Our first speaker of the new year is Garratt Richardson, who will be with us the evening of September 18th. Garratt’s lecture title is ‘Back Roads of South Central Sichuan, Spring 2007’. Heis a retired physician living in Seattle, who has gone on a great many plant expeditions to Asia, over many years and dating back to 1989, with many different groups and leaders. He has been particularly involved in expeditions connected to the Rhododendron Species Foundation, on the Board of which he serves. He is most personable, and certainly knowledgeable about rhododendrons and other genera associated with them. He speaks of himself as an amateur, and technically he is one, but he is closely associated with top professionals, at the RSF and elsewhere, and his enthusiasm is reflected in his own words, that ‘there is the thrill of being present when the real plant-hunters discover new species and forms of plants, especially rhododendrons’.
About his lecture to the VRS he writes:
In May last year Peter Cox organized a plant-hunting trip to the southern part Sichuan province in central-west China. The high mountains in the western part of the province have only partially been explored over the past 150 years. It was an epic trip. We visited some of the new national parks as well as drove over several back country roads encountering waterfalls, gorges, old and new sites of environmental destruction. Many rhododendrons were in bloom as well as a number of other high altitude perennials and shrubs. We were able to visit out-of-the-way cities and villages, visiting the markets, suffering the roadblocks, dining on wonderful local cooking and enjoying the camaraderie of ethnic peoples and our team.
