UK Edition
Victorian plant-hunters risked life and limb to bring us these popular garden plants
As Chinese New Year approaches (February 16), the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is celebrating garden plants from China. An exhibition at the Lindley Library in London charts the exploits of early 20th century plant collectors who travelled the interior to collect new and novel specimens.
In the process they encountered local wars, diseases and unfriendly locals. One collector – Frank Kingdon-Ward – narrowly survived getting lost in the jungle by drinking the nectar of flowers.
As a result of these expeditions thousands of new and exotic plants were introduced to our gardens. George Forrest and Kingdon-Ward returned tens of thousands of individual specimens for herbaria – including the one at RHS Garden Wisley - and as seed for cultivation. Many species bear the names ‘forrestii’ and ‘wardii’ in honour of their collectors. Here the RHS picks eight of the plants from China that still enchant UK gardeners.
1. Vial’s primrose (Primula vialii syn. P. littoniana) AGM
The vivid red and purple hue of this cone shaped flower (pictured above) ensure its modern credentials while a white cultivar – ‘Alison Holland’ - was one of the competitors for Chelsea Plant of the Year in 2016.
2. Viburnum fragrans AGM
“And here, in the garden-closes, hedged in by walls of loess, Viburnum fragrans for the first time appeared to us, amid a cloud of white and rosy blossom of plum and apricot and quince and peach”. So said plant collector Reginald Farrer upon his first encounter with Viburnum fragrans in Yunnan. Now with the name Viburnum farreri, this AGM (Award of Garden Merit) plant is known through many cultivars, including ‘Nanum’ and ‘Farrer’s Pink’.
3. Paeonia ‘Alice Harding’
This beautiful pale pink hybrid tree peony was derived from a cross with Paeonia delavayi. Commonly encountered by plant collectors visiting Yunnan, and found growing at an altitude of 2000-3600m, it is named after Father Jean Marie Delavay, a French Catholic missionary who combined saving souls with collecting plants.
4. Great Chinese rhododendron (Rhododendron sinogrande) AGM
This large evergreen shrub or small tree with magnificent dark green and silvery leaves has bell-shaped, maroon-blotched, creamy yellow flowers in very large trusses in late spring.
5. Camellia x williamsii
One of Forrest’s aims for his 1917-19 plant collecting expedition was to find a hardy camellia to breed with what was then considered a cool glasshouse plant, Camellia japonica. Forrest found a new species – Camellia saluenensis – and the plants he sent back were successfully crossed. Camellias have been giving us the most spectacular winter display of colour ever since, including the red-flowered ‘Night Rider’.
6. Magnolia campbellii subsp. mollicomata ‘Peter Borlase’
Seed was collected in Yunnan by Forrest in 1924 and this subspecies makes a tree up to 20m tall with large cyclamen-purple, waterlily-like flowers from February to March.
7. Pieris formosa var. forrestii
George Forrest introduced this beautiful member of the Ericaceae family in 1905. Out of many cultivars, the most well-known - ‘Wakehurst’ AGM - features vivid red young foliage that contrasts with the white, urn-shaped flowers.
8. Pleione forrestii
Of this beautiful small orchid, collector Forrest said: “Many fine herbaceous plants were secured; in the shady gorges the damp moss-covered boulders and cliffs bore many terrestrial orchids, such as a remarkably fine species, Pleione forrestii, having orange-yellow blooms laced and marked deep brown. The colouring of the last is unique, the precocious flowers arising from the deep green moss having all the appearance of our yellow Crocus at first sight.”
- Collecting in the clouds: Early 20th Century Plant Discoveries runs until March 2 at the Lindley Library; open weekdays, 10am-5pm. For further information, visit rhs.org.uk/libraryevents
- The RHS is calling on professional and keen amateur horticulturists to embark on plant-finding missions via its bursary scheme. Recently funded expeditions include to collect Proteaceae seeds in the Western Cape of South Africa and to identify rare azaleas in Japan. To apply for an RHS bursary visit rhs.org.uk