heather quarterly winter...march 19 chs is meeting at 1 pm at heaths & heathers’ display...
TRANSCRIPT
Heather Quarterly
Volume 34 Number 1 Issue #133 Winter 2011
North American Heather Society
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Reflections on David Small Karla Lortz ..................................2
Long-distance collaboration with David Small David Wilson ..........................................................................3
David Small – A Personal Appreciation David Plumridge........4
David Small as educator Bryan Taylor.......................................6
David Small, no Pooh-Bah Judy Wiksten ................................7
A special man Susan Ewalt ......................................................9
David Small: reflections on a giant Donald A. M. Mackay.............................................................10
The irreplaceable David Small Ella May T. Wulff.................12
NAHS Board meeting minutes.....................................................24
Calendar....................................................................................28
Winter 2011HNQ # 133
Heather News, all rights reserved, is published quarterly by the North American Heather Society, a tax exempt organization. The purpose of The Society is the: (1) advancement and study of the botanical genera Andromeda, Calluna, Cassiope, Daboecia, Erica, and Phyllodoce, commonly called heather, and related genera; (2) dissemination of information on heather; and (3) promotion of fellowship among those interested in heather.
NAHS Board of Directors (2010-2011) PRESIDENT Karla Lortz, Shelton, 502 E Haskell Hill Rd., Shelton, WA 98584-8429, USA 360-427-5318, [email protected] FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT Don Jewett, 2655 Virginia Ct., Fortuna, CA 95540, USA 707-725-1394, [email protected] SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT Pat Hoffman, PO Box 305, Swedesboro, NJ 08085-0305, USA 856-467-4711, [email protected] SECRETARY Susan Ewalt, 2850 Sykes Creek Road, Rogue River, OR 97537 541-582-3338, [email protected] TREASURER John Calhoun, 31100 Country Rd, Fort Bragg, CA 95437 707-964-0804, [email protected] PAST PRESIDENT Mario Abreu, P.O. Box 673, Albion, CA 95410-0673, USA 707-937-3155, Fax 707-964-3114, [email protected] DIRECTORS
Mario Abreu, P.O. Box 673, Albion, CA 95410-0673, USA 707-937-3155, Fax 707-964-3114, [email protected] Mendocino Coast Heather Society (MCHS) Ramona Bloomingdale, P.O. Box 1136, Gold Beach, OR 97444-1136, USA 541-247-6017, [email protected] Oregon Heather Society (OHS) Don Jewett, 2655 Virginia Ct., Fortuna, CA 95540, USA 707-725-1394, [email protected] Heather Enthusiasts of the Redwood Empire (HERE) Karla Lortz, Shelton, 502 E Haskell Hill Rd., Shelton, WA 98584-8429, USA 360-427-5318, [email protected] Cascade Heather Society (CHS) Joyce Prothero, 281 Cudmore Hts, Saltspring Island, BC V8K 2J7, Canada Phone/Fax 250-537-9215, [email protected] Vancouver Island Heather Society (VIHS) Mary Matwey, 7 Heights Court, Binghamton, NY 13905, USA 607-723-1418, [email protected] Northeast Heather Society (NEHS)
Board Appointments (For details, see inside back cover)
Sharon Hardy - Book Librarian Janice Leinwebber - Slide Librarian for United States Stefani McRae-Dickey - Editor, Heather Quarterly Elaine Scott - Slide Librarian for Canada Ella May Wulff - Membership Chair, Storefront Manager
HOW TO gET THE LATEST HEATHER INFORmATIONBROWSE NAHS website – www.northamericanheathersoc.orgREAD Heather Quarterly by NAHS CHS NEWS by CHS Heather Clippings by HERE Heather Drift by VIHS Heather News by MCHS Heather Notes by NEHS Heather & Yon by OHSATTEND Society and Chapter meetings (See The Calendar on page 28)
HOW TO gET PUBLISHED IN HEAtHEr QuArtErlyCONTACT Stefani McRae-Dickey, Editor of Heather Quarterly [email protected] 541-929-7988. 754 Wyatt Lane, Philomath,OR 97370-9022OK for ideas and last-minute news.DEADLINES 21st March, June, September, and December
HOW TO PAY mEmBERSHIP DUESMEMBERSHIP BENEFITS include an electronic subscription to the Quarterly, participation in Society meetings and elections; borrowing privileges for book library and slide programs; discounts from Storefront, some nurseries.DUES NAHS: $15/year, $28/2 years, $40/3 years with electronic newsletter. To receive mailed copies of the newsletter add: $11/year in US, $15/year in Canada, $22/year outside of US and Canada Chapter dues can be paid when paying NAHS dues, by adding: CHS $5/year; HERE(1 person), MCHS, OHS, VIHS $10/year; HERE(family), NEHS $15/yearREMIT TO John Calhoun, NAHS Treasurer 31100 Country Rd, Fort Bragg, CA 95437 (707) 964-0804, DETAILS Ella May Wulff, Membership Chair [email protected], 541-929-6272, NAHS website 2299 Wooded Knolls Dr., Philomath, OR 97370-5908, USA
HOW TO BUY FROm THE STOREFRONTBROWSE NAHS Website, www.northamericanheathersoc.orgCONTACT Ella May T. Wulff, Storefront Manager, (Address: see above.)
