VOLUME 2 Part 1
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Rhododendrons International The Online Journal of the World’s Rhododendron Organizations V i s re n y ro as d en od Rhod Azaleas Volume 2, 2018. Part 1 - Rhododendron Organisations in Countries with American Rhododendron Society Chapters Rhododendrons International 1 Contents ii From the Editor, GLEN JAMIESON 1 Part 1. Rhododendron Organisations in Countries with American Rhododendron Society Chapters 1 Canadian Rhododendron Societies, GLEN JAMIESON AND NICK YARMOSHUK 41 Danish Rhododendron Society, JENS HOLGER HANSEN 45 Rhododendron Society in Finland, KRISTIAN THEQVIST 57 Rhododendrons in the Sikkimese Himalayas, and the J.D. Hooker Chapter, KESHAB PRADHAN 73 Rhododendrons in The Netherlands and Belgium, HENRI SPEELMAN 86 Rhododendron Species Conservation Group, United Kingdom, JOHN M. HAMMOND 95 The Scottish Rhododendron Society, JOHN M. HAMMOND 102 Part 2. Rhododendron Articles of Broad Interest 102 Maintaining a National Collection of Vireya Rhododendrons, LOUISE GALLOWAY AND TONY CONLON 116 Notes from the International Rhododendron Register 2016, ALAN LESLIE 122 A Project to Develop an ex situ Conservation Plan for Rhododendron Species in New Zealand Collections, MARION MACKAY 128 A Summary of Twenty Years in the Field Searching for Wild Rhododendrons, STEVE HOOTMAN 138 Vireyas from West and East: Distribution and Conservation of Rhododendron section Schistanthe, MARION MACKAY JOURNAL CONTACTS Journal Editor: Glen Jamieson, Ph.D. Issue Layout: Sonja Nelson Journal Technical Reviewers: Gillian Brown, Steve Hootman, Hartwig Schepker, Barbara Stump. Comments on any aspect of this new journal and future articles for consideration should be submitted in digital form to: Dr. Glen Jamieson [email protected] Please put “Rhododendrons International” in the subject line. i From the Editor Dr. Glen Jamieson Parksville, BC Canada Rhododendrons International (RI) is an online journal distributed free to all the world’s known rhododendron associations for their internal distribution. It can also be accessed on the American Rhododendron Society website at https://www. rhododendron.org/ri-index.htm. This second issue of RI consists of two parts: Part 1 continues with submissions from countries having rhododendrons societies, while Part 2 initiates the reprinting of articles from the world’s rhododendron societies or organisations that are deemed to have international relevance, and as such, should be more widely distributed. The reason for Part 1 here is that in Rhododendrons International Vol 1 (2016), the article on the American Rhododendron Society (ARS) mentioned that there were chapters of that society in a number of other countries, specifically Canada, Denmark, Finland, India, Scotland, and The Netherlands, and so a decision was made not to also include in that volume articles from the national societies in those countries, in part because of space limitations (the volume was already very large, consisting of three parts) but also because some of the rhododendron activities in these countries were already partially described in the ARS article. While intentional at the time, it was however recognized that this did a disservice to the consideration of rhododendron-related activities in these countries, and so the plan was that in Vol. 2, the histories of rhododendron organisations in these other countries would be included. The exception was with Sweden, which although it also has an ARS chapter was included in RI Vol 1, as it had both a rhododendron society that was associated with the ARS (the South Swedish Rhododendron Society) and one that was not associated (the West and East Divisions of the Swedish Rhododendron Society). So, RI Vol. 2 has articles, in alphabetical order, from Canada, Denmark, Finland, India, Scotland, and The Netherlands. Rhododendrons International Vol 2: Part 2 includes three articles modified slightly from those printed initially in The Rhododendron, a joint publication of the New Zealand Rhododendron Association and the Pukeiti Rhododendron Trust, and later in the journal of the American Rhododendron Society. It also includes two articles from Rhododendrons, Camellias and Magnolias, a publication from one of the RHS Groups. In future issues, I will search in publications for other worthwhile rhododendron articles deemed to be of international significance, and will also welcome submissions from authors of such material that I might not be aware of. ii Part 1. Rhododendron Organisations in Countries with American Rhododendron Society Chapters Canadian Rhododendron Societies Glen Jamieson Parksville, British Columbia, Canada and Nick Yarmoshuk St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada G. Jamieson N. Yarmoshuk CANADA IS A LARGE COUNTRY, WITH A DISTANCE BETWEEN ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland, and Victoria, British Columbia, of 5060 km (3145 miles, Fig. 1). Its northern areas are suitable habitat for only the hardiest endemic rhododendrons, such as Rhododendron tomentosum (northern Labrador tea, Fig. 1. Map of Canada, showing its ten provinces and three territories. Rhododendrons International 1 previously Ledum palustre), R. groenlandicum, (bog Labrador tea, previously L. groenlandicum or L. latifolium) and R. lapponicum (Lapland azalea), but its southern coastal areas (the eastern Maritime provinces (roughly 44-46° N); southern British Columbia (BC), 48.4-49.4° N) and in the St. Lawrence River watershed from Windsor, Ontario, to Montreal, Quebec (roughly 42.3-45.5° N) have a suitable climate for many temperate growing rhododendrons and azaleas. The Maritimes and St. Lawrence River area can periodically experience cold continental winter weather conditions (as low as −37° C (−36° F)), whereas south-western British Columbia (Vancouver area and Vancouver Island) seldom now have temperatures below -10° C (14° F). Summers in central Canada are on the whole warm and humid with a daily maximum average of 26 to 27° C (79 to 81° F) in July, but temperatures in excess of 30° C (86° F) are common. The coastal areas on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have a more moderate milder summer climate. There are six endemic rhododendrons in Canada, two circumpolar (R. lapponicum and R. tomentosum), three in western Canada (R. macrophyllum (western rose bay), R. albiflorum and R. columbianum (western Labrador tea, previously Ledum columbianum), and two in eastern Canada (R. canadense (rhodora) and R. groenlandicum). There are thus four Canadian areas particularly suited for growing most rhododendrons: southwestern BC, southern Ontario, south-western Quebec and the four Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland (Fig. 1). The separate French Société des rhododendrons du Québec has been summarised by Bélisle (2016), and so this article will just summarise the history of rhododendron societies in A. British Columbia (Jamieson) and B. in both Ontario and the Maritimes (Yarmoshuk). All the rhododendron societies in these Canadian areas are now chapters of the American Rhododendron Society (ARS), but this was not always the case. The general characteristics of the ARS have been summarised previously by Jamieson (2016), but here we will go into greater detail about the history and characteristics of each Canadian region’s rhododendron societies. A. British Columbia Geography British Columbia is a large province, exceeding in size the combined areas of California, Oregon and Washington State. However, most of the province is either too mountainous or too cold or dry for the survival of most of the gar- den rhododendron cultivars and species, so BC ARS chapters are all confined to the extreme south-west of the province adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, i.e., the Fraser River valley around Vancouver (called the Lower Mainland), and to Vancouver Island (Fig. 1). Vancouver Island, with BC’s capital city Victoria at its southern end, is the 15th largest island in the Pacific Ocean, and among 2 2018 Table 1: Pacific Ocean islands most suitable for growing the more temperate climate rhododendrons, i.e., excluding the endemic vireya rhododendronislands. https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Islands 2 2 Name Area (km ) Country or Countries Population Population Density/km Honshu 227,960 Japan 103,000,000 451.8 South Island 145,836 New Zealand 1,038,600 7.122 North Island 111,583 New Zealand 3,393,900 30.42 Tasmania 90,758 Australia 514,700 5.671 Hokkaido 77,981 Japan 5,474,000 70.2 Taiwan 35,883 Republic of China (Taiwan) 23,000,000 641 Kyushu 35,640 Japan 13,231,000 371.2 Hainan 35,400 People’s Republic of China 8,900,000 251.4 Vancouver Island 31,285 Canada 759,366 24.27 Shikoku 18,800 Japan 4,141,955 220.3 Hawaii 10,434 United States of America 185,079 17.74 temperate island rhododendron growing areas, is almost as big as Taiwan (Re- public of China), Kyushu (Japan), and Hainan (People’s Republic of China), and is three times larger than the Big Island of Hawaii (USA) (Table 1.). Van- couver Island’s population of about 750,000 is largely confined to its southeast because of its fjordal west coast and its central mountainous areas. Rhododendrons International 3 Early History e There ar presently seven ARS chapters in British Columbia (Fig. 2) – five on south-eastern Vancouver Island in the cities of Courtenay/Comox (North Island Chapter), Parksville/Qualicum Beach (Mount Arrowsmith Chapter), Nanaimo, Duncan (Cowichan Valley Chapter) and Victoria, and two around the mouth of the Fraser River on the mainland, in Vancouver and in the Surrey/Maple Ridge/Langley/Abbotsford (Fraser South Chapter) area of