Flora Wonder Blog: Peter Gregory (June 1929-February 2020)

Peter inspecting Acer circinatum 'Witch's Broom'

People in the maple world – botanists, nurserymen and collectors – are talking about the passing of Englishman Peter Gregory. Regular Flora Wonder Blog readers know that I often mention his work with the third and fourth editions of Japanese Maples, where Peter was tasked with updating the first two editions by Oregon author J.D. Vertrees for Timber Press of Portland, Oregon. The first Vertrees edition of 1978 was influential with my decision to collect maples, a hobby that required that I should begin a full-time wholesale nursery. Timber Press chose well to continue their Japanese Maples franchise with Peter Gregory as author and maple detective, and with each subsequent edition the publication improved.

The first time I met Peter was at my nursery a couple of years before the appearance of the 2001 third edition. He was accompanied by Ned Wells of the famous Seattle-area retail nursery Wells Medina, and by the late Harry Olsen, a maple aficionado who has a number of photographs in the third and fourth editions. I'm afraid I was probably negative about the prospects for another maple book, and I expressed concern because a previous Timber Press publication, Maples of the World (1994), contained a lot of mistakes, at least with the Acer palmatum cultivar section. Timber Press didn't appreciate this rustic, nobody nurseryman pointing out their flubs but a number of them involved me, since other nurserymen accused me of falsely claiming to introduce maple cultivars that I had nothing to do with etc. I could only reply that I didn't write the book, nor was I invited to proof it first.

Peter was humble and reserved when I expressed my concerns about the 3^rd edition project, and in hindsight that is probably the last thing he wanted to hear. But he smiled and allowed me to vent... and eventually his positive enthusiasm won me over. I used to have a problem, a compulsion where I needed to fix the world, to set the record straight, to right all wrongs. I'm still subservient to that urge, but at least I am aware of it, and furthermore, aware that my wife, children, friends and employees do not care about or support my righteous zeal. And, as I said earlier, Peter Gregory's involvement with Timber Press's Japanese Maples resulted in a huge improvement over earlier editions, so I should have kept my mouth shut all along.

I've related before that Vertrees asked me in the early 1980s if I was interested in species of maples other than Acer palmatum – and what he meant by that was species other than the stereotypical “Japanese maples” of Acers palmatum, shirasawanum and japonicum. I replied, honestly at the time, “Not particularly.” He concluded, “Well, you will.” He was correct of course, and I now look back upon those days at what an ignoramus I was. And it was Peter Gregory who was instrumental at nudging me further along the Acer species path, and I'm sure he influenced a lot of other maple enthusiasts and professionals as well – he was a subtle but intellectual advocate for a wonderful group of plants.

Initially I didn't care for the bat-wing leaves of certain Asian species, such as Acer nipponicum or Acer tegmentosum, and certainly not for the alder-like leaves of Acer distylum or Acer carpinifolium. Acer fabri looked like a laurel; but inspect: above dangles maple seeds! Once I was given a maple named Acer 'Maltese Cross' by a Midwest grower. A couple of years later Peter was in my greenhouse and he spotted the tree and asked me about it. I didn't have any information and I replied that I didn't even know the species. Peter tore off a leaf and pointed out the milky sap and identified the species as Acer platanoides. I wished he could have spent a year in my nursery to help straighten out the nomenclature of the collection.

For those wishing more information on Peter Gregory's life you can find a piece on the Maple Society website.

I'll honor him silently, without any further verbiage, with the following photographs of maple species.