HOW TO BORROW BOOkS FROm THE NAHS LIBRARYWRITE Sharon Hardy, 50 Del Point Drive, Klamath, CA 95548-9331, USA. [email protected], 707-482-6755, NAHS website
HOW TO BORROW SLIDE PROgRAmSWRITE Janice Leinwebber (Slide Librarian for members in USA) 8268 S. Gribble Road, Canby, OR 97013, USA [email protected], 503-263-2428, or NAHS website Elaine Scott (Slide Librarian for members in Canada) 2836 Oceanside Lane, Mill Bay, BC V0R 2P2, CAN. [email protected], 250-743-0965, NAHS website
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE NAHS WEBSITEBROWSE NAHS Website, www.northamericanheathersoc.orgCONTACT Karla Lortz, Shelton, 502 E Haskell Hill Rd., Shelton, WA 98584-8429, USA 360-427-5318, [email protected]
The Information Page
COVER: Design, Joyce Descloux IMAGE: Erica carnea ‘Bell’s Extra Special’
Winter 2011HNQ # 133 128
President’s Forum: Karla Lortz
It is an honor to serve the North American Heather Society. I have served in various capacities in the Cascade Heather Society and NAHS for the past two decades. Thank you for the opportunity to continue to serve heather enthusiasts. One of my major concerns as your incoming president is the declining membership numbers of NAHS and its supporting chapters. Some of our chapters are on the brink of collapse. We need to brainstorm to figure out how to bring in more folks. We need to look to the future and consider restructuring how we operate. Many of our members are not computer savvy, and we cannot forget them. At the same time, the up and coming generation (from which our future leaders will come) is on-line exclusively, and that leads me to the subject of Facebook. A web site is not enough any longer with the younger crowd. Facebook is where they hang out, and we need to be where they are. I am the owner of Heaths & Heathers Nursery in Shelton, WA. I made a Facebook page for the nursery last month, with a lot of landscape photos from my display garden. My 33 year-old hairdresser looked at my page on Facebook after I mentioned it to her. Now she and her husband want to come see my display garden. They were inspired by the photos. She never once looked at my web site over the past three years but did go to my Facebook page immediately. Facebook could be a great place for members to post in their garden shots. I would love to go to an NAHS page and see other members’ gardens in other parts of the country, with their comments. We could create an on-line heather community.
The future may include gathering more on-line than in person. Fewer and fewer folks actually go to meetings but still want to belong to a society. I’ll try to help guide NAHS through this transition. Please let me know your own thoughts on this vital subject.
Calendar
March 5 OHS Pruning party and sack lunch, Cottage Grove Community Hospital, Cottage Grove. Info: Ella May Wulff, (541) 929-6272, [email protected].
March 19 CHS is meeting at 1 PM at Heaths & Heathers’ Display Garden at 631 E Pickering Rd, Shelton, WA. Info: Alice Knight (360) 482-3258, [email protected]. April 9 NEHS Heather Trimming at 10 am, Fort Tryon, Manhattan, NY. Rain date on April 16. Board meeting after trimming. Bring a lunch. Info: Mary Matwey (607) 723-1418, [email protected].
April 24 NEHS Heather Trimming at 10 am, The Heritage Museum and Gardens, 67 Grove Street, Sandwich, MA. Bring a lunch. Info: Mary Matwey.
Aug. 20 OHS Full day in Gold Beach area. Meeting, garden and nursery visits, including presentation by Susan Ewalt on “Growing Heather”. Info: Ramona Bloomingdale, (541) 247-6017, [email protected]
Aug. 26–28 NEHS Annual meeting and heather conference, Binghamton, NY. Info: Mary Matwey.
are: President Karla Lortz, First Vice-President Don Jewett, Secretary Susan Ewalt, and Treasurer John Calhoun.
Second Vice-President Pat Hoffman was elected by mail/email ballot in late fall, 2010. (Details of election and by-laws change will be published in the spring quarterly.)
Winter 2011HNQ # 1332 27
Reflections on David Small
Karla Lortz502 E. Haskell Hill Rd., Shelton, WA [email protected]
We had the pleasure of hosting David Small twice. The first time, we had a few days and took him on a camping trip. He wanted to see the Olympic Peninsula rather than private gardens. Our family took him from the top of Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains (hunting for Cassiope and Phyllodoce) to camping on the beach at the Pacific Ocean.
On the second trip, Anne and David were here for only a very short visit. We took them out in our boat on Pickering Passage, which is one of the best ways to appreciate the beauty of our area on a summer day. From out on the water, you can see on the horizon the very mountains he had been hiking on his earlier trip with us. David was fun as a travelling companion. Along with his knowledge of heather, he had some entertaining stories to tell.
I was sticking cuttings this afternoon, and I realized how David’s coming here to the US for one conference changed the way I stick them. He said that studies had shown that you don’t have to strip the foliage off of the lower part of the cutting. The foliage doesn’t affect rooting time much at all. [It just can make it a little more difficult to tell if the cuttings have rooted or not if you gently tug on one to check it: the foliage may make the cutting resist being pulled out, mimicking the effect of roots.] This has saved me a ton of time of stripping and mess of the removed foliage. I often think of him when that occurs to me. When you personally stick thousands of cuttings, this becomes very useful information!
Much of what David did for the heather world was useful to me, from that advice to his published works. He generously let me use information from The Heather Society’s Handy Guide to Heathers in my catalogues and web site. He was generous to the end. My last email from him was his blessing to use the Handy Guide as a basis for creating a new, illustrated “Handy Guide” here.
