Visit to Ian Young in Scotland
Mary Sue Ittner (Sun, 27 Jun 2004 09:58:47 PDT)

Dear All,

In February 2003 Paige Woodward gave us the url for Ian Young's bulb log, a
feature of the Scottish Rock Garden web site.
http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/bulblog.html

To quote what Paige said then: "It's a pawky, informative diary of the
goings-on in his own bulb
collection, well illustrated with closeups of rare plants, including lots
of Crocus species." I'd like to add that there is so much to learn from
reading this and he uses pictures to illustrate his points.

When I discovered that he was successfully growing Scoliopus biglovii which
is native to where I live and I hadn't yet mastered how to keep it going, I
emailed him and he was kind enough to write back help. Since we were going
to be in Scotland on our trip in May I decided to write him and see if we
could come to meet him and see his garden. Even though he only knew me from
the email I had written him he said yes. My husband and two of our friends
journeyed to Aberdeen and spent a number of delightful hours with him and
his wife Maggi. I've been wanting to write about our visit, but other
things keep coming up that need my attention so haven't done it. Maybe I
won't remember as much this way and my note will be shorter than usual.
Maybe not.

Ian and Maggi have a wonderful garden and they were both very welcoming,
enthusiastic, and eager to share information with us. One of my non
gardening friends who came with us was so impressed she talked about the
visit for days. We all were glad we went.

Ian has a greenhouse and grows a number of things there in pots, but they
definitely have a garden and not a collection of pots. They bought the
house next door and therefore have a double back yard. Since Aberdeen is
close to the ocean, they have a more moderate climate than some parts of
the U.K. and a lot of his bulbs are grown in the ground. Ian scatters seed
about and some of it grows and so there are surprises here and there in the
garden. He and Maggi have a lot of Rhododendrons, many grown from seed.
Some they let get tall and prune off the lower branches so there is more
light for plants growing under them. Others they keep quite short.
Like David and Pat Victor's garden which we visited later, this garden is a
joy to wander through and I'm afraid I'd never get anything done as I'd be
so distracted looking at what was blooming!

A lot of things are grown in troughs that are artfully arranged around the
garden. They make their own, using boxes as models for authentic ones, but
also turning polystyrene fish boxes (readily available in Aberdeen) into
troughs that once completed look like aged stone. All you rock garden
people on our list I am sure know all about this, but we didn't. Ian gave
us a tutorial complete with pictures since he gives talks on this and I'm
eager to see if I can do it. They would be so much lighter and provide a
bit of insulation too I'd think. The most recent column shows Rhodohypoxis
in these troughs.

I'd like to share just a few things I talked about with Ian. First he is
only going to do his bulb log for the rest of the year, alas. By then he
suspects people might be getting tired of it (not to mention he might be
tired of writing it as it has to be an enormous amount of work). He plans
to put the first two years on one CD which can be purchased. After that he
will do sporadic pieces on Fritillaria and Erythronium, two genera he is
especially fond of and wants people to know more about.

Ian firmly believes in sharing and educating others. He told us that
eventually they hope to have all the Scottish Rock Garden journals on their
web site (which he manages content for), available to all.

Crocus is his favorite genus. He talked about how there are so many
different species that you can have plants in bloom for such a long time.
Even though the days are short in winter in Scotland he can still grow
them, although some get etiolated.

Ian has been busy taking digital camera pictures of all his plants even
though he had a large collection of slides from the past. He believes that
the digitals are better. He talked about how once you transfer the image to
the computer you can see parts of the flower you never can see when you are
looking at it. Because Scotland is so far north, he can still take pictures
in summer with his digital camera at 10:30 at night.

Ian does not subscribe to the theory that letting plants go to seed
diminishes the bulbs. He has run some tests on some of the genera he grows
and finds that plants continue to grow as they are forming seed pods. Once
the seed pods are gone, they go dormant. Growing longer makes the storage
organ bigger. I know this is very controversial, but I certainly have
observed what he is talking about. If I deadhead many of my bulbs, within
days you can see them turn brown. If someone has asked for seed and I have
left it on the plants, many of them stay green weeks, months longer.

Since it is possible to see Ian's garden and to learn a lot by reading his
weekly column, I won't be posting a lot of pictures we took from his
garden. I'll add a couple of pictures and announce them when I have time to
put them on a page.

Ian will be doing a speaker's tour for the North American Rock Garden
Society in October while Maggi minds the garden at home. I urge those of
you who can to go hear him talk and welcome him to the USA and Canada. I am
sure you won't be disappointed. I wish I could go.

Thursday October 14, 2004 -- Newfoundland
Saturday October 16, 2004 -- New England
Sunday October 17, 2004 -- Connecticut
Saturday October 23, 2004 -- Hudson Valley, Manhattan, Long Island, Watnong

If Bobby Ward or Jane McGary have a more complete itinerary please share it
with us.

Mary Sue