[pbs] Time travel and ancient plants
Jane McGary
janemcgary at earthlink.net
Mon Nov 12 12:54:38 EST 2007
Bill (and we're all glad he escaped from his recent accident unharmed!) wrote:
>This can serve as a reminder to all present-day breeders, and collectors of
>rare plants, to make sure the fate of their collections is provided for in
>their Will, as so often family members have little appreciation of the
>historic
>significance of what we do. Also during one's life, try to distribute
>worthwhile plants as much as possible.
Although I don't hybridize plants, I do grow a lot of very scarce ones, and
I've done both the things Bill suggests. Not all my plants make it onto my
annual surplus list, but I try to send very special ones to people who live
in more hospitable climate zones where the plants are in less danger from
cold winters. In two cases, I found I was the only recipient of certain
seed collections who was still growing the species, and I was glad to learn
this so I could get them to specialists. I also have some mystery plants
(iris, tulip) from Halda collections of some years ago that I wish would
increase so I could split them up.
Another thing I'm planning to do is to transfer a lot of my stock to a
younger friend who is a skilled professional grower building a nursery.
Then when I finally abandon my rural lifestyle for a smaller place in the
city, the bulbs will still be available to the public.
I can't understand why some gardeners are miserly with their plants. It
seems to contradict the love of nature that brings us to gardening. It is
sometimes anxiety-provoking to send off a bulb to an address where I think
it won't prosper, but who knows? The recipient may be ten times the grower
I am, and Calochortus may flourish in Michigan.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA
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