Steve Hootman Lecture

Intrepid Rhododendron Explorer Steve Hootman to Give Lecture

Steve Hootman of the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden brings news of his latest collecting trip to Asia. He will be reporting on his 2010 plant hunting foray into barely accessible regions of Southern China and the mountains on the Vietnamese border searching for and finding several elusive rhododendron species which have not been seen by westerners for decades if at all. The expedition was undertaken together with the eminent Peter Cox of Glendoick Scotland, Kelly Dodson and Sue Milliken of Far Reaches Farm Nursery in Washington, and Dr. Keith White, RSBG Board Member.

Steve will tell us of their adventures exploring incredible and daunting terrain, some requiring climbing up thousand foot cliffs. Steve’s beautiful photographs will show us these last habitats of rhododendrons in the wild. This will be a glimpse of what we have to look forward to growing in our own gardens! These are seed collecting trips as well as botanical surveys, and it won’t be long before the fruits of his efforts will be offered as young plants on the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden plant distribution list.

Steve Hootman is the Executive Director and Curator of the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, in Federal Way, Washington. Over the past 26 years Steve has become a foremost international authority on Rhododendron taxonomy and distribution. He was awarded the American Rhododendron Society’s highest honor, the Gold Medal, in 2007 for his internationally significant scope of work with the genus Rhododendron.

The RSBG maintains the largest collection of species rhododendrons in the United States and is committed to disseminating information about them, as well as plants and seeds, to further understanding of this large, complex and fascinating genus.

Join us for this unique and special lecture!