Trees in parks and gardens 2010

[johnw]

Stephen - I have changed my previous posting to read ...Hilliers .....seed a plant or plants

I wonder who M. & H. 173 are?  Were they a Hillier's team that collected the early batch of 'Coreana' seed in Korea or private individuals?  Perhaps they gave Hilliers the seed and and then it was passed along to the Arnold.  I suppose Hilliers couldn't grow on every batch of seed received from others. Coincidental the Arnold was to receive such seed months apart! Or maybe it sparked the Arnold's interest and they headed off to Korea themselves.

Our coastal climate shares your lack of late Spring frosts.

johnw

[Stephenb]

Found it! Searching the Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs on Google books (much quicker than searching my own copy!) I found a reference to Carl Miller and Sir Harold Hillier (himself), (M. & H. 308) , having collected seed of Corylus sieboldiana in Korea in 1976!

However, the entry under Paulownia doesn't have any mention of coreana (only P. tomentosa "Lilacina" syn P. fargesii)

However, Hillier did introduce Carpinus coreana on the same trip.

Harold Hillier relinquished his duties becoming President of Hilliers Nurseries in the mid-70s which allowed him to travel. Apart from the Far East he was also in "the Americas", so perhaps he even took the seed with him to the US, inspiring the new trip later in 1977?  

[johnw]

Great work Stephen. The late Carl Ferris Miller was later known as Min Pyong Gal and founded the Chollipo Arboretum.  Had a bit of correspondence with him many years ago. He was a very interesting character and collected some very high quality plants.  I got seed of Magnolia sieboldii he collected at high altitude one year and it is a vast improvement of the regular and quite inferior sieboldiis in the trade.  One plant from the seed lot is especially good and some have suggested we should name it.  We usually collect all its seed annually and send it hither & yon.

It seems Carl played a bit of a role in the Arnold Expedition as you will read in this article published in Arnoldia. You will note that they say P. koreana so I am not losing my mind as for a long time that's what I called it.  Perhaps this "species" was in dispute and both expeditions used the 'Coreana ' to denote a problem.  Jack may have informed me of the nomenclatural problem years ago in a letter or when he visited or I read this very article, I subscribed to Arnoldia since the early 70's.

http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1055.pdf

BTW The classic Hillier's Manual of 1973 makes no mention of P. koreana or variations of the same.

johnw

[Stephenb]

Amazing story which is unfurling here (I love plants that tell stories...). Fascinating story of Miller too and how the arboretum was established - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Ferris_Miller !

I wonder if Roy Lancaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Lancaster) has written anything about this - he's had a long collaboration with Hilliers and lives locally (incidentally near to where I also grew up!). Anyone know how to contact Roy?

[Maggi Young]

 We are in contact with Roy .... I'll write to him after the seasonal chaos clears from the postal system.

[Stephenb]

Excellent, Maggi!! Thanks!