London Calls

In late January, I was handed a small stack of mail, and on top was an envelope from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which I assumed to be a journal renewal notice. Upon opening the letter below, I sat stunned, unable to even fall from my chair, which would have been the appropriate response. After finally moving past the idea that this must be someone’s idea of a practical joke, the surreal nature of the moment began to sink in. In the horticultural world, the Veitch Memorial Medal is considered an almost unattainable career pinnacle, recognizing in the eyes of the UK’s Royal Horticultural Society “persons of any nationality who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the science and practice of horticulture”

So, for those who aren’t entwined in the world of horticulture, what is a Veitch? The Veitch Nurseries (1808-1969) were the largest group of family-run plant nurseries in Europe during the 19th and early 20th century. The House of Veitch, as they were known, employed twenty-two recognized plant hunters, including three members of the Veitch family. By the start of WWI, they had introduced 1241 new plants to commerce. The award commemorated James Veitch (1815 –1869), who was the third in a long line of the Veitch family. James Veitch, whose nursery was located in Chelsea was instrumental in establishing the now famous Chelsea Garden Show.

I have followed the new Veitch Memorial Medal recipients for decades, and have been fortunate to know 27 of them personally. To help grasp what was happening now, I was prompted to dig even deeper into the list of past winners. As I did, it was shocking to learn that only 37 Americans had ever been so honored, in the nearly 150 year history of the award. As one who spent much of their life being a social oddity with a bizarre plant obsession, it’s fascinating how others perceptions of our gifts/curses change as we traverse life’s journey.

Our sister institution, the JC Raulston Arboretum will be holding a celebratory dinner event on May 14, that will double as a JLBG Endowment Fundraiser. You can find more about, and sign up for the Wednesday evening dinner (6pm-8:30pm) at the JC Raulston Arboretum here Attendance is limited, so if you are interested, do not delay. My friend, and Veitch Medal recipient, Dan Hinkley, who founded Heronswood in Washington State, has already reserved his spot, so we hope you can join us.

With an already packed spring schedule, it was challenging to squeeze in an overseas trip, but with some local urging, it seemed the right thing to do. So, in late March, I was off for a whirlwind trip to the UK. I began to wonder if I’d made the right choice, when London’s Heathrow Airport closed due to fires, just three days before my scheduled flight. Thank goodness, my overnight flight went off without a hitch. To be sure I’d be reasonably coherent for the ceremony, I arrived a day prior to the luncheon. With a half day to spare after my early morning touchdown, I thought I’d explore Kew Gardens, since I’d never been able to fit it into my schedule before. Like JLBG, Kew Gardens also houses 27,000 living plant taxa, but they do so on 400 acres, compared to our 28 acres.

The first order of business was to figure out how to navigate the London mass transport system, since most of us from Juniper Level are sorely lacking in subway experience, other than ordering sandwiches with the ap. Overwhelming is the word that came to mind, as I studied the Heathrow airport subway map, which had more different lines to choose from than you’d find at a single’s pick-up bar.

Without too many issues, I was shockingly able to navigate to the proper station, where I disembarked just two blocks from my hotel, and another two blocks from Kew Gardens. The Kew Gardens Hotel I’d booked is a rather new (by English standards) 20-room property, built in 1863, with the lower floor recently converted into a pub/restaurant. The food was delicious…the hotel, quaint. Most horticulturists consider Kew Gardens to be the crown jewel of British horticulture. I knew I’d have my work cut out, to cover as much as possible in the six hours before they closed for the day

There are several conservatories on the property, all of which I was able to visit. The palm house was most conspicuous, being near the main entrance. I was curious what plants I’d find in the temperate house, since many plants which are marginally hardy in England, but like summer heat, are hardy in our slightly colder winters in NC. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to only find more subtropicals growing here. My favorite of the Kew conservatories was the Princess of Wales Conservatory, opened by the late Diana Spencer.

Just inside the entrance is a lovely, mature specimen of the endangered Yucca queretaroensis from Mexico

Yucca queretaroensis

No expense had been spared in installing their tree canopy walk. These elevated walks among the tree tops are the new “flavor of the month” in botanic gardens, taking over from the previous emphatuation with children’s gardens. I can only imagine the funds spent on this monstrosity.

