The Society meets on the second Wednesday of each month from September to June. The December meeting is the popular pre-Christmas pot luck.
Meetings are held at 7:30 pm at the Qualicum Beach Civic Centre on Jones Road in Qualicum Beach.
Website: www.mars.rhodo.ca
Marilyn Dawson at 250-752-3694 or email to dawsom@shaw.ca
Annual Rhodo Show and Plant Sale in April.
Mother's Day Weekend Garden Tour in May.
Contact the club for additional details.
Mount Arrowsmith Rhododendron Society (MARS) became a registered chapter of the American Rhododendron Society in 1989 and is one of nine in BC. Members are from the mid-Vancouver Island area, from Deep Bay o Nanoose and west to Port Alberni, Tofino and Ucluelet.
New members are always welcome to attend a meeting at no charge. Membership includes a subscription to the American Rhododendron Society Journal.
We're a friendly chapter and members are always happy to pass on their expertise.
The mandate of the chapter is to raise public awareness of the genus rhododendron, and to that end, holds an annual judged Rhodo Show and Plant sale every April and the popular Mother's Day Weekend Garden Tour in May.
MARS has always been active in the community. It offers a scholarship at Vancouver Island University to a local student pursuing a career in horticulture. Over the years it has donated funds to Milner Garden and Woodlands, and Communities in Bloom in both Parksville and Qualicum Beach, rhododendrons to Quality Beach and Parksville, Valhalla House (now a hospice) and Rotary Park in Parksville. In 2001, members donated, trucked and assisted in the planting of mature rhodos along the highway in Ucluelet.
In recent years it has worked with Milner Gardens and Woodland to increase the awareness of rhodos, taken part in Seedy Saturdays in February and the Oceanside Garden Show in Coombs in April.