Mario expressed concern about the ability of chapters to continue to host an Annual Meeting of the NAHS membership on a rotating basis; the Board concurred with his suggestion that NAHS membership conferences be held every other year. Accordingly, the following Motion, proposed by Ella May, seconded by Karla, was passed unanimously:
MOTION #2: That a bylaw change be made to Article V, Section 1 so that “Annual Meeting” is replaced by “Biennial Meeting.”
The schedule approved for the next five biennial meetings of the NAHS membership is as follows: 2012 Cascade Heather Society (CHS), 2014 Northeast Heather Society (NEHS), 2016 Heather Enthusiasts of the Redwood Empire (HERE), 2018 Vancouver Island Heather Society (VIHS), 2020 Oregon Heather Society (OHS)
It is anticipated that in some cases, adjoining chapters might cooperate in the planning of a biennial meeting.
2. NAHS Annual Board Meeting. The Board will continue to conduct its meetings on an annual basis. In those years when a meeting of the membership is not scheduled, the Board will conduct its business electronically.
3. NAHS Website/Web Master: Karla volunteered to set up and/or update the NAHS website. She will contact Stefani for the information from Bryan Taylor concerning the current website setup.
4. Editor, Heather Quarterly: Made by Karla, seconded by Ella May, and passed unanimously: MOTION #3: That Stefani McRae-Dickey be appointed the Editor of Heather Quarterly for 2011.
5. 2011 Budget. Made by Ella May, seconded by Ramona, and passed unanimously: MOTION #4: That a discussion to establish the NAHS budget for 2011 be conducted electronically.
ADJOURNMENT. The meeting adjourned at 1l:15 am.
Joyce Prothero, Secretary.
Officers duly elected at the annual membership meeting in Fort Bragg
Winter 2011HNQ # 133 326
Long-distance collaboration with David Small
David Wilson6605 Hopedale Rd., Chilliwack, British Columbia V2R 4L4, Canada [email protected]
During the mid-1990s, David Small and I exchanged letters a number of times, comparing notes on the cultivars available to us here in North America and what material of different varieties might be on hand from his sources in the United Kingdom. David wanted to add to the heather landscape on this side of the Atlantic; and he did, sending us more than 50 new cultivars and some species that we had not grown before.
I met David in person for the first time at the NAHS conference in Tacoma, Washington in 1998, and he returned to British Columbia with me for a two-day visit. David enjoyed visiting the nursery and spending time with our staff, giving them gentle instructions on propagation. His eyes were not always on the nursery plants but were often turned to views of the Cascade Mountains to our east. On the second day of his visit, David and I drove to Manning Park in the Cascades and visited the alpine meadows. David collected an interesting mutation growing on Phyllodoce empetriformis and delighted in seeing Cassiope, the first he had seen in the wild, growing on the north-facing, moist, rocky slopes. I think his greatest thrill that day was to find a chipmunk that had joined us in the car and was determined to share David’s seat.
Without David Small, the world of heathers will be missing a vital link.
David Small was so impressed with Wilson’s cross of Erica
tetralix ‘Melbury White’ with E. manipuliflora ‘Korčula’ that he took home cuttings from eight promising
seedlings and rooted them at Denbeigh. David Wilson later
introduced one of those seedlings as E. x garforthensis ‘Tracy Wilson’,
shown here in October bearing both fresh and spent flowers.
signed “consent to serve” forms from those accepting nominations. NOTE: The elected 2011-12 NAHS Board Treasurer will complete the remaining 2010 Treasurer’s term of office (vacant since July 1st, 2010).
TREASURER’S REPORT (prepared/submitted electronically by Paul Dickey) The Treasurer’s report was accepted as prepared. On behalf of the Board, Mario expressed thanks to Paul for five years of excellent service as Treasurer.
OLD BUSINESS The October 19, 2009 Board minutes were approved as circulated.
NEW BUSINESS 1. NAHS and Chapter membership enrollment: The Membership Chair previously reported declining NAHS membership. Board members generally reported declining Chapter memberships. The VIHS membership, which is holding steady, even slightly increasing, is a notable exception; Joyce attributed the vitality of VIHS to the collaborative planning of its monthly meetings, which vary between study sessions (winter months) and field trips and the enthusiastic leadership of the Board.
Karla noted the need for a brochure as a handout at the flower show booth. Joyce suggested developing a rack card (cheaper than a brochure) which could be made available to Chapters as well as at the flower show booth. Karla said she also could include it in the heather orders which she will start shipping in September. A perusal of the 2010 budget showed up to $80 would be unspent in Line 27 “Membership & Administration” at the end of 2010. The following Motion, proposed by Don, seconded by Karla, was passed unanimously:
MOTION #1: That the use of funds remaining in Line 27 (Membership and Administration) for 2010 include the printing of membership cards.
Joyce offered to prepare a rack card using a format similar to the BCIS rack card (circulated); Ramona offered to select and provide heather photos for use on the rack card; and Karla offered to print the cards at cost.
Winter 2011HNQ # 133 254
David Small – A Personal Appreciation
David PlumridgeRose Cottage, Castleside, Consett, County Durham DH8 9AP, [email protected]
Rita and I have known David for well over 20 years. We quickly realised that despite his quiet, almost diffident approach, we were in the company of not only a genuine heather lover but, moreover, a real expert. This has been confirmed over the years, mainly at the annual heather society events but also in his response to our heather questions. His help in identifying “lost label” plants was particularly valuable, as was his and Anne Small’s Handy Guide to Heathers. Although we had a common background in electronics, our main topic of conversation was, of course, heather gardening.
