Bulletin - Fall 1976 - North American Rock Garden Society

Bulletin of themericanRock Garden SocietyVol. 34 Fall, 1976 No. 4THE COMPOST PILEANNUAL MEETINGThe annual meeting of the ARGS took place in Seattle during theConference. A new president, vice-president, and secretary were elected, aswell as three new directors.Our new president is James A. (Jim) Minogue, who has been chairmanof the Potomac Valley Chapter since 1974. He was born and broughtup in the "sub-arctic" terrain of northeastern Minnesota, took his professionaltraining in geography at Clark University, the great center of such studies,worked in land-use planning in Mississippi, "where there wasn't a stonelarger than a pea in thousands of square miles," and as a geographerin the National Archives and the Department of Defense. He retired in1970.It's hard to imagine a more useful background for rock gardeningthan geography, for that discipline was fundamentally ecological before theterm "ecology" became fashionable, and Jim must have an understandingof factors, both climatic and edaphic, that the rest of us can only gropeafter. Serious gardening, however, came only in the 1960s after the demandsof a career, and of raising four daughters, abated somewhat. Since thattime the Minogues, Jim and Adelaide, have been active in horticulturalcircles in the Washington area. Both are volunteer guides at the NationalArboreum. Jim is a Member-at-Large of the National Capital Area Federationof Garden Clubs. Both are deeply interested in indoor light gardening and149