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PICADO Therese M From: ROBERT Michael J Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2003 1:57 PM To: PICADO Therese M Well, when it rains it pours at Hendricks Park and this Sunday we will begin tours. I haven't got around to advertising this opportunity yet; I have drug my feet because I will be away from work for a couple weeks ( and maybe longer) helping to care for my infirm mother. At this point, I'm planning to miss one Sunday's Rhodo garden tour which Ginny will lead instead and we are planning on regular tours through the entire blooming season as usual. (If something else happens to change this, we'll just have to deal with it at the time. I don't mean to advertise my mother's ill health, but I thought it would help you understand our dilemma.) So, I'll work on a press release and we may want to,€;trategize some press. It usually is a benefit if we promote the event more than once through the 7 weeks. Once now, at the beginning, and once more a week or two ahead of Mother's Day, so that people come ahead of Mother's Day and avoid the crowds. And maybe once more toward the end of the season.. For some of the press, such as the calendar in the Eugene Weekly and in the Register Guard. It would be good to get a notice into their calendars that lasts for the duration. We are getting posters made up through Graphics, as you probably know and we will have a kind of handbill. I'm working on these with Sally and Kathy. In the past Kathy Eva has also helped us to distribute poster intra-City and volunteers and our staff have also helped to distribute them in a wider realm, garden clubs, etc.. KLCC, by the way is glad to announce our tours, but needs a new psa every week by Wednesday or it falls out of their announcements. KRVM and KWVA also regularly pick up these announcements. Also, we need to update the Hendricks Park website with current tour of t least. r I' So a press release: A wonderful blooming season has begun again at Hendricks Park. The canopy of Magnolias crowning over the Rhododendrons appear as clouds of pastels and the early rhododendrons add to a circus of color with many bulbs and perennials on the ground. The Native Plant garden is full of bloom as well as hosts of trilliums, Western Solomon's seal and smaller spring wonders are revealed to curious garden visitors. Tours of these gardens begins on Sunday and the park's gardeners will animate the walks. WILDFLOWER WALKS begin at 11:00 pm and RHODODENDON GARDEN TOURS begin at 1:00 pm. At the F.M. Wilkins Shelter, in Hendricks Park at 2200 Summit Ave. Tours are every Sunday from April 6 through May 18, rain or shine. Dress appropriately and wear comfortable shoes to walk along the hillside paths in the forest and garden. Call ahead if you need special assistance at the Hendricks Park office at 682-5324. The groomed Rhododendron Garden and Native Plant Garden are accommodating to some visitors using wheelchairs although some of the garden paths are steep and some of the forest paths are built with woodchips. Tours generally continue for about an hour and a half depending on interest. Remember that dogs are not allowed in the gardens at Hendricks Park. The Wildflower Walks begin at the Wilkins Shelter and stroll through the Native Plant Garden in the area around the Shelter. From the Native Plant Garden the tour will walk into the forested area of Hendricks Park along gravel paths and a wood chip path where native flowers are in full bloom in the area of the forest which was cleared of ivy during this and last year. The tour leader will show identify the many native plants and answer questions about cultivation and restoration efforts and the building of a Native Plant Garden at Hendricks Park. The Rhododendron Garden tours also begin at the F.M. Wilkins Shelter with a glimpse of the Native Plant Garden surrounding it and then walk across the road to the 12 acre Rhododendron Garden. The parks gardeners will tell of the history of the park and rhododendron Garden and identify the plants each week and answer questions about the care and selection of garden plants. P.P.S. In the upcoming POS newsletter, is it possible to have a reference to the Friends Of Hendricks Park again. Contact info and statement of purpose. The Friends group is growing (nearly 200 members now) and so much more active, and the newsletter reference will help in their major membership building campaign this spring. We need to strike when the iron is hot, or when the flowers are blooming, as the case might be.) 1