Ian Sinclair, our first speaker for the 2003-2004 activities year, comes to us from Scotland. This is appropriate since our last two speakers came from Ireland and England. (We must now look to Wales.) But he is here for more reasons than can be found in mere geography. Ian ‘trained and developed his horticultural skills for over 10 years at the world famous Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and then spent a further decade as Garden Supervisor at the renowned Younger Botanic Garden Benmore, near Dunoon, Argyll. He is an acknowledged expert on Rhododendrons and Conifers and was recently appointed a Director of the Scottish Rhododendron Society.’  Much of his knowledge, after his formal training and practical work in the major botanic institutions in Edinburgh and Benmore, evidently originates in his participation in several plant hunting expeditions to the Himalayas, especially in Bhutan, and also to Yunnan in China, and to southeast Asia, particularly Borneo and Sarawak. Currently he is a garden designer and consultant, having founded Sinclair Horticultural Services in 1995. In this capacity he has designed and worked on many important public and private gardens. Some of the more prominent ones include the Crarae woodland garden, Ardanasaig house gardens, Glentyan Estate, Kinnell House, Stonefield Castle, Kilmun Arboretum, Muncaster Gardens, Burncastle Estate, the Stirling University Campus where he was a consultant on rhododendrons, and the Drimsynie Estates. Ian comes as a highly recommended speaker, and will be speaking at several ARS chapters in Washington and Oregon as well as to the VRS. His subject here the evening of September 18th, The Scottish Plant Hunters, is historical in nature, and a fascinating one for anyone really interested in rhododendrons.

Ian Sinclair