News from National President Faith Tiberio

 “Daffodils…..Ten thousand saw I at a glance…..” William Wordsworth.

 The duck heist took place last week amid the daffodils on the Common and had the Bostonians saddened and shaking their Puritan heads in disbelief.  Over the weekend someone sawed off one of the bronze “Make Way for Ducklings” ducks and made off with it.  This theft in the Public Gardens has diminished Boston’s pleasure of its golden daffodils, Blue Squills and budded tulips.  By the time you arrive for the June meeting, we hope all will be right again.

 Wonderful letters, stories, recipes and reports are arriving: one of our scholarship students went to South America for research and encountered a rare speckled bear, deep in the forest. Another found that insects will not eat invasive plants which are crowding native plants. This poses a threat to our food supply for which insects are a vital link. Insects “eat locally” just as we are being urged to do.

 Jenny Rose Carey is conducting several different arboretum programs at our Ambler base. Also from Ambler comes news from a former staff member, Val Libbey, who is writing a book on Jane Haines, founder of the Ambler College. Val will attend our June meeting.

 A newsletter from the Clarkson Michigan branch has many useful reports on its plans and activities.  All of these Newsletters I have received point to the vitality and important community service provided by our members. How proud I am to be part of this ever-growing, ever-giving organization.

 One of the William Wordsworth lines that follows the quote above from “Daffodils” is “…my heart with pleasure fills.” That is how I feel about WNF & GA.
Faith
 
P.S. Please visit the News from Michigan blog for the Troy Branch program on Bees.