Journal – Page 2 – Daniel J. Hinkley

Wang’s Horsechestnut

April 30, 2025 By Daniel J. Hinkley

Uoc Huu Le, my guide in Vietnam since 1999, holding a conker near one of the few ancient surviving specimens of Aesculus near Khoang, Vietnam in 2016. (Photo DJH)

The genus Aesculus, whose Latin roots suggest ‘an oak with edible fruit’, was first published by Linnaeus in 1753 and applied to Aesculus hippocastanum, a tree that was certainly not an oak and whose fruit was sickeningly inedible. The resulting common name of Horse Chestnut only added another layer to an already confused gastronomy, resulting in countless episodes of dyspepsia over many years from roasting its seed over an open fire.

Aesculus wangii foliage, in my opinion, possesses a discernible refinement of textural characterisitics over other Aesculus species. Horsechestnuts have palmately compound foliage held opposite in pairs. Castanea (edible Sweet Chestnus) possess simple leaves alternately arranged along the stem. (Photo at Windcliff by Claire Takacs)

Recent DNA barcoding has concluded that the approximate 16 species of Aesculus to be first cousins to an exhaustive inventory of mostly tropical and subtropical genera in the Sapindaceae. Hardier outliers in this family, besides Aesculus, include horticultural rock stars, such as maples (genus Acer) and the Golden Rain Tree (genus Koelreuteria).

Although the genus Aesculus holds many ‘horticonic’ trees that hail from both Eurasia, North America as well as south to Baja California, the focus of this post is on one remarkable, misunderstood and unpublished taxon, Aesculus wangii. It is found naturally, and rarely, in a highly restricted area of northern Vietnam, in the uplands between the Black and Red Rivers (Sông Đà and Sông Cái respectively). Its specific epithet honors Prof. Wencai Wang (1926-2022), a famous Chinese botanist from the Beijing Institute of Botany. (personal communication, Dr. Donglin Zhang)

Aesculus wangii beginning to blosssom in situ, northern Vietnam, in April, 2018 (photo DJH)

By late 2007, the year I was first introduced to this species, I had already under my belt four extended forays into the botanically opulent forests of the mountainous areas north of Hanoi, in relative proximity to the border with China’s Yunnan Province. Furthermore, I did not become aware of its existence in the usual manner, that is, of stumbling upon a specimen along a trail or reading of it in some outdated flora of the region.

A small remaining slice of old growth forest (Tsuga, Aesculus, Illicum, Huodendron, Acer, Rhododendron, Nyssa et al) only miles from the border with China’s Yunnan Province. With enhanced logging equipment and a burgeoning economy, the rate of deforestation since my first trip to this region in 1999 and present day is startling. (photo, DJH)

Instead, quite unromantically, it was in a somewhat seedy hotel in Taipei, Taiwan, in October of that year, that my friend and celebrated Welsh nurseryman, Bleddyn Wynn-Jones, gifted me a parcel of extremely large, glossy, mahogany-colored seed, each the size of baseballs. He had just collected these in northern Vietnam prior to the time we would spend together in the mountains of Taiwan. It should be noted that though Bleddyn’s seed may have been the first ever exported, U.K. plantsman Keith Rushforth et al had already established at least four specimens in England by grafting scions collected as early as 1991. (the first of these to flower was at the Ness Botanic Garden in Liverpool in 2019)

A day’s walk from the closest road, a young cardamon farmer carries his crop to a crudely constructed kiln nearby where the fruit will be dried before later selling to spice merchants Cardamon plantations throughout the mountains of northern Vietnam are creating vast dead zones of biodiversity due to the shade they cast on the forest floor. (photo, DJH)

Its scarcity in the wild is due, in part at least, to ubiquitous cardamom plantations throughout the entirety of northern Vietnam. Black Cardamom, Amomum tsao-ko, produces dense 15’ thickets of banana-like foliage, preventing successful regenerative growth of any other plant species. Fortunate for the few remaining and impressive specimens of this tree (and other rare tree species), the crop is fully dependent on shade for successful cultivation. Equally threatening is, well, its rarity; fewer individuals equate to inbred genetic pools resulting in loss of vigor and fertility. More threatening still, Donald Trump is President of the United States.

