About The Author
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ARS President Ann Mangels (left) and Rhododendron Journal Editor Glen Jamieson (right) present Steve Henning of Rockland Township, Berks County the ARS Gold Medal at the ARS 2019 International Convention in Malvern. |
The creator and webmaster of Henning's Rhododendron & Azalea Pages is Steve Henning. A member in the American Rhododendron Society (ARS) since 1972, Steve is the District 8 Director, and served as manager of ARSStore.org for 10 years. He was registrar for the ARS 2018 European Convention and is Co-Chair for the ARS 2019 Convention in Philadelphia. He is a regular contributor to the Journal of the ARS.
Steve’s interest in rhododendrons began while growing up in Portland, Oregon. While majoring in Physics and Mathematics at Oregon State University, Steve also studied Botany.
After graduating from Oregon State University in 1962, Steve moved to Berks County, Pennsylvania, to work as a physicist for AT&T Bell Labs. Steve and his wife Darlene bought their home of 55 years in 1965 and, thus, began their interest in gardening. When landscaping around their 1820 Pennsylvania stone farmhouse, they discovered that many plants they had grown up with were not readily available in local garden centers. In particular, the selection of rhododendrons was very limited. In search of greater variety, they went to the 1972 Philadelphia Flower Show in search of the American Rhododendron Society. They were in luck and found an exhibit by the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the ARS who informed them about the Valley Forge Chapter.
Steve has also taken many courses at Longwood Gardens and from the Penn State University Extension Service. When the internet started, there were groups dedicated to various topics where people asked and answered questions about various things in that topic. Steve participated in groups on rhododendrons and azaleas. After seeing many of the same questions asked repeatedly, he started Henning's Rhododendron & Azalea Pages in 1996, to provide one place to reference the many things he learned about the Genus Rhododendron. These are things that many rhododendron experts take for granted, but that new members of the ARS and new "rhodoholics" have to learn over time. He continued to participate in internet groups and added new answers to this website.
Since joining the Valley Forge Chapter in 1972, Steve and Darlene have been active members. Since 1974, Steve has attended just about every national ARS convention. In 1976, 2004, and 2019, the ARS chapters of the Philadelphia area hosted the national ARS convention. In 2009, Steve created a website to support the 2009 ARS Fall Regional Meeting which included a database, created by Mike O'Hara of the Princeton Chapter, of all of the plants available at the meeting's plant sale, Plant Catalogue for 2009 ARS Fall Conference. This list encompassed just about every hybrid rhododendron that had ties to Pennsylvania, including many hybridized in Pennsylvania. Steve served as the Valley Forge chapter president from 2009 to 2012. Since 2012, Steve has served as District 8 Director for the ARS.
On November 9, 2010, the National Arboretum announced it would "be deaccessioning our National Boxwood Collection and the co-located Perennial Collections as well as the Glenn Dale Hillside portion of the Azalea Collection." Steve discussed this with Azalea expert and long-time National Arboretum supporter Don Hyatt. Don recognized that the Glenn Dale azalea collection at the National Arboretum represented "the best repository of such genetic diversity in evergreen azaleas anywhere in the world." In order to prevent the National Arboretum from spending tax payer's money to destroy the world's best evergreen azalea collection, Don and Steve decided that Don would lead a personal education campaign on various media and in talks at garden clubs, while Steve created the website SaveTheAzaleas.org that published all correspondence between the parties involved and archived copies of all newspaper, magazine, TV, and radio articles on the campaign. The campaign went viral.
On June 16, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives passed The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill in which it "directs the National Arboretum to maintain its National Boxwood Collection and the Glenn Dale Hillside portion of the Azalea Collection" and furthermore "encourages the National Arboretum to work collaboratively with supporters of the National Arboretum to raise additional funds to ensure the long-term viability of these and other important collections."
On April 25, 2012, the National Arboretum announced a reversal in its plans and declared the Glenn Dale Azaleas a heritage collection which should be preserved. FONA, Friends of the National Arboretum, raised over 1 million dollars to insure continuing care of the azalea, boxwood and perennial collections.
In 2012, Steve received the ARS Silver Medal, in part, for his efforts to save the azaleas as the National Arboretum and for the various rhododendron related websites he created.
In 2013, the ARS Board of Directors was looking for funds to make up for lagging income and increasing expenses. Steve volunteered to create ARSStore.org. This store brought in over $4,000 to the ARS through referral fees on online purchases. Amazon terminated the program in 2023.
In 2019, the ARS surprised Steve at the 2019 ARS National Convention in Philadelphia where he was Co-chair, by presenting him the ARS Gold Medal Award for significant contributions over a period of time to the Society and to the genus Rhododendron that have national or international impact.
Steve's other activities include Scouting, gardening, traveling, photography and being a Rotarian. Steve was a physicist at AT&T Bell Laboratories for 27 years. After this he served the Boy Scouts of America as a member of the Hawk Mountain Council professional staff. He and his wife, Darlene, enjoy traveling, and have visited all 50 states, all provinces of Canada, and more than 100 countries as they pursue their interests in rhododendrons, gardening, Scouting, Rotary, and photography.
After living in Berks County and raising rhododendrons for 54 years, Steve and his wife, Darlene, moved to an independent living community in Lancaster County in 2019. There Steve joined in an effort to create an Arboretum for the over 700 residents. Woodcrest Villa Nature Trail & Arboretum became an accredited arboretum in 2022. Steve & Darlene enjoy other people's gardens. They continue to attend ARS Conventions which include many garden tours and are members of the Lancaster Garden Club.
Steve is webmaster for Henning's Rhododendron & Azalea Pages, Plant Catalogue for 2009 ARS Fall Conference, SaveTheAzaleas.org, ARS2018.org, ARS2019.org and the ARS/Tyler Rhododendron Test Garden. Steve is also webmaster for the following sites: Woodcrest Villa Nature Trail & Arboretum, International Fellowship of Scouting Rotarians, Scouters' Pages, and his home page. He also wrote a book for the Boys Scouts of America, On My Honor, The Hawk Mountain Council Story ... 1908 - 2010, the story of how Scouting was founded in 1907 and came to Pennsylvania in 1908 where it has prospered for over 100 years. He has also created history websites for the American Rhododendron Society; the Valley Forge Chapter, ARS; the AT&T Reading Works, and the Lancaster Rotary Club, .
