ROCK GARDEN COVER: Dudleya cymosa by Paul Martin of Golden, Colorado All Material Copyright © 1996 North American Rock Garden Society ROCK GARDEN QUARTERLY BULLETIN OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY formerly Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society VOLUME 54 NUMBER 1 WINTER 1996 FEATURES Kuril Island Adventure, by Katie Sauter 3 Sakhalin in Bloom: View from Russia, by Vladimir Safonov 17 Mountains of Turkey to Mt. Olympus and Beyond, by Phyllis Gustafson 29 Gaultherias Native to Temperate North America, by Arthur P. Dome 43 Cyclamen for Minnesota Gardens, by Karen Schellinger 51 Saxifrages, by Josef Starek 55 For Love of Utah, by Loraine Yeatts 61 DEPARTMENTS Plant Portrait 64 Book Reviews 65 INTERNATIONAL Brat Chirpoevo°Chirpoi KURIL ISLAND PROJECT » 2 ROCK GARDEN QUARTERLY VOL. 54(1) KURIL ISLAND ADVENTURE by Katie Sauter For a decade I dreamt of explor• entomology, arachnology, malacology, ing the Kuril Archipelago, a string of ichthyology, and mammalogy. He islands that connects the north end of joined similar groups from the Japan to the southern tip of Russia's University of Hokkaido, Japan, and Kamtchatka Peninsula. To me the the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Kuril Islands seemed as remote and Academy of Sciences to augment col• pristine a place as one could hope to lections of the flora and fauna of the find in temperate regions today, a vast Kuril Islands. IKIP will collect on all of unknown to be discovered as natural• the islands in the archipelago over a ists in the last century "discovered" five-year period. The 1995 expedition, other frontiers. Of military importance aboard the Russian research vessel to Russia and partially claimed by "Professor Bogorov," visited the mid• Japan, the islands remain highly inac• dle islands of Urup, Chirpoi, Simushir, cessible to the casual visitor. Thus, I Ketoi, Ushishir and Rasshua. could hardly contain my excitement Urup and Simushir are the farthest when I was invited to accompany, as south and the largest of the islands we translator and photographer, the visited; we spent most of our time International Kuril Island Project exploring them. Like all the Kuril (IKIP) expedition in August of 1995. Islands, they are of volcanic origin, With the additional help of a generous with great conical hills rising at inter• grant from NARGS I was able to vals along their lengths. We stopped at indulge in my photography habit to several different points on Urup and the limit, free to photograph anything Simushir. Three of them support small and everything I saw. military outposts, but the other places IKIP is the brainchild of Dr. were as remote as one could possibly Theodore W. Pietsch of the University hope for. The coastline of both islands of Washington's Burke Museum and is was characterized by low cliffs rising funded by the National Science out of the sea for miles, punctuated Foundation (NSF). Dr. Pietsch assem• here and there by long stretches of bled a group of American scientists sandy or rocky beach where the coast and students in the fields of botany, was slightly indented to form a bay. 3 We put to shore on these beaches and bamboo which blocked even the most for the most part met with a solid wall determined effort to pass through. of high meadow reaching clear to the One easily recalls the lure of the rock tops of nearby ridges. Many of the garden when one is perched on a slip• bays had streams or rivers flowing pery hillside surrounded by this 5'- into them, and climbing up along high, defiant meadow and being slow• these water courses was often the most ly consumed by clouds of insects. practicable path into the interior. At However, when on occasion we the south end of Urup low alder or were fortunate enough to rise above birch trees usually ran up along the this torturous vegetation, as was streams and clustered in more shel• increasingly possible as we moved tered areas on the inner slopes of the north, we were rewarded with much ridges, but elsewhere in the south and more appealing vistas underfoot. On continuing north the lower slopes the higher plateaus an unlikely collec• were solid high meadows rolling as far tion of plants began to appear beneath as the eye could see. the tall meadow, which gradually These meadows contained, in addi• faded almost away. This assortment tion to prodigious quantities of a par• included an almost continuous mat of ticularly obnoxious kind of biting fly, Empetrum nigrum interspersed with a several species of grasses, sedges, and wide variety of mosses, one of them a umbellifers (one of which caused our bright crimson; various species of skin to break out in blisters), stinging Vaccinium, some in delicious