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| Tsuga mertensiana 'Blue Star' |
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| The MPL |
I have my Master Plant List in notebook form which is easier
for me to read than looking sideways at a computer screen, and for each plant I
have listed my original source. I mentioned last week that an employee screwed
up the sources horribly, so I had to redo it from memory. Since that disaster
twenty years ago the new administration has had no trouble keeping it accurate.
Well, not so fast my friend. Every time we are given a new plant, or buy one or
discover one ourselves – and even if it is just a little stick of scionwood –
it is added to the MPL. So we're very thorough about that. The problem is to be
sure to take it off if it dies or we accidentally (or on purpose) sell the last
one. For example my start from Europe of Tsuga mertensiana 'Blue Star' took too
long to arrive to me and no scions survived. So we sadly took it off the MPL,
que
lastima. But a few months later I discovered that we rooted about ten
pieces when we were preparing the scions, and so it went back on the MPL after
all. This lapse of memory occurred when I was mentally in my prime, and now
that I am long in the tooth I forget even more.
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| Grandfather with a Rhododendron hybrid |
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| Rhododendron mucronulatum 'Cornell Pink' |
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| Rhododendron 'Elfin Gold' |
I was paging through the MPL the other night, and for me it
was a journey into the past, my horticultural biography. People and places, so
many memories. A common name, especially in the Rhododendron section, is Hatch,
and that would be my Grandfather Gerald. Long ago he gave me R. mucronulatum
'Cornell Pink' and it was brilliant in early spring planted near the office.
Then suddenly it was dead, succumbing to root rot I guess. He also gave me R.
'Elfin Gold', and I have a photo to prove that I once had it, but for the life
of me I don't know where it is. You see, I am tempted to take it off the MPL,
but if I do I'll discover that it prospers in some forgotten corner. Since I'm
uncertain I do nothing...and let another twenty years go by.
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| Rhododendron cinnabarinum 'Small Leaf UBC' |
Rhododendron cinnabarinum 'Small Leaf UBC'
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| Sir Joseph Hooker |
Fortunately the majority of Grandfather's gifts grow well in
the gardens, and we even propagate a few. A handsome Rhododendron cinnabarinum
'Small Leaf UBC'* resides down by the creek at the edge of the woods. As you
can see form the photos the blossoms emerge pretty pink, then evolve to
cream-white with only a hint of the old pink. Leaf undersides are
cinnamon-brown, and one might presume that was cause for the specific epithet,
but in fact it is due to its yellow-to-cinnabar red flowers. The word
cinnabar
is derived from Greek
kinnabari, and it refers to the brick-red color of
mercury sulfide which is the historic source for the scarlet pigment termed
“vermillion.” Actually I wonder if my “species” is correct since my flowers –
and leaves – are so different from the type. The type specimen was introduced
from the Himalayan foothills in 1849 by Sir Joseph Hooker.
*'Small Leaf UBC' is not really a cultivar, but rather a
form grown at the University of British Columbia, and was perhaps collected by
them.
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| Camellia x williamsii 'Water Lily' |
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| Camellia 'Black Opal' |
The sparse Camellia portion of the MPL indicates that four
of them come from visits to Gossler Farms Nursery, while the oddball Camellia
japonica 'Sake Cup' hails from Hawksridge Nursery in North Carolina. A lot of
pages on the MPL list at least one plant sourced from Gossler, with the
exception of conifers. I tell visitors new to the nursery that we grow three
groups of plants: 1) Japanese maples, 2) conifers and 3) everything else, with
the latter group often coming from Gossler. Roger Gossler scours Northwest
nurseries for new and interesting plants, plus he has world-wide contacts. He
has been in the nursery business for five decades, but just as with me he is
only 39 years old. His is a retail nursery that sells plants on site, as well
as a mail-order business, so every gardener in America has access to his
product. I would suggest that the entire Flora Wonder Blog readership hurry
through this blog, then log onto
www.gosslerfarms.com, and for heaven's
sake – and for
your sake – buy something!
Gossler was my source for Callicarpa japonica 'Shiji
murasaki' (patented in America as 'Snow Storm'), Cercidiphyllum japonicum
'Boyd's Dwarf', the variegated Disanthus cercidifolius 'Ena nishiki', Ginkgo
biloba 'Snow Cloud', Hamamelis japonica 'Pendula', Magnolia kobus var. stellata
'Jane Platt', Osmunda regalis, Rosa moyesii 'Geranium' and dozens more. I
suppose that the Magnolia 'Jane Platt' is the real moneymaker of this list, and
it is included in the Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs (2014). Of
course Hillier also lists 'King Rose' from New Zealand which I found to be a
non-event. King Rose is a typical New Zealand plant name; they come up
with Red Dragon, Star Wars, Sweetheart, Vulcan, Apollo and the like.
They're good names I guess, just as NZ people are also good, and I doubt that
any of you have encountered a bad Z-lander? Anyway, I have bragged before that
no retail nursery can have as much fun as shopping at Buchholz Nursery, and
certainly no home gardener can have more fun than shopping at Gossler's.