The flowers of Black Cardamon (Amomum tsao-ko) presented at the base of the plant in April. It is a member of the ginger family, Zingiberidaceae.

An magnificent specimen of Aesculus wangii just beginning to leaf in mid-March. On this particularly fine day in the spring of 2022, I climbed atop a rock outcropping that rose above the towering canopy of cardamon.

The seed I was gifted by Bleddyn in 2007 might have been included in the collections of Windcliff, Washington Park Arboretum and Heronswood as early as the summer of 2008. Troublingly, its biology and the rules and regulations of the USDA-APHIS got in the way.

The large conkers of Aesculus wangii are fully primed to germinate immediately upon dropping in autumn. The shipment of seed I sent from Taichung, Taiwan that year, cuddled in the warmth and darkness of an insulated cardboard box, arrived in Seattle as fully germinated plants; rejected as such under my seed permit by the inspectors, they were duly incinerated.

Conkers from my garden specimen, showing the three-parted husk surrounding the extremely large seed. (photo, DJH)

It was not until 2010, when, on a particularly noteworthy dry and sunny day in October, we seemingly flew up the Khoang Valley where we found a trove of the seed we sought. Armed with better data, one of these, planted at Windcliff in 2011, blossomed and set fertile seed for the first time in 2022, presumably the first to blossom in North America.

Seeds now collected from my original 2010 collection germinate in mid-winter in my greenhouse. The brilliant red stems of the seedlings are sadly not repeated in the new growth of mature trees. (Photo, DJH)

I have made the same trek up that slope many more times since, most recently in the autumn of 2023, not to collect additional fruit but to witness and record the health of the remaining population. It is by continuing to study these few remaining trees, both in situ and ex situ, that a more accurate taxonomic picture will unfold. Aesculus wangii was never published as a valid name due to an error in presenting voucher material. Is this tree, as the Flora of China suggests, simply an extension of Aesculus assamica, a horsechestnut species common to the north and east? If so, by rules of priority, the honoring of Wencai Wang’s contributions to botany will be abandoned.

My 2010 collection of Aesculus wangii in autumn color in early December at Windcliff (photo DJH)

The flowers of Aesculus wangii on DJHV 10039, flowering for the first time in June, 2022, thirteen years after germination. Self-fertile, Tiger Swallowtails appear to be its primary pollinator at Windcliff.

Never gone, however, will be my experiences surrounding this magnificent tree, brought to life each time I admire its foliage in summer and autumn, or stoop in autumn to retrieve one of its astoundingly large seed.

DJH 4/6/25

Aesculus wangii is available for sale at at Heronswood, Ravenna Gardens of University Village in Seattle, and Bay Hay and Feed on Bainbridge Island.. Additionally, Cistus Nursery (Portland) offers this collection through mail order.

Windcliff Nursery and Garden will host is first Garden Open of 2025 on June 14th, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM. Entrance is free and the nursery will be available for shopping.

A Quiet Minute of April, with coffee, after Wordle.

April 11, 2025 By Daniel J. Hinkley

Anemonoides nemorosa ‘Blue Eyes’

Anemonoides nemorosa ‘Bowles Purple’ with Erythronium revolutum and Erythronium oregonum

Erythronium revolutum

Erythronium oregonum

Meliodendron tibeticum (collected as seed in Hubei Province 2014)

Disporum xlingense (collected in Sichuan Province in 1996)

Camellia pittardii (collected as seed in northern Vietnam in 1999)

Berberis darwinii x Berberis trigona ‘Phoenix’ A spontaneous seedling from Windcliff

Hope you have enjoyed this moment of silence, mug in hand.

Our plants are available at Heronswood, Ravenna Gardens of University Village in Seattle, and Bay Hay and Feed on Bainbridge Island.

Windcliff Plants( updated inventory here) is open to visitors Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (appointments can easily be made by emailing windcliff2@centurytel.net ) If you are visiting for a specific plant, please ask regarding its current availability prior to your visit. Please note that we now charge an entrance fee to the garden of $15 per person (children free) fully refundable on plant purchases that day.

