Many of you will know Laine and Duane at Steamboat Island Nursery, having purchased some of the unusual and exotic plants they have offered over the years from their small specialty nursery in Olympia. Well the sad news is that Duane has passed away early this morning from injuries incurred when he was struck by a Sound Transit train on his way to the Mariner's season opener on April 8. I have been asked to pass along this news to anyone in the local hort/gardening community who knows them or is interested in helping in some way. They are hoping to be able to provide some much needed financial assistance for Laine, and are accepting donations to this end to the nursery address, 8424 Steamboat Island Road, Olympia, WA 98502 (check payable to Laine McLaughlin, not the nursery). If you want to talk donations, or donate cash, talk to Jay Higgins at 3heartsas1@gmail.com You can also send messages to Laine directly to the nursery email: steamboat@olywa.net

If donating money isn't your thing, you can support the nursery (and hence Laine) by buying their plants. They are participating in the Rhododendron Species Foundation sale this weekend, and I hope I can convince enough people of the need that they sell out of everything they bring to the sale. If I find out about any more sales they are in, I will post it here. Here are details on the sale and how to get there: http://rhodygarden.org/cms/2013-spring-plant-sale/ Even without the need, this sale is a great chance to get some interesting and rare plants just in general.

So enough about that. Let's remember Duane and keep Laine and the Steamboat Island Nursery staff in our thoughts through this difficult time. I may have to make some editions/corrections to this post as I find out more. Thanks for reading.