The recently installed winter garden was looking quite lovely. Below are photos of the largest plants of the tender, Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’ (labeled ‘Red Dragon’) I’ve ever seen. Obviously, they fare far better in England than in our part of North Carolina, having killed several at JLBG.

It was hard not to marvel at a nearly century old specimen of Acer griseum (paperbark maple)…not to be confused with the fictional Acer grisham (paperback maple).

It’s hard to find enough adjectives to adequately describe the Kew Rock Garden…OMG. I’ve visited rock gardens around the world, but this tops them all. Originally constructed in 1882, this one acre plus garden wears its age well. Over 70% of the plants here are wild collections, representing mountain regions of the world, including: the European Alps/Pyrenees, the Central Asian/Himalayas, the North American mountains, Patagonia, South Africa, and the Mediterranean. It’s probably good that it was early spring, or I might still be there. 

The patch of the Mediterranean native Coronilla valentina ssp. glauca was an early spring showstopper.

Clumps of the early spring-flowering pasque flowers, Pulsatilla halleri ssp. halleri, were begging for their pictures to be taken. These have also thrived at JLBG.

At the end of the rock garden was a nearly as impressive section of woodland plantings. While the epimediums were just starting to break ground, I did spy this stunning creamy white-flowered clump of Arum creticum, putting on quite a show.

The next morning, it was time to hop on the subway again, and head further into downtown London, in search of the Royal Horticulture Society headquarters at Lindley Hall, for the awards ceremony. This required a 20 minute walk after I disembarked at the closest subway station. I saw several familiar sights walking along the way, including several of the famed English phone boxes, which are still in use, lots of really old architectural masterpieces, along with the massive tree butchering (pollarding) that passes for acceptable along the London streets. You would think with all the talk about sustainability that this labor intensive practice, which destroys the appearance of the trees, would have waned by now, but I guess traditions, like all bad habits, are hard to break.

Not far from my destination, I encountered the largest plant of Fatsia japonica I’ve ever seen, including in the wild. This specimen, in front of a hotel, topped out at 20′ in height.

Thanks to cell phone navigation, I was able to find Lindley Hall, although I arrived an hour early. Oddly, those in charge of admittance, made early arrivals stand outdoors during the intermittent rain until someone with enough clout arrived to explain that they needed to let folks into the venue a bit early.

The RHS People Award Ceremony began with a social cocktail hour, after which you found your name on the attendee list, and went to your assigned table. I hadn’t realized what an exclusive event the luncheon was, before chatting with some of the attendees. Spouses of award presenters weren’t allowed to attend, as well as past award winners, unless you pulled quite a few big strings. Everyone there had an amazing background in horticulture, and I only wish I’d had time to chat with each. Below are few folks that I did manage to see.

Below (l-r) is Robert Hillier, the recently retired 80 year old chairman of Hiller Nurseries (the largest and oldest nursery in the UK), Roy Lancaster (world renown garden writer and plant explorer, Jack Aldrich (winner of the Roy Lancaster Award for Best Young Horticulturist under 35, and his girlfriend, Narissa Kempster, who also works with Jack at RHS Wisley.

Martin Rix is a legendary garden writer, and plantsman, whose Illustrated Garden Plant Series has enthralled gardeners worldwide.

Below, I’m enjoying a chat with two prior Veitch Medal winners, Tony Kirkham, who just retired after 42 years in charge of the Kew Gardens Arboretum, and legendary plant explorer, Bleddyn Wynn-Jones of Crug Farms, who makes Indiana Jones’s searches look like child’s play.

I had the pleasure of dining beside the amazing, Rosie Atkins. In addition to her many accomplishments, Rosie was the founder of Gardens Illustrated Magazine, and later Curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden.

It was great to finally meet Veitch Medal winner, Graham Duncan, who just retired after 40+ years, curating the bulb collection at South Africa’s Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

Daniel Michael is a younger plant breeder, who created the breakthrough hybrid x Semponiums…crosses between Sempervivum and Aeonium. We had these on trial, but as he is aware, they have inherited the winter hardiness from the Aeonium parent instead of the Sempervivum. He promises more exciting introductions are ahead.

