John lives in the Glencoe area of Scotland. This area can be justly proud as one of the wettest areas in the land (check out Ballachulish in our rainfall records). He has a riverside garden full of rare species and hybrid rhododendrons.
John has been editor of our publications since 2001 and each year issues two journals and a yearbook. The journals are in newsprint format giving reports on what is happening within the SRS. They include articles on the rhododendron show, garden visits and many other short interesting write-ups.
“The World of the Rhododendron” yearbook is our flagship publication, full of colour and interesting articles. Our members supply the articles which are usually in-depth features on botanical travel, plants of interest, garden successes and failures.
John is a veteran of over 14 botanical expeditions to the Sino-Himalayan region and over the years has often accompanied other great plant exploration experts. John is the “go-to” expert on these regions of the world, happy to give advice on the highs and lows of trekking over mountain passes, going on steamy hot riverside walks in Arunachal Pradesh and traversing bridges that you would never think possible to cross over. I personally have been on two trips with John; to wonderful Northern India and then to Sikkim, a little State between Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. John was wonderful company on these trips, just the person to keep you going when the going gets tough.
John is also a member of the show committee and can be seen at the end of the day with his chipper/shredder clearing away all the trusses and sprays from the show benches.
Past publications are available to view and read on this website.
John relies on our members for articles in the publications. They can be given in many formats or even handwritten, so if you have a special plant, garden or just some news, please send it to John for publication.
Author: Willie Campbell,