only to destroy this precious resource but also to "decommission" the national boxwood and perennial collections, including the daylilies that brighten up the doldrums of summer.

To avert this disaster, everyone is urged to write to your congressional representatives as well as the administrators listed in the websites below. If you have been among the thousands of visitors that flock to see the azalea show in spring, to enjoy the other threatened collections at the Arb, or you simply agree with the need to maintain these irreplaceable national treasures (your tax dollars at work!), PLEASE help by making your voice heard where it counts. Thank you for listening!

The full story, and contact information for responsible officials, are given in the following links:

http://savetheazaleas.org/

http://tinyurl.com/26c96dd

http://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2010/11/part-2-of-save-usna-azaleas-and.html