JARS v64n4 - Report of the Symposium in Bremen to Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the German Rhododendron Society
Report of the Symposium in Bremen to Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the German Rhododendron Society
David Millais
Farnham, Surrey, UK
Modified from the Rhododendron, Cammellia & Magnolia Group Bulletin 103, July 2010The German Rhododendron Society, or more correctly the Deutsche Rhododendron-Gesellschaft(DRG), was founded in Bremen in 1935. To mark their 75th Anniversary, the DRG celebrated with a Symposium in Bremen from May 18-20, 2010. This was followed by five days of festivities, special events and excursions to Rhododendron Parks and gardens throughout the regions of East Frisia and Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany.
The whole programme was superb, and ran with typical German efficiency thanks to the hard work of Hartwig Schepker, Secretary of the DRG and Scientific Director of the Bremen Rhododendron Park, aided by his team of helpers. More than 220 participants from 16 countries gathered in Bremen to hear leading international enthusiasts share their knowledge of rhododendrons. Presentations ranged from George Argent collecting tropical vireyas in South East Asia, to John Weagle breeding cold hardy rhododendrons in Nova Scotia, which particularly interested a group attending from Estonia and Latvia. Fortunately for me at least, all talks were in English!
Whilst most of the attendees were from Germany, there were good contingents from America, Australia, New Zealand and Northern European countries. In the heart of Bremen, the impressive Town Hall dating from 1410, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. Below the Town Hall is the famous 600-year-old vaulted wine cellar, the Ratskeller, which provided the atmospheric venue for the Conference Banquet.
The Rhodopark is a City-funded collection containing more than 3000 rhododendron hybrids and 550 species, set in 46 ha (113 acres). It is all beautifully maintained with gardeners working hard everywhere. What a pity that most other cities don't fund gardens like this! After a while in Germany, you can get "Hardy Hybrid" overload with so many similar looking plants bred to withstand the -22° C (-8° F) that this region can experience in winter. However at Bremen, species take a fairly prominent role and the setting is delightful. One of the highlights for me was the extensive collection of deciduous azaleas including many rare Ghents and Rusticas that were flowering at their peak.
Germany has some of the best-labeled collections of Rhododendron that I have seen. At Bremen there is a collection of evergreen azaleas, representing nearly all those varieties hardy enough for Germany. The Hardy Hybrid collection in Bad Zwischenahn, Rostrup, was managed for many years by Germany's leading expert on Rhododendron hybrids, Walter Schmalscheidt. This extraordinary collection was planted alphabetically and in straight lines, and contains a huge number of mature old British hybrids that you just can't find in Britain nowadays.
Of huge interest to all of us trying to identify old hybrids is the German Rhododendron Gene Bank Network, which seeks to identify, verify, label, document and photograph old hybrids in public and private collections. The collection at Bremen forms part of the backbone of this work, which extends to 50 gardens, and aims to propagate rare and endangered plants. So far, over a three-year period using just one model of camera to aid uniformity, the flowers of 3850 cultivars and 600 species have been recorded, and it is planned that photographs and descriptions will be published on the internet by the autumn, 2010. Only 1240 cultivars are of German origin, and so there is a good chance that it should be possible to identify many old British hybrids once this website goes live. You can read about this work at: http://www.lwk-niedersachsen.de/genbank-rhododendron.
About an hour to the west of Bremen is the nursery growing region of Oldenburg. In the town of Westerstede, a "Rhodo" event is held every four years where 80 local nurseries take over the whole of the square around the Church, and fill it and the adjoining marquees with rhododendrons. It is a most remarkable event, being the largest rhododendron show in Europe (probably the world), and it draws tourists from all over Germany. During the week it was open this year, about 95,000 people visited. Just to see rhododendrons! It is a showcase for the latest varieties from Hachmann, Bohlkens, and other German breeders. The nurseries do not each have a formal stand like they might at Chelsea, but their exhibits seem to blend seamlessly with their neighbours to make one unified display.
No visit to this area of Germany is complete without a visit to Hachmann's nursery, without doubt the world's leading Rhododendron breeder. Between 1952 and 2004, Hans Hachmann made about 5000 crossings, and named 400 new varieties. Today that work is continued by his son Holger, who is seeking to continually improve varieties with second or third generation crosses. Some of the new varieties that I saw in 2002 have already been dropped from production in favour of Holger's latest introductions and his ever-changing catalogue. Whilst these are highly commercial plants, they are becoming more and more unrecognisable from the original species.
The fabulous organised tours included sessions on plant identification at Bremen, and tours to a number of public and private Rhododendron gardens. There was even a visit to a nursery growing more than 3 million rhododendrons each year, with more than 8 ha (20 acres) of stock beds, and its own gene bank holding three of every variety of Rhododendron they can find!
We really need to learn from the Germans, who have found funds for both developing and maintaining public rhododendron gardens and the Gene Bank project. In Germany they value rhododendrons for the tourism they bring to the Ammerland region, with coach after coach touring every spring. They are planted in urban front gardens, used for low hedges everywhere, and are clearly loved by so many people. Wouldn't it be great to adopt some of that enthusiasm in Britain (and other countries)!
