Plant Exploration

The ‘Scottish Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society’ (as it was then known) was formed in 1983 during the early years of an era referred to as the “2nd Golden age of plant exploration”.

Botanically rich areas of the world including remote regions of China, Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet were becoming more accessible, creating a surge in plant exploration. Of particular note was the ‘1981 Sino British Expedition to Cangshang (SBEC)’ in Yunnan.

This was to be the first British led expedition to China since the cultural revolution and involved many years of negotiation to gain permission. The expedition was a collaboration between Chinese botanists from the Kunming institute of botany and a selection of distinguished British botanists with various fields of speciality. Led by Bob Mitchell, the team was mostly from Scotland and included rhododendron experts Peter Cox, David Chamberlain and Peter Hutchinson who was also a tree & shrub expert. The renowned botanist Roy Lancaster was also present. This group of five botanists flying into Kunming airport turned many heads as no westernerer had been seen in the region since Joseph rock in 1949.

Peter Cox and Peter Hutchinson (The Two Peters) would accompany each other on many more expeditions accumulating a vast collection of new introductions. This led to the creation of Baravalla woodland garden, a sheltered haven on the west coast of Scotland for tender plants which was protected by the gulf stream. Peter’s son, Kenneth Cox; would continue the family tradition heading to Malaysia and Indonesia in 1990 making this the 3rd generation of plant explorers in the family. Euan Cox (Peters father) accompanied the famous Reginald Farrer on an expedition to Burma in 1919.

Meanwhile, other members of the SRS were also busy organizing their own expeditions. Alan Clark, although never serving on the SRS committee, was a long-time member and would regularly be on the rhododendron show judging panel. With dozens of plant expeditions under his belt, many gardens across the UK are now home to introductions by this nurseryman/plant hunter extraordinaire.

Botanical exploration was becoming an integral part of the SRS with a high percentage of members inspired to become trekkers and heading out to far flung regions of the world. Some explorers making discoveries and forever having a plant attributed to their name, others gaining a better understanding of botany. Whatever the individual’s reason for traveling, the adventure, change of culture and removal of home comforts would prove to be a life changing experience.

With so many new species of plants and new forms of already well-known species being discovered and introduced, an avenue was needed to help promote and share all this activity and enthusiasm. The SRS played an important role in this.

Publications

Plant exploration is discussed at many SRS conferences and early publications of the SRS are full of such accounts. The publications are an important aspect of the society’s work by giving members the opportunity to communicate. The first newsletter was two pages of A4 typed out by Ed Wright on his ancient typewriter. The SRS A4 newsletter soon expanded into a glossy publication and in 1998 ‘The World of the Rhododendron, yearbook no.1’ was published.

Publications Editors
Ed Wright
Mike Thornley
Bill Davidson
Brian Carter
John Roy

Classification and nomenclature

The genus rhododendron is vast and complex making classification a vexing subject. New plant discoveries gave botanists at RBGE an opportunity to reconsider nomenclature within the rhododendron genus. This subject deserves discussion in another chapter but the changes that were proposed directly affected the survival of the young rhododendron society. The SRS was deeply involved in debates held at RBGE. Twenty seven members of the society, guests and speakers met on 1st March 1986 to discuss the challenging topic. Opinions were divided and debates spilled over into very heated arguments. Familiar rhododendron names were being ‘lumped’ in with others and this was met with a lot of resistance.

With classification being so controversial, difficulties were encountered for show organisers in devising a schedule of classes. A compromise show schedule was drawn up, designed to be acceptable to both sides of the divide.

These fierce disagreements came very close to finishing off the SRS.

Arduaine, The spiritual home of the SRS

If the formation of the Scottish Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society (ARS) can be attributed to any one person, then that person is none other than Ed Wright.

The most prestigious rhododendron show in the day was of that organised by the RHS Rhododendron, Magnolia and Camellia Group (RMCG) based in the South of England. Different flowering times and the logistics of transporting blooms over such a distance while keeping them intact were a couple of factors which came into play but a disagreement between Ed and the show judges was the final straw.

Ed Wright would collect questionable trusses from the benches after the show and stop by RBGE on his way home. There, he would show H.H.Davidian the suspect exhibits and on all occasions Davidian would agree that they were indeed ‘mongrels’. Ed complained to the RHS but got no replies. The 1981 show in London was the last RHS show Ed would enter. Convinced the establishment had ganged up against him, he returned home raging and set his sights towards creating Scotland’s own Rhododendron Society.

Controversy was to follow Ed Wright for his whole life.

The Essex nurseryman, along with his brother Harry, moved up to Argyll and took on the challenge of restoring and developing Arduaine gardens. They took over the gardens from the Campbells in November 1971 then the gardens were gifted to the NTS in 1992. Disagreements about how the garden should be run began to emerge.

An article (“A Spring Symphony” by Kathryn Bradley-Hole) was published in Gardeners World magazine publicising the work of the NTS to restore the gardens back to the design under the Campbell’s ownership. The twenty years’ worth of graft and toil by the Wright brothers was unmentioned. This omission would open up a bitter rift between Ed and the NTS that was never to heal and accusations were thrown around for decades afterwards.

The Inveraray Arms

Ed Wright and Peter Cox were members of the ARS for nearly 30 years and they held discussions with Herb Spady (Director-at-large of the ARS) about forming a Scottish chapter. Finally, an inaugural meeting was held at the Inveraray Arms hotel on 25th August 1983 and thus the ‘Scottish Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society’ was formed.

“Support was immediately forthcoming from all parts of Scotland, amply showing that there had been a real need for something of this kind which would be entirely independent of the R.H.S. in London.” Dr F.S. Mackenna.

By the next summer there were 86 members. Membership continued to grow, in part thanks to the Scottish chapter being the only English-speaking chapter outside North America. Members from Venezuela, South Africa, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Iceland, Ireland and both sides of the Scottish border were all to join making it a truly international society from the offset.

Original Committee Members: Feb 1984

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