Kurt Kramer led David Small, Ron
Cleevely, Judy Wiksten and other visitors
on a tour of his garden after the
First International Heather
Conference, 2000. Photo by Ella May
Wulff.
McRae-Dickey, first vice president Absent: Michael Krieger (VIHS) Attendee: Sharon Hardy, NAHS librarian Resigned: Paul Dickey, treasurer (as of June 30, 2010)
CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 9:12 am. Mario noted that, although the size of our meeting was unusually small, a quorum was present. The agenda was reviewed and approved.
PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS AND INFORMATIONAL ITEMS Mario noted that currently NAHS has no treasurer and that he has received no report of nominations for officers.
Ella May reported that she had received correspondence from Kurt Kramer (of the German heather society Die Gesellschaft der Heidefreunde) concerning the Fourth International Heather Conference in 2012, asking her to ascertain whether there was enough interest if it were to be in the area near the borders of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Ella May also reported that Jürgen Schröder (president, Die gesellschaft der Heidefreunde) had died in June 2010.
Mario reported receiving a discouraging email from Mary Matwey (president, NEHS) concerning the attendance at NEHS membership meetings. Mary has asked Mario to be the NEHS proxy.
COMMITTEE REPORTS 1. Membership (Ella May Wulff): NAHS paid membership continues to decline and now is approximately 200. Life member Pauline Croxton died recently.
2. Storefront (Ella May Wulff): Very little activity. A short inconclusive discussion ensued.
3. Nominations (Don Jewett): Don reported no nominations other than himself for First Vice-president. In the ensuing discussion, Ella May asked if Pat Hoffman had been contacted re Second Vice-president (Answer: No) and volunteered to contact her plus several others; Karla agreed to be President; various names, including John Calhoun (MCHS) were suggested as possibilities for Treasurer. Mario noted that we’ll need
Winter 2011HNQ # 133 524
We always enjoyed David’s company, but for some reason we particularly enjoyed being with him in Holland and Germany in 2000 for the First International Heather Conference, when we noted how well he interacted with the European growers. He had built up a great network of contacts in the heather world. Because of this, we often received visits to our garden on his recommendation, from heather gardeners not only from this country, but also from abroad.
David’s dedication and contributions to The Heather Society were amazing. Full details will be given in Heathers 8, the 2011 yearbook of The Heather Society.
Erica manipuliflora ‘Ian Cooper’ is a very fragrant and floriferous late
blooming cultivar discovered by David
Small’s father in Croatia.
Photo by Barry Wulff.
In 1984, David Wilson “began pollinating E. tetralix cultivars
with two of the best Erica vagans cultivars, ‘Mrs D. F. Maxwell’ and ‘Lyonesse’.” Most of the
seedlings that germinated from these crossings were inferior, but “part of a stock bed was planted with a few promising seedlings. . . .Cuttings were sent to David Small . . .with the request that
the best one be named Ken Wilson” to commemorate his
father’s efforts “to help organize what became the NAHS. . . .
Erica x williamsii ‘Ken Wilson’ [David Small’s selection from among those cuttings, shown here flowering in May in the
heather garden at Cottage Grove Community Hospital, Oregon]
was introduced in 1992.”
Excerpted from Wilson, D. 1999. Williams’ Heath. Heather News
22 (2): 16–17.
Photo by Barry Wulff
NAHS Board meeting minutes Fort Bragg, California August 6, 2010
Present: NAHS Board Officers: Mario Abreu, president; Joyce Prothero, secretary; Ella May Wulff, past-president NAHS Directors: Mario Abreu (MCHS), Karla Lortz (CHS); Ramona Bloomingdale (OHS), Don Jewett (HERE)
Proxy: Mario Abreu for Mary Matwey (NEHS), Ella May Wulff for Stefani
Winter 2011HNQ # 133 236
David Small as educator
Bryan Taylor4795 Elliot Place, Victoria, British Columbia V8Y 3E4, Canada [email protected]
What an incredible contributor to our horticultural knowledge was David Small, and specifically to our knowledge and love of heathers. When he was the featured speaker at the 2002 NAHS conference in Nanaimo, BC, David was the first person to make me aware of how effective Power Point can be as a communication tool.
As part of his conference visit, David toured the gardens of the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, now known as Glendale Gardens, with Head Gardener Lee Stemski and expressed a lot of interest in things other than heathers. The attached photo is a good shot of David doing what he liked best, and we got much useful advice from him on that visit.
David Small examines a fuchsia at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific. Photo by Bryan Taylor.
Before the 2002 NAHS conference in Nanaimo,
BC, VIHS members showed visitors the heather garden
at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific. From left to right:
Bryan and Joan Taylor, Ella May Wulff, Ellen Norris, Anne and David Small, Joyce Prothero. Photo by Lee Stemski using
Bryan Taylor’s camera.
Nelson, E. C. and D. J. Small. 2000. International Register of Heather Names. Creeting St. Mary: The Heather Society.
Small, D. J. 2004. Suggestions for some beds of heather: for those who cannot sketch. Heathers 1: 4 (Yearbook of The Heather Society 2004).
Small, D. and A. Small. 2001. The Heather Society’s Handy Guide to Heathers 3rd Ed. Creeting St. Mary: The Heather Society.
Small, D. and E. M. T. Wulff. 2008. Gardening with Hardy Heathers. Portland/London: Timber Press.
Wulff, E. M. T. 2004. Yachats heathers revisited. Heather News Quarterly 27 (3): 154–16.