Sibthorp’s Primula

March 20, 2025 By Daniel J. Hinkley

*The original plant raised from seed from NE Turkey a quarter century ago and a mother of thousands, again in need of division (duly performed shortly after this photo was taken, 3/18/25).* Photo, Windcliff, DJH

Prime; the most active, thriving or satisfying period. Primavera: a painting by Botticelli or abowlapasta with spring vegetables. For a gardener this latin resounds in THE indispensable Primula, the manifestation of spring conjoining the hellish, meet-and-gag racks of garish colors at every grocery store in America (or whatever we are calling THAT now?).

On September 8th of 2000, according to my notes, I drove with polymath and plantsman Bob Beer and fern guru Richie Steffan from the Otel Genesis in Trabzon to Uzungol via Of during our time together in NE Turkey. After checking into our lodgings for that night, we hiked above the village on a small track to 1100m. Epimedium, Geranium, Cyclamen, Campanula and Astrantia were abundant, as were the wastings of a Primula beaten hard by summer’s heat but still with capsules plump with seed.

*The magnificent, botanically opulent mountains and valleys of NE Turkey, near Ouit Pass, 2000.* (*Before IPhones were invented*) Photo DJH

The resultant seedlings of Primula sp. DJHTu 0133, upon flowering in 2002, transfigured to Primula vulgaris subsp. sibthorpii, nomenclature that teeters upon a threshold of validity. The current subspecific epithet honors Humphry Waldo Sibthorp (1713-1797), a British botanist and fellow of Magdalen College of Oxford University who is primarily known for having taught only one course for 37 consecutive years. I have to believe his lectures were enthralling if not well orchestrated. The modern day thrashings of taxonomy, however, suggests that the enormously widespread Primula vulgaris merely possesses a surfeit of variation. No matter, really, as Sibthorp’s legacy remains secure by way of Sibthorpia, a really-not-so-pretty member of the Plantain Family with a peculiar distribution in the mountains of North and South America( or whatever we are calling THOSE now), Africa and the coasts of Europe.

*The pin-eyed flowers of the best selection of DJHTu 0133 with petals embracing a deeply saturated heliotrope with a center star of gamboge* and light yellow. Photo, Windcliff, DJH

As this trip was on the same Millennial Year that we purchased Windcliff, the resultant seedlings of our collection were planted at both Heronswood and our new bluff-side garden in Indianola. In terms of saturation of color, there was substantial variation amongst the seedlings, with the best of the lot landing at Heronswood. It is that superior clone that now predominates the upper meadow at Windcliff, commencing in flower by mid-December and carrying on respectfully through April.

To encourage cross pollination, primroses possess one of two floral morphs; thrum-eyed and pin-eyed. The pin-eyed morph of DJHTu 0133 shows the (female) stigma directly at the fusion point of the petals with the (male) pollen-filled anthers deep within the tube. Roles are reversed in thrum-eyed flowers. The fluidity of sexual function is universal despite a movement afoot by the GOP to ban all things pin-eyed. Photo DJH

A Pin Flower, with thanks to the Devon Biodiversity Action Plan

*A recently raised seedling from commercially available seed, showing, for good or bad, the variability of color within this subspecies.* Photo, Windcliff, DJH

In full-sun or light-shade in winter-moist/summer-dry soils, stating this plant is undemanding is an understatement. A noticeable decline in vigor will occur if not divided on a quasi-regular basis (every third year), a task I undertake in early spring when the best of its floral effects are faltering. I suggest being brutal in the process, shearing off all flowers and foliage from divisions before replanting.

Sibthorp’s Primula (or whatever we are calling THAT now) is currently available at Windcliff Plants in Indianola (open by appointment every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday; email windcliff@century.tel), Heronswood Garden in Kingston, Ravenna Gardens in Seattle and Bay Hay and Feed on Bainbridge Island.

DJH, on this first day of spring, 2025.

