The Perfect Gift: Rhododendron Stamps from Bhutan
On Christmas 2004, Dr. Paul Anderson of Napa, California, received the perfect gift for a rhodophile: a framed set of rhododendron stamps from Bhutan from his former college classmate Marty Anderson of Northbrook, Illinois. Paul is the ARS District 5 Director, and Marty is the ARS Rhododendron & Azalea News editor.
|
|
The rhododendrons on the stamps from Bhutan are:
R. arboreum
(top left),
R. niveum (top right), R. dalhousiae (middle left), R. glaucophyllum (middle right), R. barbatum (lower left), and R. grande (lower right). Photo by Paul Anderson |
The stamps were acquired by Marty's friend and lawyer Suzanne Dallmeyer while on a trekking trip in Bhutan. All of the rhododendrons depicted on the stamps grow in Paul's garden in Eureka, California, except for two; Rhododendron dalhousiae and R. glaucophyllum , which he could also grow there. He has five varieties of R. arboreum . His R. niveum is one he obtained from Lester Brandt in the 1970s and grows well in Eureka. His R. grande is about 15 feet high and has a nice cream-colored truss like the one on the stamp. He also has R. protistum with wide leaves somewhat like the one on the stamp.