RHS Plant Awards 2002-2003

摘要

Anyone who delves through the horticultural literature of yesteryear very soon conies to a realisation that many raisings trumpeted as 'promising' soon fall by the wayside, and equally many plants nowadays signalled as brand new in cultivation have infact been introduced on a number of occasions in the past. Taking a straw poll, I happened to leaf through a publication dating from almost exactly a century ago, in which S. Arnott of Carsethorn-by-Qumfries (yes, Snowdrop Sam himself) alerted readers to the various scillas and x chionoscillas reared by another well-known galanthophile, James Allen, Variously praised as 'exceedingly beautiful', 'good doers' and 'capital', they have all long since departed; for a plant to endure, looks alone are not enough — it must have an appeal that transcends changing tastes, a usefulness and reliability that means that it delights far more often than it disappoints, and a relative ease of propagation that enables nurserymen to list it from year to year.