Ecstatic for Sassafras tzumu

March 4, 2025 By Daniel J. Hinkley

Bold foliage on a tall tree from China. — *The sensational autumnal transition of Sassafras tzumu intensifies in mid November at Windcliff. Photo DJH*

CH₂O₂C₆H₃CH₂CH=CH₂ is known as Safrole by those of us with lesser minds. It is a clear oil with a sweet, baked-good fragrance that has been distilled from the root bark of Sassafras albidum and used as a medicinal tea for centuries by Eastern Native American Tribes. In terms of phytochemistry, Safrole exists in all three Sassafras species (and a few other unrelated plants) as an antifeedent, i.e. a culinary buzz kill for all things hungry.

The only species to occur in Novus Mundus, Sassafras albidum in autumnal finery. Occurring naturally from southern Ontario to eastern Texas, its dried foliage, Gumbo File, was adopted by Cajun cuisine from the Choctaw Indians. (photo provided by Georgia Native Plant Society)

In 1912, a young German chemist working for then Little Pharma Merck was the first to use Safrole to synthesize methylenedioxymethamphetamine, surpassing in number of vowels and consonants the totality of cerebral neurons in the brains of our country’s leadership; including those elected and those simply self-annointed. Fifty years later, it was the Sixties ……dude…… and its abbreviation, MDMA, appeared suddenly on the streets of the Midwest while ever since lighting on fire Raves across the world. Ecstasy, as it came to be called, was immediately cited as a controlled substance by the DOT, NTP, DEP, IARC, NFPA and the EPA (this is true). Recently it was all blamed on DEI (this is probably true).

Five decades later, underground labs are still using safrole as the precursor to XTC, but its source has shifted 8,000 miles west of the deciduous forests of North America….. Meet Sassafras tzumu, aka Cha Mu, one in only a triad of species in the genus worldwide. Along with such well knowns as Bay Leaf, Avocado, Camphor, Cinnamon and Lindera, Sassafras is bundled taxonomically into the decidedly aromatic Laurel Family, the Lauraceae. Compared to Sassafras albidum and Sassafras randaiensis (Taiwan), Cha Mu is pure kryptonite in terms of quantity and purity of its essential, high test oils. Ornamentally, it offers multi-seasonal effects as well as bold textured foliage to the garden.

Oddly enough, Lindera obtusiloba, a doppelgänger for Sassafras in terms of foliage, and taxonomically closely related, grows with Sassafras tzumu *cheek by jowl* in NE Sichuan. This particular collection, DJHS 8093, possesses near-orbicular, three-lobed leaves that color to rich butterscotch in October. Photo DJH.

It was not until my fourth trip to China in 2003 that I first met in person the subject at hand in the extreme northeastern corner of Sichuan Province. In a clear example of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, it then, everything, everywhere, all at once, seemed to appear at every turn in our subsequent travels over the years within China, growing under extraordinarily diverse habitats, from the rich and moist mountain jungles of Guizhou to the dryish pine lands in Hunan and Hubei.

“It was in late October of that year (…..cue in a wrinkled old man with a large lit Habanos in hand) when I first met this divine creature by chance on a mountain trail above the village of Tao Yuan”. While cloud-chasing, he continues, “Tao Yuan. The women. The dancing. The drugs. Always the drugs….truthfully, never the women.” In all seriousness, it was only by way of noticing its distinctive three lobed foliage vividly carpeting the trail upon which I walked that year that made me aware of its presence. Every limb of every tree above me was devoid of foliage. I did not even consider looking for seed.

*Sassafras tzumu is the most consistent of the three species in possessing three lobed leaves, though all may exhibit foliage with none, one or two lobes. Photo DJH.*

I had grown up near the northern most distribution of Sassafras albidum in Michigan, and this kiddo was entranced by its variably lobed foliage (right mitten, left mitten and mutant child mitten) that smelled, if crushed, of a well poured pint of root beer. I was quite comfortable in my identification on that day in 2003. It was the raison d’etre of my return to the same mountain 11 months later, September 2024, with traveling companions Scott McMahan, Ozzie Johnson and Dave Demers. As we had hoped, the branches of numerous 50-75′ tall specimens of Sassafras tzumu remained laden with fleshy drupes of glistening blue.