fruit; and nettles, and unwavering stands of a host of other miniature circumboreal species I happily recognized Sedum roseum from home, including Mai- anthemum dilatatum and Linnaea borealis. Scattered across on the spongy ground were species of Campanula, Geranium, Szvertia, Pedicularis, Halenia, orchids, tiger lilies, and many other flowers offering a brilliant array of color to further reward the eye. Sedum roseum appeared here and there, and at the southern tip of Urup a small juniper joined the understory. Also at the southern tip, the Empetrum meadow never quite managed to break loose from the taller grass meadow, but the farther north (or higher) we went, the more it gained the upper hand until at Rasshua, the island farthest north on our itinerary, the grasses constitut• ed a much smaller part of the flora. The Empetrum meadow was everywhere interrupted by 4 ROCK GARDEN QUARTERLY VOL. 54(1) Malaya Bay, Simushir photo, Katie Sauter Kitoboynaya Bay, Simushir Anaphalis margaritacea, Campanula sp., on Ketoi photos, Katie Sauter 6 ROCK GARDEN QUARTERLY VOL. 54(1) Barkhatny Bay, Urup photo, Katie Sauter Swertia tetrapetala on Simushir Caryophyllaceae species on Kunashir Lathyrus sp., at Otkryty Bay, Urup Orchid on Chirpoi photos, Katie Sauter 8 ROCK GARDEN QUARTERLY VOL. 54(1) small lakes of low shrubs. Pinus pumila was the most common species, but with Alnus maximow- iczii and Sorbus sambucifo- lia as frequent compan• ions. These were 3-4' high on average in the south, and wading through them was com• plicated at best, but they were of shrinking stature to the north until with a decent sense of balance you could walk right over the tops of them. Wandering through the Empetrum fields became my goal at every stop, although often the obstacles were daunting. In addition to the dread• ed tall meadows and thick patches of Pinus pumila we encountered thickets of huge-leaved Petasites well over our heads in height, steep, wet bluffs of rotten rock Aln us mnxwwwiczu oozing with slippery algae, and once The next island on our itinerary was an army outpost that forbade us to Rasshua, farthest north of the trip, just climb above the shore in its vicinity. about parallel with Seattle. Instead of Fortunately, when climbing was sim• being long and narrow like Urup and ply not feasible, the rocks and cliffs Simushir, it is an oval shape. With a near the shore often proved to be little effort you can walk across it and nearly as interesting botanically. Most back in one day. The routine was of the cliffs supported a limited col• beginning to get a little old—up at 7:00 lection of species that remained more a.m., eat at 7:45, hit the boat at 9:00 for or less consistent throughout the cen• a trip to shore. We dragged a bit get• tral islands. The most ubiquitous of ting to the boat. However, once on these were Chrysanthemum arcticum, a shore things changed. First—foxes! couple members of the Caryo- Brave foxes who have no experience phyllaceae, a few grasses, and Sedum with humans, walking down the roseum, which has inserted itself into shore, skirting camp, curiously drag• a surprising number of habitats on ging away people's coats and bags and the islands. Also found at various searching for bits of food. Once we stops were, among other things, were all on shore and had our fill of species of Lathyrus, Campanula, and proximity to curious foxes, we set out Papaver. en masse for the lake that was suppos- KURIL ISLAND ADVENTURE 9 edly just on the other side of the ridge way was much eased by the appear• above the beach. Getting up to the ance of what must have been a road ridge was, as usual, a bit of a chal• long ago. The road cut through the lenge. First we waded through a cou• bushes in a straight line up to the ple hundred yards of Petasites. Once ridge, which was covered with soft through that we had about a quarter sphagnum moss and awash with mile of hand-and-foot scrambling up a blooming flowers—heaven for rock very steep slope. Dragging my camera gardeners. Poking up everywhere gear up was excuse enough for me to were the bright blues, yellows, pinks, rest frequently—to look at the family and whites of Geranium, Gentiana, of four white-tailed sea-eagles stead• Campanula, Pyrola, Cornus, Halenia, Iris, fastly occupying the nearby cliffs, to Szuertia, Hypericum, and Pedicularis, to photograph the view down the island, name a few. to marvel at the Rhododendron Eventually I reached the ridgetop camtschaticum (photo, p. 13) blooming and looked far down into the caldera— underfoot. By the time I reached the a sweeping grass meadow (mercifully top I was out of breath, but my sense short grass, and free of biting insects) of wonder quickly overpowered all with two lakes in the center.