Sunday 6 March 2016

Harry Dewey, 1921-2016

Harry Dewey, June 2006
A brief notice in the Washington Post has announced the death of Harry Dewey on 17 February. A native of South Carolina, his career was as a librarian in universities and colleges in the Washington DC area, where he lived in Beltsville. He was interested in alpines and was a member of the Potomac Valley Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS), within which he was mildly active. He was early to perceive the power of the internet for communication, and in 1995 he founded the online rock garden society Alpine-L, based on the Listserv system.

Alpine-L was, I believe, the first online plant group, the precursor of today's thriving online community of plantspeople who now use Facebook groups, or for example, the Scottish Rock Garden Club's forum. It functioned entirely by emails being multiplied to its members - there was no journal and no (formal) meetings ever occurred, but it brought together enthusiasts from across the world and a flourishing and friendly group soon developed. It flourished, and was friendly largely due to benign but firm moderation by Harry, whose admonitions under the pseudonym Miss Emaily Post were generally promptly acted upon. I joined in late 1995, and the diversion of the correspondence certainly helped me get through the completion of my thesis. Through it I made contact with many people in American horticulture and enabled me to build strong connections there, notably with Bobby Ward, the horticultural author and current Executive Secretary of NARGS, who consulted on my first book The Gardener's Atlas, and remains a great friend. Another was Nina Lambert, from Ithaca, NY, with whom I exchanged plants in those less restrictive days, reusing a padded envelope for numerous missives across the Atlantic. Her orange celandine, Ficaria verna Aurantiaca Group, was much admired by garden visitors today.

I met Harry in Washington DC in 2006, and his first comment was 'the bloom has faded', but we had a lovely evening at the home of fellow rock gardener Sasha Borkovec, in humorous good company. I've never forgotten Sasha's wall built of newspapers, a remarkably long-lasting and effective construction.In December 2007 Harry had a severe stroke and faded from view, just as Alpine-L has faded as other platforms have become available. It still functions, just, hosted by the University of Utrecht Botanic Garden. Traffic is almost non-existent, but the archive of past posts is maintained, a mine of information, if only one had time to delve into it.

12 comments:

  1. Thank you for such a poignant memoriam for a real pioneer. The newspaper walls are so original.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent, John … many thanks for this fine tribute to a wonderful man ad a true innovator.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a lovely tribute. I remember Harry well from Alpine-L. He was generous and funny. And I'm pretty sure his birthday was February 29th.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anyone has good tips for garden soil for growing chilies ?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I met Harry onl once or twice in snail time and he more than lived up to my expectations from Alpine-L. Your tribute is spot on (as you Brits say!). It feels like a hundred years ago rather than just a quarter century--I have dipped back into those Alpine-L archives once or twice. We could use a spare lifetime or two, that's for sure. I have to admit--I'm a bit shocked by your marriage counseling function: Harry would have great fun in his Cat's seat reading the Junia and Clare's missives! The Internet continues to mystify and surprise...

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great Tribute to an Awesome personality! His biography inspires us all.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My husband broke up with me last week, i was so frustrated and i could not know what next to do again, i love my husband so much but he was cheating on me with another woman and this makes him broke up with me so that he can be able to get marry to the other lady and this lady i think use witchcraft on my husband to make him hate me and my kids and this was so critical and uncalled-for,I cry all day and night for God to send me a helper to get back my man until i went to NY to see a friend and who was having the same problem with me but she latter got her Husband back and i asked her how she was able to get her husband back and she told me that their was a powerful spell caster in Africa name Dr.Unity that he help with love spell in getting back lost lover back and i decided to contacted the same Dr.Unity and he told me what is needed to be done for me to have my man back and i did it although i doubted it but i did it and the Dr told me that i will get the result after 48hours, and he told me that my husband was going to call me by 9pm in my time and i still doubted his word, to my surprise my husband really called me and told me that he miss me so much, Oh My God i was so happy, and today i am happy with my man again and we are joyfully living together as one good family and i thank the powerful spell caster Dr.Unity of Unityspelltemple@gmail.com , he is so powerful and i decided to share my story on the internet that good spell casters still exist and Dr.Unity is one of the good spell caster who i will always pray to live long to help his children in the time of trouble, if you are there and your lover is turning you down, or you have your husband moved to another woman, do not cry anymore contact the powerful spell caster Dr.Unity on his email: Unityspelltemple@gmail.com .if you have any problem contact Dr.Unity, i give you 100% guarantee that he will help you. Thank you sooooo much!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Life is all about good and bad experience...i was hurting REAL bad when my husband left me but now i can't really believe that i am with my Ex-Husband again and With this little short time and just want to use it in thanking the great man that brought joy back to my life within 48 hours by bringing back my lover. Yes it was true that i had some difficulties with my lover but today i am back here to tell the world that Dr.goodluck brought my lover back to me. I have always heard of love spell but i never had an idea of how effective it can be. Well my time is up just contact Dr.goodluck at his email goodluck05spellcaster@gmail.com and you can also whatapp him or call with his mobile +2349059610309. To enable you have a taste of his great work...