Bethlehem Nursery is a frequent source on my MPL, and the
late Dennis Dodge from Connecticut was very generous with me. We never bought
nor sold anything to each other, but rather traded, and I have dozens of great
plants from him. Funny, he was well-connected with European collectors even
though, to my knowledge, he never travelled out of the USA. He was particularly
fond of Sciadopitys verticillata – the Japanese umbrella pine – and I received
'Fireworks', 'Golden Parasol', 'Hinge Form', 'Tumbleweed', 'Gold Rush' and
'Yellow Dream' from him. But there was far more, as in an Abies koreana
'Kohout's WB' that was eventually renamed as 'Ice Breaker', even though finder
Jorge Kohout of East Germany prefers that we refer to it as 'Kohout's Ice
Breaker'. We won't, too late, too bad, just 'Ice Breaker' is fine, and we're
selling scads. I can only hope that the Arboretum Kalmthout in Belgium will
plant one near their huge A.k. 'Silberlocke', which is the largest that I have
ever seen, to demonstrate the origin of cultivars.
Hydrangea macrophylla f. normalis 'Quadricolor'
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| Corylopsis glaucophylla |
Arbutus 'Marina'
The now defunct Heronswood Nursery from Washington state was
the source of many plants for Buchholz Nursery. I would drive four or so hours
to get there and pick up* my annual order of about twenty plants. They would be
best described as overpriced and undergrown, but with some effort we could
nurse them into stability, and a few years later we would be able to start
taking cuttings. A lot of the plants had a brief run here, and all that remains
is maybe one in the garden. Hydrangea macrophylla f. normalis 'Quadricolor'
sold well for a few years before the customers scattered. Corylopsis
glaucophylla never did sell, and I've never seen it listed before or after the
one year I acquired it from Heronswood. Arbutus 'Marina' grew fast and was
attractive, but sadly it finally perished in the infamous winter when our
Greenhouse 20 heater conked out. At one point it was fairly new to horticulture
even though the parent tree dates from 1944 in San Francisco, but in 2006 it
was beginning to fall over and was cut down. About ten years ago I was driving
through an attractive Bay Area town – San Rafael I think – and I remember
seeing 'Marina' widely used as a street tree, so it wasn't rare at all. I am
100% certain that I don't have 'Marina' anymore, and it is past due that it
comes off the MPL.
*My last pick up at Heronswood was just before the parent
company pulled the plug and locked the gates. My order consisted of two flats
of small pots which cost over $500, and I loaded them into my car to begin the
long drive home. I didn't pay attention to the invoice until the next day when I
noticed a $35 pick up fee was added. That was the most weird
charge ever in my career.
Sassafras tsumu
Stachyurus salicifolia
Ribes sanguineum 'Brocklebankii'
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| Euphorbia 'Fen's Ruby' |
I began the laborious endeavor to page through the MPL to
find a “successful” Heronswood plant, one that was absolutely a cracker from a
commercial point of view. Then I got the bright idea to have Seth do it from
his computer, and in 20 seconds he handed me a list of 103 plants, and keep in
mind that another 50 or 100 have already been taken off the list. I wanted to
end the Heronswood chapter on a positive note, to credit them with the partial
success of Buchholz Nursery, but to my astonishment there is not a
single one that is in production today. They all turned out to be “esoteric” or
BIO plants (botanical interest only), and none of them ever fed the family or
paid the taxes. To be sure, I am nevertheless happy to have many of these
plants still in the collection, such as Sassafras tsumu (from China),
Stachyurus salicifolia and Ribes sanguineum 'Brocklebankii', and they add to
the overall appeal of the Flora Wonder Arboretum. On the other hand I regret
ever adding Euphorbia 'Fen's Ruby' to the property as the scourge spurge has
spread to almost an acre.
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| Juniperus horizontalis 'Pancake' |
Bletilla ochracea
I added some fun plants to the collection from Siskiyou Rare
Plant Nursery in Southern Oregon, but most of them were from ten-to-twenty
years ago. They used to be “famous for alpines and more since 1963,” but
apparently they have now fallen on hard times. In the old days I received
Juniperus horizontalis 'Pancake' from Siskiyou; I like the name and indeed it
creeps at only an inch above the ground – far more of a hugger than the old
cultivar 'Wiltoni'. It is also fun to stake 'Pancake' or to graft onto short
24” standards. Another success was Bletilla ochracea, the Chinese ground
orchid, hardy to about 0 degrees F. We propagate and grow it for the pretty
flowers, but in Africa it is also cultivated where it has been used by healers
to cure the vampirism disease.
I also acquired Acer orientale*
from Siskiyou, except that it is not a valid species name, and anyway it looked
identical to Acer sempervirens. The "Cretan maple" is native to
southern Greece and southern Turkey where it is usually an evergreen or
semi-evergreen shrub to small tree. In spite of its origin my 20-year-old tree
has survived the freezes of winter when other "more-hardy" maples
have died. We used to propagate by softwood cuttings in summer under mist –
they would strike readily – and they made a cute little plant in a small pot.