*Scott McMahan, of the Atlanta Botanic Garden, gathering seed of Sassafras tzumu in NE Sichuan above the village of Tao Yuan in 2004. Photo DJH.*

Though the seed we collected that year germinated extremely well in the spring of 2005, the resultant seedlings were highly susceptible to collapse, presumably from a root pathogen. Heronswood Nursery did manage to produce enough of this collection to offer, and three specimens were planted at Windcliff in 2005. (The only Sassafras tzumu at Heronswood, still alive and well, was purchased from Camellia Forest Nursery in North Carolina. It does not have provenance and is remarkably different in constitution from our Sichuan collection.)

To this day, Sassafras tzumu remains the earliest blossoming tree in our garden, with flowering commencing in late January and lasting through February. Although the individual flowers are small, held in lax, terminal racemes, they are collectively comely in effect and read remarkably well from a distance during a long-shadowed time of year with a rare blue sky as a backdrop.

*DJHS 4230, now approximately 40′ tall at Windcliff, 2/18/25. A miserably bad photo by DJH.*

Sassafras tzumu (and its Taiwanese counterpart, S. randaiensis )are monecious, with both male and female flowers on the same tree. The American species, Sassafras albidum, is dioecious, with separate male and female plants. Photograph taken 2/18/25, DJH.

If the conditions are right and the beehives alive, and because we have multiple clones, small crops of its fertile seed are regularly produced at Windcliff. These will easily germinate the following spring if given an adequate period of cold during the winter. As an aside, in putting the final touches on this post, I visited our specimens for another photo, and was grateful to experience for the first time a small flock of Bushtits in the upper reaches of our specimens flitting from flower to flower; whether they were supping nectar or simply eating insects attracted to its nectar, it was too distant to determine (they are known to be dietarily catholic). But then again, perhaps they were just trying to get high.

DJH 3/2/25

P.S. To Our Dear Friends to the North, the South and across the Oceans, ChatGPT, along with some work on my end, send to you

A Prayer for Forgiveness, A Prayer for Strength

In a land once filled with joy and light,
We lost our way in greed and might.
The soil we tilled, the gifts we shared,
Were cast aside by hearts that dared
To take, to hoard, to claim as own,
What once was meant for all to grow..

But deeper still, beyond our shame,
Are those we loved, yet turned to blame.
Our friends, our allies, hands once near,
Now drift afar in doubt and fear.
To them, we offer humbled cries—
For trust once shattered, drowned in lies.

Forgive us, you who stood so true,
When we betrayed the faith we knew.
Forgive the silence, cold and deep,
When you had wounds, we let you weep.
Forgive the hands that let you go,
When you sought strength, yet stood alone.

Forgive the harm, the lives betrayed,
The peace undone, the trust decayed.
May we relearn to stand as one,
To heal the wounds, to right the wrong.
Though darkness lingers, hope remains,
And through compassion, good sustains.

Amen.

The Winds of 2025

February 6, 2025 By Daniel J. Hinkley

A rugged mountain range in Northern Vietnam known as Five Fingers — *The botanically rich yet rugged slopes of Five Fingers in northern Vietnam, visited once again in the autumn of 2023 with Ireland’s fern guru and good friend, Billy Alexander.*

After betraying my brain to Facebook and my heart to the Heartlands of America for far too long, going forward I am returning to my personal keyboard and ownership of ethics. I have been as happy as a dog with two tails for many years while sharing photos of plants that I have respectfully collected in the wilds, trialed, brought to flower and sometimes propagated to ultimately share from our garden to yours. The platform — or better said scheme — was easy to devour. However the subsequent gluttony of commerce and political power is impossible to swallow. I will endeavor to share with you the joie de vivre that our natural world has brought us in our own unedited design of truth, self-awareness, personal experience and an obligation to respect those deserving it. On our own terms.