Editor’s Acknowledgments and Credits
Manuscripts: Susan Ewalt, Karla Lortz, Donald A. M.
Mackay, David Plumridge, Bryan Taylor, Judy Wiksten,
David Wilson, Ella May Wulff
Other written contributions: Joyce Prothero
Cover photo: Barry Wulff
Other photos: credits noted in captions
Proofreading: Ella May Wulff
Printing and distribution: Paul Dickey, Stefani McRae-
Dickey, OSU Printing & Mailing Services
Authors, photographers and illustrators submitting work for publication in Heather News implicitly agree that such work may also be published on the
NAHS website or in other NAHS eductional materials, and reprinted by NAHS chapters for educational purposes.
Any other use will require separate permission from the author, photographer or illustrator.
Winter 2011HNQ # 133 722
David Small, no Pooh-Bah
Judy Wiksten135 East Turgot Ave., Edgewater, FL [email protected]
A light went out in England on November 11th, 2010, and the rest of us live in a little duller world since David Small is no longer in it. That’s my opinion anyway, from one who considers herself a fan of the late chairman and president of The Heather Society.
I wrote to Anne, his widow, that although others will list his auspicious accomplishments – and there are many, I will remember him most fondly for something she already knows well: he was simply a nice man. He was a person with whom one could enjoy an easy conversation, with no frills, no snobbishness, no talking down to people like me who didn’t know a fraction as much as he did.
Lucky was the passenger on The Heather Society coach who got to sit beside David for at least part of our journeys around England, Scotland, Wales, and even Eire during annual conferences. I was that happy person at least once. To be honest, I don’t recall the conference or the details of conversation, but that’s my point: sitting and talking with one of the most knowledgeable heather experts in the world, a published author and an important researcher in his own right, was really no big deal. It was fun, casual, a nice segment of free time spent with a nice person. That’s just the way he was, a brilliant yet unassuming man, not a trace of Grand Pooh-Bah about him.
But I do have a somewhat related story I’ll tell you about David. On The Heather Society’s great expedition to South Africa in 2003, we shared a bit of time together forever memorable to me. I even have a picture of it, but the camera is pointed at the view rather than the poor, hapless, exhausted climbers sitting on a rock ledge after we decided to drop out of that afternoon’s manic pursuit of some rare South African Erica growing up at the top of some
80,000 words, not the 50,000 words specified in our contract, ever-generous David suggested to the editor that I replace him as senior author. This unselfish offer I declined, but not for unselfish reasons.
It was, after all, David’s book. He contributed the meat of the book, the important cultivation guidelines without which the book would be useless. I would never have come to write it without him. Also, somehow “Small and Wulff” sounded better to me than “Wulff and Small”. My last reason for turning down the offer was completely selfish. I hoped that if David were senior author, when people had heather questions, they would ask David, not me.
He was the expert, with decades of experience as a nurseryman and student of heathers. In addition to the numerous articles that David wrote between 1969 and 2008 for THS publications, he wrote 79 articles (if I counted correctly in the biography of David’s writing compiled by Richard Canovan for THS yearbook 2011 [in press]) between 1987 and 1995 for the British weekly magazine Amateur Gardening! By comparison, I am a Johnny-come-lately, forced to become an “expert” to some degree when I accepted an office in the North American Heather Society and to a much greater degree when I took on the book.
Sadly, David never made the full recovery for which so many had hoped. I am no longer just the junior author of Gardening with Hardy Heathers. I am the surviving author. I hope I can live up to the trust that David placed in me. David never made people feel “small” (no pun intended), however minimal their knowledge of heathers. I hope that I can emulate him, though his shoes are impossible to fill. He was truly irreplaceable.
Alexander, Glenda. 2005. Heather garden design with a web-based program. Heather News Quarterly 28 (1): 13–15.
McClintock, David. 1983. Inter Hispanicum Ericaceum. Yearbook of The Heather Society 3 (1): 33–40.
Winter 2011HNQ # 133 218
mountain. I didn’t exactly share the enthusiasm of seeing the damn thing in situ, and David was just tired of climbing. So we chose a nice slab of rock, relatively snake-free we figured, and told the others to pick us up on their way back down. But meanwhile, bye-bye, we quit!
Sometimes giving up is a huge relief, and this was. Gradually, we stopped gasping for air and sweating. I lit a cigarette, and David returned to a natural color other than bright pink. We started enjoying the world-class view. We chatted about nothing, looking out over thousands of acres of South African landscape rolling to the horizon, and feeling happy to be alive. It was a view few mortals get to see, an outlook point fit for a king.
And then we spotted it, what the king had left behind: a perfect, thankfully dried-out, piece of – ah, how shall I put it? – baboon excrement. This sounds much sillier said in a British accent, by the way, as David said it. “That looks like buh-BOON poo.” Yup, that’s what it was, and the absurdly funny moment was recorded on film.
David Small and Judy Wiksten discovered with some trepidation that they were not the first to view this magnificent South African landscape.
Photo by Judy Wiksten.
and his London editor sent me what he’d turned in so far, about 20,000 words toward the contracted-for 50,000-word book, along with a copy of the letter that she’d sent to him explaining that she really needed to hold him to that 50,000-word agreement. I could see how a sick person receiving that letter would have thrown up his hands and said, “I can’t do it.” The attached manuscript appeared to cover what I considered the “difficult” parts of the book as far as I was concerned: cultural information, pests and diseases, propagation techniques. That left the “fun” bits for me: companion plants, garden design, etc., though David had begun to work a little on the design section. Our editor also wanted more cultivar descriptions.