But maybe only Siskiyou and I thought it was worth growing as sales were never
strong.
*The name orientale
was coined by Linnaeus, and it was introduced into Europe in 1752.
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| Daphne bholua |
I went through a Daphne phase at Buchholz Nursery, but I
could never get the crew to understand that their watering needs were
different, the Daphnes that is. No employee wants to get caught underwatering anything, and the
"better safe than sorry" approach leads to overwatering and Daphne
death. We kept the various species together and finally I put up a sign that
said "Do not water," which meant that I would tell you when you
should water. One time I walked into the greenhouse and saw the Daphne bholua
wilting and I immediately put the hose to them. They perked up but due to the
stress they picked up a bad case of mites. That event occurred when we exceeded
100 degrees for three days in a row. I didn't know how to convey, "Don't
water unless the plants need water," even though the watering crew
had all been employed by me for over ten years. I can't do rocket science and
they can't grow Daphne.
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| Silene davidii |
We hit up the alpine nursery of Mt. Tahoma* for new plants
just a year before proprietor Rick Lupp retired. His was known as a hobby
nursery that was full of cool plants, and the little gems provide great
accompaniments for our pumice gardens and troughs, plus we sell a lot of the
crops individually. I new nothing about Silene davidii until we acquired a
start from Rick. It comes from alpine meadows in China where it forms compact
cushions with relatively large rose-pink flowers compared to the tiny green
leaves. The specific name honors the French missionary Pere Armand David who is
no stranger to regular readers of the Flora Wonder Blog. Silene (Cy-lee-nee) is the feminine form of Silenus, a Greek woodland deity, and it
is occasionally used as a girl's name. Along with the Lychnis genus, Silene is
commonly called the "moss campion." Campion is a variant of champion.
The Greek lychnis is derived from stephanomatikos for making garlands with
which the winners of games were crowned.
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| Mt. Rainier |
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| Admiral Peter Rainier |
*Tahoma was the Native
American name for the mountain that the early British explorers felt compelled
to rename as Mount Rainier. No one knows for certain the origin of Tahoma, but
in various native languages it can mean "snow peak," "frozen
water," "above everything" or "mother of waters." Mt.
Rainier honors Admiral Peter Rainier, a rotund British Naval officer who never
saw the mountain. On May 8, 1792 George Vancouver bestowed the name for his
friend, and the only thing appropriate is that the 14,410' peak in Washington
has a western side that averages 126 inches of rain every year, or about four
times as much as I receive at the nursery. At Paradise, Washington, a record of
93.5 feet of snow fell in the winter of 1971-1972, and it is known as the
snowiest place on earth.
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| Rhododendron 'Wren' |
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| Rhododendron anthopogon 'Annapurna' |
Also from Mt. Tahoma came a good handful of dwarf-species
and hybrids of Rhododendron, and it has been fun getting to know them. R.
'Wren' blooms prolifically and it will only grow to two feet tall in ten years.
It was hybridized by the Coxes of Glendoick in Scotland and is the offspring of
R. ludlowii crossed with R. keiskei 'Yaku Fairy' which we also grow. R.
anthopogon 'Annapurna' is a Glendoick selection of R. anthopogon ssp. hypenanthum, and
besides the cream-yellow flowers I like the tiny glossy-green leaves. R.
anthopogon is native to Nepal (and elsewhere) and I saw it near Mt. Everest
which is near Mt. Annapurna. Healing oils are extracted via steam from this
dwarf "rose-tree," and it is a
stimulant which affects fibrous tissue, bones and the nervous system. Yeah,
give me some of that! Annapurna is my favorite mountain in the Himalaya,
located near the Sherpa home of Namche Bazaar, and a nearby monastery used to
house the official Yeti scalp – but I think it was stolen.
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| Abies concolor 'Wattezii' |
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| The Sir Harold Hillier Arboretum |
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| Dr. Bump |
The MPL has a lot of blanks when it comes to sources, such
as with Abies concolor 'Wattezii', and it exasperates me that the history is
lost, and that I am the only one who cares. The late Dr. Bump of Forest Grove,
Oregon – a real plantsman – had just returned from a garden trip through
England, and he was accompanied by his wife who didn't give a hoot about plants
at all. After nearly two hours in the Hillier collection she wasn't impressed
with much of anything...until Sir Harold Hillier marched her past his specimen
of 'Wattezii' which was vibrant with chartreuse new growth. She admitted that
it was the one conifer that she truly loved. Dr. Bump asked me if I could try
to find one for him, and then he never mentioned it again. It took ten or
twelve years but I finally acquired it, and old Bump was quite pleased and
surprised I remembered. I have it in the Flora Wonder Arboretum even though we
don't produce it anymore. Every time I pass 'Wattezii' I think of the Bump
story, but it irks me to no end that I can't remember where it came from.
This blog has caused me to reflect. Not to brag, but I have
a wonderful nursery and plant collection. I am proud then, except that – oops!
– I don't have a retirement.
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