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is the most wonderful thing i have ever experienced. I visited a forum here on the internet on the 17 APRIL 2016, and i saw a marvelous testimonies on the forum about the good works Doctor Osemu. Am Brooklyn Gray from United States. I never believed it, because have never heard anything about such miracle before. No body would have been able to convince me about it not until Doctor Osemu did a marvelous work for me that restored my marriage of 4 years by getting back my divorced wife within 12 to 16 hours with his spells just as i read on the internet. I was truly shocked when my wife came home pleading for forgiveness to accept her back. Am really short of words to show my appreciation to Doctor Osemu. For his a God sent to me and my entire family for divine restoration of marriage. Are you in need of any help whatsoever? Don't hesitate to get in touch with him now via his Email: (Doctorokpamenspelltemple@yahoo.com), Website: (www.doctorokpamenspells.com), or Cell number +1 (914)-517-3229 for more inquiries.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hello,
    I Read the article of a very great spell caster and it seems very helpful to me. I haven’t had the chance to have a proper relationship with my ex because we work together. This will be the final week or work and then I wont be around him constantly. Unfortunately, I broke one of the rules in the article and have been sleeping with him. Something I’m
    not proud of, especially since he has a girlfriend. Not to mention that she’s a girl he dated off and on for 3 years before he dated me.
    When I asked him why he kept sleeping with me even though he was in a relationship, his response was because I wanted it, and he wants me to be happy. But obviously what would make me happy would be to have him all to myself. That was when i read about dr alexzander on how he help people in saving their relationship and i was really despirate for his help. There were things in our relationship that were tough. We traveled for 4 months right in the beginning, and it was hard due to different expectations. When we returned our living situation was unstable which caused a lot of stress on my end. And when I ask why he didn’t give me a chance to make things better he said he gave
    me tons of chances. Oh, and he compared our relationship with his past. He says that things were great, and then they went bad really fast, and thats why his back with his ex. Because it at least took them years for things to get that bad. So i was very sad and disappointing and decided to contact this spell caster for help with tears running out of my
    eyes and Dr alexzander promised to make things right in my relationship and also assured me that my boyfriend is going to come back to me within 78hrs. At first i was shock and didnt believe him because i thought it was impossible to do. But i gave it a try and trusted him. Dr alexzander asked for my details and his, then guarantee me of his return. Truely my ex lover started calling me and also begging me to forgive him and that's his willing to give us a second chance, then promised me never to love any other woman apart from me. it all seem like a miracle to me till now. Dr alexzander. Words can't express how i feel right now. it been 2 month now since you casted that love spell for me and
    nothing have gone bad between us. his now caring more than ever and also the loving kind of Man i have ever wanted for myself in life. I thank you Dr alexzander for saving my relationship. Indeed you are the best. I want to use this media to share my testimony for the whole world to see and know that there is still hope in your broken relationship, No matter how bad it seems don't give up hope and also contact this man who saved my own. you can reach him through his website address http://alexzanderhightemple-com.webs.com or contact him direct with his email address alexzanderhightemple@gmail.com. I thank you dr alexzander for helping me and i will always share my testimony in every social media or place i may go to.
    (From United State Of America).
    Mrs Tracy Grilli.!
    http://tracygrilli.blogspot.com.tr

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.