Little did I know what I was getting into. In truth, David was not always able to be there for me. His health simply would not permit that. As work on the book progressed, the formerly prompt David, who over our years of correspondence invariably had replied almost immediately to my queries, sometimes didn’t answer for weeks. I finally learned to address urgent emails to both David and Anne. Then Anne would get the answer for me if David had not been up to checking his emails. I also leaned heavily upon Charles Nelson, who took time from his own pressing duties to look over what I’d written, suggest changes, and point me in the proper direction.
Periodically, David would be feeling well again and back to his old self. Thus when I decided to enlarge the section about pests to include mammals and wrote the bit about deer predation, David then wrote about rabbits and mice, etc. Whenever I added to and revised what he had written, I sent the new pages for David’s approval or corrections.
Although I ended up taking the book in directions that David said he’d never considered, such as adding the chapters on hybridizing and on heathers for special uses, there was no part of the book that David did not read, approve, and contribute to before it was submitted to our editor. When it became apparent that I had written much more of the book than he had – it became
Winter 2011HNQ # 133 920
Well, yes, then we did start discussing what might happen if the baboon came back and found us sitting on his favorite rock, or lavatory, or whatever it was we had blundered onto. Baboons, we had been told, are nothing to mess with. This was a thought that made us a bit nervous, sharing no more lethal weaponry between us than slightly pointy walking sticks. Our hastily devised plan of defense involved retreat rather than combat. Fortunately, the group returned pretty soon, and we headed back down the mountain, safe within our own herd again.
And that’s the poo story, from someone who remembers with mirth and affection David Small, the august leader of The Heather Society; no Pooh-Bah, he!
A special man
Susan Ewalt2850 Sykes Creek Rd., Rogue River, OR [email protected]
Our hearts are heavy with the loss of David Small. His knowledge, expertise and love of heather made him special to all in the heather societies who knew him. I had the privilege of spending about ten days traveling with David and Anne Small during and after the Second International Heather Conference in Scotland in 2004. We had interesting conversations and lots of fun adventuring. David made the trip great by trusting the tour guide to find interesting places to stay, to eat, and to explore, always with heather in mind. He was a special person.
David Small chats with John Griffiths during the Second International
Heather Conference in Aviemore, Scotland, 2004.
Photo by David Plumridge.
I don’t remember the name of any Erica found that day, though I suppose I have slides of them somewhere. What I do remember are those hours when I had David Small all to myself. Those are memories to cherish.
David helped to plan the second international heather conference, held in Scotland in 2004. It was at that conference that the NAHS presented David and Anne with honorary life membership in NAHS. The last time I was with David was at the Scottish conference, although we continued corresponding by email until his death.
It was also in 2004 that Timber Press asked David to write a book for them about gardening with heathers. I didn’t learn that until I received an email from David in 2006 asking if I would complete the book, because his health problems had become overwhelming. I don’t know how many other people he asked before he got to me. I didn’t have the courage to ask David, and if others did turn him down, they have kindly refrained from telling me. The logical person to finish the Timber Press book would have been Charles Nelson, who had already collaborated with David Small on many projects, though he is more botanist than gardener. But Charles was already involved with his own magnum opus, finishing the Kew monograph on European heathers begun many years earlier by David McClintock, a past president of THS.
In any case, I really couldn’t turn down the request. I had actually been considering writing a heather book of my own, though it was more along the lines of “The Creation of a Heather Garden”, enlarging upon the “Starting from scratch” articles I’d written for Heather News. This was a more ambitious undertaking. A new book was desperately needed, because all relatively comprehensive English-language books on gardening with heathers were out of print and badly out of date. Having an author on each side of the Atlantic would make the new book much more valuable, as each author would bring different gardening perspectives to the work.
David promised that he would “be there” for me if I took it on,
Winter 2011HNQ # 133 1910
David Small: reflections on a giant
Donald A. M. Mackay135 Deerfield Lane, Pleasantville, NY [email protected]
Although I think that quite a few of us knew that David Small was sick, and perhaps some knew that he was seriously ill, I doubt if any of us were prepared for the awful suddenness of the news that he had died. Giants don’t die, and he was certainly among the giants of the heather world.
I first met David at one of the annual conferences of The Heather Society in Great Britain, when I was too diffident to ask questions from the floor in the presence of such luminaries as Turpin, McClintock, Julian, Hall, et al; but I found it easy to talk one-on-one with David Small, the Heather Society chairman himself. He was so approachable, so generous with his time, so skilled in hiding his surprise at questions that surely revealed a profound ignorance of the topic, that it was easy to confuse his roles of master gardener, Heather Society officer, successful nursery operator, and indeed, scientist.
David’s knowledge of botany certainly exceeded mine, with many inputs from the world’s botanic literature, such as that on moorland ecology, initiation of meristem growth, or the cooling benefits of misting as distinct from simply keeping the humidity high around heather cuttings. He was extremely knowledgeable and had the background and training to make a success of any science. But he wore his knowledge very lightly.
He always seemed a step ahead of the rest of us, such as in publishing (with his son, Ian) the use of DNA patterns for sorting out heather species relationships. I was thinking about it; he was doing it.
I will leave to others an appreciation of David Small’s efforts in guiding The Heather Society through many years of growth, but
found in their native habitats. David’s remark was based upon his observations of other naturalized heather populations. Not long afterward, we discovered just such a nearby planting of old cultivated heathers that could have been contributing seed to the 804 population (Wulff 2004).
