The North American Branch of the Maple Society will hold its annual meeting in the Portland area this October! The conference will be Friday-Sunday, Oct. 9-11, at the Embassy Suites hotel near Washington Square mall in Tigard, Ore. Among the speakers will be Dick Van der Maat, a grower of Japanese maples from Boskoop, The Netherlands who has more than 30 years of experience, and a collection with more than 1,000 cultivars. He will speak on new and exciting Japanese maple cultivars grown at his nursery. You can check out the full lineup of speakers and register for the conference at The Maple Society Web site.