Robert and I have worked prodigiously during our entire lives; long nights, sweaty days and blistered hands. We have earnestly and without reluctance paid taxes to build a better system of education for other’s children, roads, health, a safety net for the less fortunate and a welcoming community to all manner of folk. We are not going to let stand the callous, patentable ineptitude of one who operates by the moral compass of blue-green algae, nor ignore an unelected, randy South African breeder, nor bow to a short majority of spineless sycophants as they bear down on us. We are here. And it is we who are actually doing the work and intrinsically contributing to society. Should you wish to continue to receive our monthly newsletters, please understand that the above stated thoughts are our foundational standards in doing business and govern our communication with our valued customers.

An evergreen shrub in the Camellia family with large white flowers — On the slopes of Fan Xi Phan in northern Vietnam in 2023, with Polyspora longicarpa, in the Camellia family, presenting its sensational autumnal flowers.

In this listing, you will find many new plants we have garnered recently from high places around the globe; seed collecting trips to Vietnam (2019, 2022, 2023), China (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) and NE India (2016, 2018) and Slovenia (2017), joining ranks with Dan’s collections over nearly 40 years. Our interest in New Zealand, South Africa, Chile and Tasmania continues; that is until their interest in having us visit us wanes. Amongst them all are our pet genera (or other’s pets) who we adore as much as any child; Agapanthus, hardy Begonia species, Kniphofia, Hydrangea, Podophyllum, Polygonatum, Maianthemum and Disporum.

Early ‘torches’ of Kniphofia ‘Lola’ rise to nearly 8′ on the bluff at Windcliff.

As always, we remain indebted to our loyal helpers. If we cannot with any sense of security share all of their names, we will share none of them. They all know how much they are valued here as well as good and decent members of our society. I continue to remain in awe of my comrades in this business, who have built their collections, and offered them to all of us, with honesty, forthrightness and grace.

We encourage the brave of heart to navigate the country roads of Kitsap County and visit our nursery and garden during this coming season, using our updated inventory at www.danieljhinkley.com as a guide to what we may have in stock; please know that, yes, we still experience crop failures and unforeseen popularity, so if you are making the trip for a specific plant, make sure you contact us in advance to confirm it is available. Make a day of it by visiting our former garden, Heronswood- that is exploding with excitement- and the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. (not far from Bay Hay and Feed!) We do apologize for not wishing to again rejoin the fray of mail order. An ever-changing selection of Windcliff Plants can be found for sale exclusively on the tables at Heronswood, Ravenna Gardens of University Village in Seattle, and Bay Hay and Feed on Bainbridge Island.

horticulturally and respectfully yours,

Daniel J Hinkley and Robert L Jones

Lady Clive’s Lily

February 4, 2025 By Daniel J. Hinkley

Houseplant with yellow flowers in the winter — Inaugural Blossoming of #305, January 2025

Easy fulfilling houseplant for any house or apartment with a wide assortment of flower colors — From hand-controlled crosses with C. gardenii, in full blossom just before Christmas, 2024

The first Clivia I grew was, for a considerable length of time, until my husband murdered it during the winter of 2024, the longest surviving houseplant I had never not killed. Until its untimely euthanasia (have I yet mentioned the murder?) it blossomed dependably for over four decades, gladly offering its quotidian orange flowers each winter without fidget or fuss on my part. And there was, with each blossoming every year, more than a small flowery flash of guilt. I had grown it from seed found on the floor at Molbak’s in Woodinville, WA in 1980. Well….. it may not have been precisely ‘on the floor’ though I fully sensed a great deal of gravity in this matter. (much later, Nils Molbak would become a friend, with a full clivial confession made during a dinner party at Windcliff)

The genus was named in honor of Lady Charlotte Percy Clive (1787-1866), later the Duchess of Northumberland, who was amongst the first in England to grow these evergreen relatives of the Amaryllis, collected in South Africa by British imperialists in the early 19th century. There are no historical records of her ever having stolen a Clivia seed, nor that her husband, with or without malice, wantonly murdered her plants.

There are a total of six species and native only to South Africa and Eswatini, generally at home under trees and thusly-in our homes- adapted to low light conditions. Clivia miniata has been the touchstone of the genus under cultivation for decades- with heads of broad, tubular flowers in orange and orange/scarlet. It was not long ago that yellow flowering selections were selling for 1K, however dedicated breeding across the world has resulted in a highly variable inventory of interspecific species, resulting in intriguing color combinations, flower shapes and much lower prices.