During the second trip that David arranged to the Western Cape Province of South Africa, in 2003, both David and I were experiencing physical problems that made steep mountain hikes difficult for us. When we arrived at the starting point for one particularly challenging hike in search of a gorgeous rare Erica species known to live in higher elevations in that area, David and I elected to remain at the base of the mountain while the others made the climb.
It was a lovely warm and sunny spring day, and we were quite happy poking around the vegetation at the base of the mountain, especially after we each separately found plants of a very attractive Erica that neither of us had seen before. We decided that we hadn’t missed so much after all by not going up the mountain. We had a “find” all our own. We also found several other Erica species, though none as impressive as the unfamiliar species. We were content to sit on a rock in the sunshine, eat our sack lunches, and chat while we waited for the return of the intrepid explorers. I felt particularly privileged to have these few hours alone with David. It was not until I read Judy Wiksten’s tribute (page 7) that I learned that she also treasured a tete �� tete with David Smalltete �� tete with David Small with David Small during the same African trip. Sometimes health problems bring unexpected blessings.
Shortly after we finished eating, the rest of the group came down off the mountain triumphantly bearing sprigs of the sought-after heather species (for our educational benefit, because the export of South African native plants, even a few cuttings, was now very tightly controlled). To our chagrin, they also carried sprigs of “our” species, whose finding had somewhat consoled us for not being able to see the rare species in situ. Our low elevation discovery wasn’t unique to us, after all.
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those of us in North America have surely had much the gain from The Heather Society’s Handy Guide to Heathers, which all of us have found invaluable, if only in tracking down a forgotten plant in a corner of the garden, or an unreadable label. David himself had no need of references, books, manuals or even enchiridions in identifying a plant. His knowledge was astounding, even for someone whose business was in growing many different heathers.
But there was more to it than just knowing: it was the imparting of the knowing. He was kind, he was forbearing, he was forgiving; but above all, he was patient. No gardener too new, no novice so non-plussed, no question too dumb that his reservoir of patience and consideration was ever depleted.
David Small was a true gentleman, whose loss to us of the heather world, great though it is, has to be put in perspective to that of his family’s loss. Our condolences go out to them. He will be surely and sorely missed.
At least I have my own condolences in the memories of his visits here, of the brand new heathers he brought to these shores, with names I had never heard of, and the number of treasures that his visitors would be sure to leave with. And I will treasure his books, the guides he wrote with his wife, Anne, and the excellent book recently co-authored with Ella May Wulff. Although I don’t know who wrote which word, I am prepared to give him credit for all the parts that bring his consideration, his kindness, his gentleness and his humanity back to life.
“Most gardeners are overwhelmed when presented for the first time with the infinite variation of the many garden selections of heather.” David Small
Gardening with Hardy Heathers, 2008
had a good time picking out interesting Calluna plants that might be worth propagating.
Although at the time we had no idea how long the heathers had been there or where they had come from, David commented that because there were so many different flower colors (photo p. 14), including the dark-colored plant now registered as ‘Oregon Glow’, the little colony was probably being constantly replenished by seed blown into the area from a nearby planting of named cultivars. He said that usually when heathers naturalize, eventually the colony reverts to having flowers mostly in the tints of mauve
David Small examines one of the naturalized heathers in Yachats, Oregon, 2002. Photo by Barry Wulff
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The irreplaceable David Small
Ella May T. Wulff2299 Wooded Knolls Drive, Philomath, OR 97370 [email protected]
Two themes became apparent as the tributes to David Small from NAHS members in both North America and the UK poured in: David’s generosity and absolutely dedication to heathers and The Heather Society (THS), and the role of Anne Small as David’s quiet partner and enabler. Although David was the spokesman and earned the greater name recognition, anyone spending time with both of them would have noted how well David and Anne worked together. I first noticed this at the propagation workshop they offered during THS conference in Penrith, Cumbria, in 1997. Although David did the initial explanation of proper technique for taking and sticking heather cuttings, Anne was right there with the cuttings flats (cell trays), ready to help guide you through the process if you weren’t quite sure how to go about it. She also made sure that all the cuttings were thoroughly watered in afterward. And there is no question that at home in Denbeigh, they shared the work needed to keep their heathers healthy and growing well.
Susie Kay noted in her tribute [HQ Fall 2010, p.22] that Anne carefully recorded every photo David took during the two tours he organized to South Africa to view the Cape heaths. I would add that during the first tour, when David was gathering cuttings for propagation, Anne diligently recorded species name and pertinent observations to accompany each carefully bagged lot of cuttings. (Anne also toted the small plastic bags for this.) By the end of the trip, David was lugging a huge plastic bag of cuttings that was nearly as big as he was.
Their sometimes-unsung joint contributions to the heather world are tremendous, but The Heather Society’s Handy Guide to Heathers, jointly compiled by Anne and David, made the name Small synonymous with heather. The three editions of this invaluable listing, with descriptions of all commercially available European
“Heathers on the Internet” for The Yearbook of The Heather Society 2000 (pp. 22–24) that could well be subtitled “Internet Use for Dummies”.
David put the Handy Guide on the website, updated periodically and illustrated with many more photos than could be included in the 3rd edition, though it lists only cultivars from those nurseries that subscribe to the website. Ian created a do-it-yourself heather garden design program for the website, described by David in Heathers 1 (2004) and more extensively by Glenda Alexander in Heather News Quarterly (2005).
