“Urban Bamboo” will be the theme for the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Bamboo Society, which will be held in San Francisco.
November is the time of the year when San Francisco is at its most beautiful. The weather is mellow and trees are just starting to take on fall colors, and it is a great time for the ABS Annual meeting.
Members of the Northern California Chapter of the ABS (NCC) are inviting specialists from around the country and the world to this event that will be held at the San Francisco Zoo, located on San Francisco's western shoreline. The sixty-acre zoo has a well-established bamboo landscape utilizing many species which grow in the unique summer fogs which the region is famous for. Participants will be given time to wander the zoo grounds and enjoy the grand collection of animals and birds — one of the finest zoos in the nation!
The zoo's facility manager has been a great advocate for bamboo for years (with encouragement from Northern California Chapter member Hastings Schmidt, who donated a great deal of bamboo to the zoo). The NCC quarantine greenhouse is located on zoo grounds. The zoo has a first class meeting facility and a great area for our trade show and plant sales. So plan to come exhibit your wares or bring a board to show what you've been up to.
Planned featured presentations include bamboo architecture from Brazil by Celina Llerena; Hui Xue on plants from Yunnan, China -- some of which are surprisingly cold-tolerant; Gerard Minakawa, a Bolivian-American-Japanese sculptor and furniture maker; all tied together with our general theme of “Urban Bamboo.” Peggy Stern will show the new Chusquea bamboo in the public park in Quito, Ecuador.
Walking tours will focus on urban plantings in San Francisco's downtown as well as the amazing work done in recent years to showcase mountain clumpers in the arboretum at the San Francisco Botanical Garden. All topped off with a party cruise on San Francisco Bay on the last night. Many ABS old-timers will remember the 1994 bay cruise with the backdrop of the city's lights reflected off the shimmering waters.
Mark your calendars for November 7 & 8 - plus the optional days for the ABS events in San Francisco!
Please forgive any changes in the program, dates, or times which may occur as arrangements become finalized. This page will be updated as they do.