Now that the world and I are coming out of winter hibernation, I was giving some more thought to a couple of columns I wrote for my local newspaper on the azalea garden at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. For anyone who may not have been aware, late last fall a dastardly plan was uncovered (and outed in the blogosphere) in which the entire azalea and boxwood collections at the Arboretum were to be destroyed. Yep, the shrubs were to be cut down wholesale and the stumps drenched with herbicide to kill them. We're talking about thousands of azaleas that were the hybridizing work of one man, Benjamin Morrison, in his quest to extend the northern hardiness range of large-flowered azaleas. We're also talking about a boxwood collection that is acknowledged to be the most complete IN THE WORLD. Not something you rip out on a whim. Back then the Arboretum officials gave all sorts of lame excuses for why it needed to be done. I won't go into all of them, but my personal favorite was that the azalea display created too much traffic through the Arboretum at bloom time, and they couldn't handle it. Well, they've been handling it quite easily for the last 20 or so years, with shuttle systems and adequate restroom facilities - and since when, in a bum economy, is an excess of people spending money at a public garden a bad thing?? There were like excuses and weak explanations, and the opposition got up a good head of steam. All right, I'll put out another of the more lame stories - that the azaleas just weren't all that important. Now, bear in mind that one woman has been curator of the azaleas for 20 years now, and because the area had been neglected, she and volunteers were cleaning it out and identifying and cataloging the collection. I imagine she was mightily surprised to learn that she'd been pissing away the last 20 years for nothing! Even other public gardens jumped into the fray. Magnolia Gardens in Charleston, S.C. announced that they had received permission to come up and take massive amounts of cuttings from the azaleas (and the boxwoods as well, I assume). Their intent was to grow them on and then parcel the plants out among other botanical gardens nationwide to ensure their survival. Long story short, the plants have all gotten a temporary reprieve. All the furor inspired some anonymous, generous soul to make a $1 million dollar gift to save them. And a new executive who came on board announced that the plan had been tabled for the time being.
The plot did continue to thicken, however. About the same time that the plants got their stay of execution, it was announced that the Arboretum would be adding a new Chinese garden, in partnership with the Chinese government. They'll provide the plants, statuary and other accessories; the Arboretum will provide site preparation and staffing. Now, this is interesting on several levels. First of all, another rationale for the whole azalea fiasco was that funding for two staffing positions had been lost. Sounds to me like those people were simply transferred over to the Chinese garden. And it seems that more people would be needed to maintain a newly planted garden than an old, established area. But what really arouses my suspicions is this: obviously, this new garden area has been in the works for some time. Did the Chinese want the azalea area for their garden, and did the Arboretum go ahead and promise it to them, figuring it would be easier to ask forgiveness than permission? I wouldn't be surprised, seeing that we tend to kiss China's ring at every opportunity. And what really makes me angry is that we're talking about the NATIONAL Arboretum, meaning it belongs to EVERYONE, not just the bureaucrats. They bloody well should have asked the owners' permission first! It will be extremely interesting to see future developments........
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