There’s probably not a heather enthusiast in the world who would not have welcomed a visit by David and Anne Small. Not only were they good company and easy to please, but we all relished the opportunity to pick David’s brain and get his advice. David was the lead speaker at the 2002 NAHS conference, in Nanaimo, BC. David and Anne took advantage of being in the Pacific Northwest to visit a number of other heather growers after the conference, and they spent a few days with my husband, Barry, and me in Philomath. Naturally, I was pleased to show him my then-very-young heather garden, and when he asked the cultivar name of a deep pink Erica cinerea, I told him the name on the plants’ label, ‘Splendens’. “Well,” he replied. “I don’t know what it is, but it isn’t ‘Splendens’.” Had I bothered to look up the description of ‘Splendens’ in the Handy Guide instead of relying upon the photo on the label, I would have realized that.
If David Small couldn’t recognize the cultivar, it’s a good bet that nobody else can, either. It’s close to ‘Knap Hill Pink’ in color and habit – but not quite. (‘Knap Hill Pink’ was blooming in the garden when David and Anne visited, and David had no problem with that one.) David corrected many labelling errors during his visits to North American gardens. His ability to distinguish among similar heather cultivars was phenomenal.
Barry and I took David and Anne to the Oregon Coast to look at the naturalized heathers along the old 804 Trail in Yachats. They
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heather cultivars (and a few Cape heaths in the 2001 edition) and nurseries where they could be purchased, in Britain and elsewhere, made the Handy Guide, as it is generally known, the “bible” of heather enthusiasts. I still keep the 3rd edition of the Handy Guide (2001) sitting next to my computer, along with the International Register of Heather Names, Volume 1 that David compiled with E. Charles Nelson (2000). I refer to both frequently and would be lost without them.
Richard Canovan provided me with insight into the origins of the Handy Guide. “You may like to know that from 1 January 1983, David made available a ‘Free Cultivar Enquiry Service’. THS members were invited to write to him, giving the cultivar name and their hardiness zone, enclosing a self-addressed stamped envelope. David would send them a list of nurserymen in their zone who sold that cultivar. Nurserymen members were invited to make similar trade enquiries. This was announced in the Autumn 1982 Bulletin of The Heather Society 3:7.
“That is just one example of how he helped heather society members – both ordinary and nurserymen. I think it should be mentioned, as it is not in a Yearbook of The Heather Society so may be forgotten. It was not a non-event: it quickly revealed that people had difficulty getting cultivars he had thought were widespread, so he asked nurserymen for a list of their cultivars. You can see here the embryo of the Handy Guide and the franchise [whereby members could purchase through THS cultivars not available from British nurseries, a service now discontinued].”
The above-mentioned franchise was one of the most important services of The Heather Society, one that members in the United States could not utilize, regrettably, because of agricultural import restrictions. David had built up a series of relationships with heather growers on the Continent, and he travelled to their nurseries to retrieve plants of requested cultivars. He and Anne also propagated heathers for the cultivar distribution scheme (see Charles Nelson’s comments below).
This network of contacts enabled David to put together a wonderful post-conference tour of Dutch and German nurseries for the first international heather conference (2000). To say that he provided service was an understatement. I flew to Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. David picked several of us North American members up at the airport (in a van already loaded with THS members from Britain), delivered us to the conference hotel north of Hamburg, drove us on the nursery tour after the conference, and dropped us off back at Schiphol for our flights home. I don’t know if I would have had the courage to do all this without David’s carefully made arrangements. I know that I certainly wouldn’t have gotten to all those great nurseries without him.
E. Charles Nelson has provided me with still further insight into the contributions made by David and Anne to the heather world. “Throughout the nineties and into the middle of the ‘noughties’, David and Anne worked tirelessly for The Heather Society. From his retirement [from British Telecom] until quite recently, David spent almost all of his time on heathers and the society and its activities. As a team, the Smalls produced its major publications, maintained the membership list and website, and also propagated young plants for the cultivar distribution scheme. I can remember going to Denbeigh to work on the international register with David; and while we were editing on the computer, Anne was at the kitchen table inserting hundreds of cuttings, meanwhile preparing and serving lunch. The Heather Society was a ‘cottage industry’ based at Denbeigh, with Anne and David as its ‘invisible’ dynamo.”
If one reads the preamble to Volume 1 of the International Register of Heather Names, which summarizes the history of the register, one comes across the following sentence. “This checklist is derived directly from a computerised database that was devised and is managed by D. J. Small.” As Jean Julian mentioned [HQ Fall 2010, p.2], David’s computer skills were substantial, and in addition to devising the computerized database, David, with his son, Ian, created the award-winning website for The Heather Society (heathersociety.org.uk/) and wrote an excellent article titled Continued page 16
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The vibrant color assortment of
naturalized heathers along the 804 trail in Yachats, Oregon led David Small to suggest that this
area was receiving a constant infusion of
new seed from nearby cultivated heathers.
Even David Small couldn’t identify this E. cinerea cultivar in the Wulff garden that was
purchased as ‘Splendens’ but obviously isn’t.
Phyllodoce empetriformis from Mt. Joseph, Oregon.
Photo by Art P. Dome
C. selaginoides x C. lycopodioides ‘Stormbird’ is one of the easiest cassiopes to grow in the garden and is a prolific bloomer. It does
have some blossoms in the fall some years.Photo by Karla Lortz.
Phyllodoce caerulea (blue mountain heath) native
to the Pacific Northwest. Photo by Art P. Dome
Photos by Barry Wulff