After an hour of socializing, it was time for the awards luncheon. The fast-paced ceremony included the presentation of a number of awards, starting with the recent crop of Masters students in horticulture, to floral show winners, and ending with the lifetime achievement awards.

I remember very little from walking across the stage, since it could best be described as an out-of-body experience. Thank goodness, my table mates, Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones, managed to take photos.

The coolest thing about the Veitch Medals is that they come with lifetime free admission to the Chelsea Garden Show, should I manage to make my way back to the UK in late May.

Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones, both past Veitch Medal winners, run a Welsh nursery known as Crug Farms, and are our equivalent in the UK. They had graciously traveled several hours to the ceremony for emotional support, and had invited me to take the train back home with them for a quick visit, before I had to fly home. That meant another first on this trip, my inaugural train ride. Fifty years ago, Bleddyn and Sue purchased a farm that included this 1500s fixer-up farm house and land, that came with almost 2000 year old foxholes used to fight off the Roman invasion between 48 and 383 AD.

The Wynn-Jones raised beef until 1991, when they felt compelled to switch to growing rare plants. Since then, Crug Farm has become a world renown destination for the rarest of rare plants, including countless new species that they discovered on their numerous treks worldwide. This marked my third visit to the nursery they run as leaders of a small team, from their home office, pictured below. I first accompanied them on a 1997 trip to Korea. Never did any of us dream that four of that entourage would wind up as Veitch Medalists. Now in their mid 70s, we can only hope Bleddyn and Sue have still got many more years to go.

I had not visited Crug Farms since 2018, so there were plenty of new plants to see. We spent most of the day, looking at an array of Bleddyn and Sue’s amazing collections. Below is Camellia fansipanensis, a newly named species that Bleddyn and Sue discovered in Northern Vietnam.

Rhododendron faurei is a species that Bleddyn and Sue found on Korea’s Ulleung Island, which should be growable for us.

I have long been a fan of spicebushes of the genus, Lindera, and the evergreen Lindera tonkinensis has now been added to my lust list.

Diplopanax stachyanthus is another broadleaf evergreen (BLE) that I’ve never even heard of before this trip. This Chinese/Vietnamense genus was originally thought to be a member of the aralia family, but wound up in the Nyssaceae family, related to Nyssa (black gum).

A plant that amazes me every time I visit Crug Farm, is the New Zealand native, Griselinia littoralis. I’ve always known this as a tropical, and can’t wrap my head around this being winter hardy to 0 degrees F. I must find a plant when I return home to try in our garden, and see if it can tolerate our summer heat.

For over three decades, I’ve tried several times, to acquire the little-known Edgeworthia gardenii. This evergreen species from the Himalayas has long been rumored to be tender, but here it was, growing fine at Crug Farms. Bleddyn tells me that this is from a Vietnamese population, which I didn’t even know existed. At least, it’s finally in cultivation, so we’ll get it to the US one day.

I could have easily spent a half day in the Ruscus greenhouse, which houses the most diverse collection of the genus in the world. Bleddyn and Sue have collected every species, and known hybrids, from the UK to Russia. The holy grail for me was seeing the insanely rare, crinkled leaf Ruscus hypophyllum var. crispatus, which went high on my lust list. To my knowledge, there are no other plants of this in cultivation.

Most likely this is the only plant of Mahonia subimbricata in cultivation.

It was hard to pass by the patches of Erythronium revolutum, without snapping a photo. We can only wish these looked this good at home.

Nearby were several dazzling clumps of Ypsilandra thibetica. Sadly, we have yet to succeed with this at JLBG.

The last item of business before hoping on the plane in nearby Manchester, was to bareroot and wash all of the treasures that I had ordered in advance. These are now ready for the phytosanitary certificate inspection before heading our way.

Like most plant collectors gardens, Crug Farm is difficult to photograph, but if you’re a passionate plantsperson, and ever have the opportunity to visit, it’s somewhere you’ll never forgot.