Berries can be harvested, or stolen, just as they begin to turn yellow or red, and the seed, if sown fresh, will germinate within weeks. Fawning a bit over the seedlings for the first two years, providing bright conditions, regular watering and fertilization in spring and summer, will truncate the wait for that inaugural flowering. On the third year, if you have been a good person, stop watering in October and store under bright but cool conditions. Explain to your husband, if you are to be away from home, that although 26F may seem refreshing to some, being cool generally refers to temps in the 40’s. In mid-January, bring them into warmth and a bright conditions and begin regular watering. You need not place them in direct sunlight though they do not resent the rays. And then the magic; the first buds opening to the brew and stew of your imaginations, from sowing to transplanting to coddling and then encouraging.

Clivia is amongst only a few genera in the Amaryllidaceae that do not form bulbs, rather dense fleshy roots. As your pots begin to rip and tear like tight jeans after falling off the Adkins diet, this trait lends itself to easy division, performed in spring as growth resumes.

Despite the fact that many of us in the PNW ( because we use electric leaf blowers, drink free-trade coffee and consider President Musk and First Laddy Trump to be a clear and present danger to democracy) feel we deserve hardy Clivias, and many of us have tried, bragging rights will come from only a plant or two that has survived, not thrived. But as a containerized plant, nothing will be easier nor will bring you more satisfaction. My ever-increasing collection always sets a plethora of seed. We have cameras in place; don’t even think about it.

DJH. February 2nd, 2025

Valiant Rodgersias

June 20, 2019 By Daniel J. Hinkley

Boldness Incarnate for PNW Gardens

Rodgersia pinnata ‘Elegans’ with deep pink flowers — Rodgersia pinnata ‘Elegans’ from Sichuan in 1998

Can you even imagine? Only a bit over a century ago, all you need do was sail a boat into a harbor in Asia and your legacy would be cemented into the genus of a plant. Sometimes even a good plant at that. This was the case with Admiral John Rodgers who commanded the expedition to Japan in 1850. I am tempted to refer to him as Mr. Rogers, however that would probably only reveal more of my bitterness. He probably didn’t even like plants. These days, after days of flying and driving to remote regions with the express purpose of studying the local flora, the acknowledgement I receive is generally a small bag of pretzels and a disposable toothbrush I have spirited away from the plane lavatory.

For such a small genus of plants (only five recognized species), they are not only associated with some pretty heady plantsmen (but for the aforementioned Mr. Rodgers) but add a brilliant dash of bold foliage and, in some cases, dazzling color to our gardens. Heronswood boasts a rather immense collection, with all of the known species represented. Many are from wild collections of known provenance.

Rodgersia podophylla was the first described from Rodgers’ voyage to Japan. For what it lacks in floral punch- tall clusters of white flowers- it makes up for in foliage, with immense compound leaves often emerging in resting tones of purple or copper.

Pere Armand David (aka Davidia involucrata, Acer davidii) is responsible for introducing both R. aesculifolia (leaves like an Aesculus or horse-chestnut) as well as R. pinnata.(possessing leaves ostensibly pinnate). Their ranges overlap in W. China where natural hybrids between the species occur. Undoubtedly it is from these two species that come the most beguiling in flower, while there are forms with deep purple bruised foliage that can cause minor heart afflictions when encountering them for the first time at just the right moment in spring.

Rodgersia sambucifolia (leaves like a Sambucus or elderberry) is very distinctive and easily recognized, as each leaf extends to 3′ in length. It is present at Heronswood but does not sing as loudly as the others and very few people inquire as to its identity. In some ways, it is similar to R. nepalensis. This too has long pinnate foliage and is represented in the garden by only one plant from seed I collected in Nepal in 2002. It is the only species of Rodgersia that remains geographically segregated from the other species, making it rather certain you are collecting the real McCoy and not a hybrid.

Mr. Rogers plants (sorry, I simply could not help myself again) are at their prime in at Heronswood this week, both in foliage and flower. Come explore the valiant Rodgersias and discover in the process the magic inherent to the collection in our garden.

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