In order to meet the costs required to publish this book, our Society organised many activities over the last two years to raise funds. One such activity was a 10 day tour of Victoria and South Australia in October, 1987. It was on this tour that we met Mrs. E. Middleton.
While the Coach driver allowed the passengers a few hours to look over Mildura, George & Dot Baker had morning tea at the local Mildura Red Cross tea rooms. During general conversation with the staff serving them, the waitress asked if they were visitors to the town, (as normal in country towns, they can pick the non-locals). George replied that they were with the Geranium Tour from Sydney. The waitress then asked had they seen Mrs. Middleton's collection of geraniums", They hadn't heard of Mrs. Middleton, but George asked to be directed, and in true country style, first left, walk two blocks, past the Church on the right hand side, etc. So they set out and found her.
What a beautiful sight they saw. Mrs. Middleton allowed the Coach and all the passengers to return later that day. Everyone was delighted with her magnificent collection, and the hospitality shown to us all by Mrs. Middleton will long be remembered. She admitted having never belonged to a Geranium Society in her life, just loved them and swapped over the years to build up a collection which would have put many so called "geranium collectors" to shame.
We invited Mrs. Middleton to submit her list of hybridised cultivars to us for inclusion in our book and the following are her contributions to 'Australian Geraniums',
We wish to thank Mrs. Middleton for taking part in our project and include her as 'a true lover of geraniums'.
| Andreanna | large white flower, two blood red blotches, seedling of 'Aquarius' |
| Crystabelle | pale mauve, almost white, plum blotches on all petals. |
| Happy Jo | blush pink, two red blotches. |
| Hi Jude | salmon red. |
| Lady Madonna | a flat red/black flower, seedling of 'Morwenna'. |
| Nicolina | salmon, small flower, frilly, seedling of 'Monte Zee'. |
| Pamela | begonia pink, deep red blotches. |
| Tara Sunshine | deep magenta purple, large white eye. |