For those who are interested, here is some follow-up on the previously
posted controversy regarding deaccessioning of boxwoods and azaleas at the
National Arboretum.

Michael W. Giese
mg9588a@msn.com


Subject: Azalea Controversy at U.S. National Arboretum
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:19:26 -0500

To the District I Garden
Clubs:


          Many in the gardening world are
agitated about plans at the US National Arboretum to de-access (i.e.
remove) the azaleas from the hillside of Mount Hamilton.  It's unclear
whether this is
a ploy for the arboretum to ramp up more public support or more budget
dollars
(the old close the Washington Monument budget maneuver) or whether it's a
reasonable move by an arboretum whose mission is to study and preserve as
opposed to being a public park.  If the Tea Party congress follows through
on their threats to decimate the federal budget, I suspect that these azaleas
will become the least of our worries.


        The controversy is led by Washington Gardener
magazine and this blogpost:
http://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2010/11/save-azaleas-at-us-national-arboretum.html


Ramon Jordan, the arboretum acting director has responded to the National
Capital Area Garden Clubs and his response is reprinted
below.

David Healy
District I Director


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

November 15, 2010


Dear Mary Ellen Alden; President, National Capital Area
Garden Clubs, Inc.


    You may have heard that the National Arboretum’s Gardens Unit
will need to cut two gardener
positions in 2012 due to the loss of
long-standing support from a private donor. The lack of
sufficient personnel
to maintain all of the gardens and collections at the arboretum’s D.C. campus

has forced us to evaluate the best use of the unit’s financial resources. We
have determined that
we have little choice but to de-accession collections.
In the short-term, we will continue to
examine other possible funding
mechanisms.


    Gardens Unit staff conducted a careful analysis of the
collections and gardens to determine which
should be proposed for
de-accessioning. The analysis included the scientific value (germplasm) of

each collection; its educational and interpretive value; its aesthetic value
and appeal to visitors;
and the current level of stakeholder
involvement/support for the collection. The collections
identified for
de-accessioning would be removed—with important germplasm preserved through

cuttings or transplanting, and some transplanted elsewhere on the arboretum
grounds—and the
space they occupied planted as low-maintenance woodland or
meadow. Making the decision to
remove any garden or collection is a painful
one and not what any director or staff does without
regret. It is the only
way, however, that available resources can be matched with the work
involved
in maintaining garden spaces at an acceptable standard. For the first
phase of

withdrawing from the care of collections, we are proposing that the National
Boxwood Collection
and its associated Perennial Collections be
de-accessioned. Also, while it has long been one of the
most popular
seasonal attractions at the National Arboretum, the extensive Glenn Dale
Hillside of
the Azalea Collections is for the most part undocumented plant
material for which we cannot
justify long-term maintenance.

        The work to do
this must be undertaken and started now so that it can be completed before
the

loss of the two staff positions in 2012. The process will consist of
herbarium voucher
documentation of identified plants in the collection,
propagation of plants and shipment to other
gardens, nurseries, and
collections, and subsequent removal of the plants. Selected plants will be

moved or propagated for new plantings in other areas at the arboretum. As a
final step, native
trees or meadow plants will be planted to restore the
areas.
Long-term plans
already exist to remove nearly all of the azaleas of unknown pedigree on the

Glenn Dale Hillside (about 20-25% of the total azalea collection) so that
they may be replaced with
known Glenn Dale azalea introductions massed in
large groups for visual impact, and to secure the
germplasm holding with
multiple plants. The plan now will shift to fast-track removal of azaleas of

unknown pedigree so the area is less of a maintenance burden. Most removals
are expected to
take place in the summer of 2011.

 2

    The first steps in de-accessioning the National Boxwood
Collection are the development of a
complete and accurate inventory,
communicating the availability of cuttings or rooted cuttings of
the plants
on the inventory, propagation of plants, and distribution of the resulting
plants. Selected
plants from the National Boxwood Collection and Perennials
Collection will be moved or propagated
to form the basis for new plantings
elsewhere at the arboretum; for example, near the walled
Morrison Garden in
the Azalea Collections. This will create a smaller collection footprint
that the

Gardens Unit will be able to maintain with reduced resources. Removal of
plants would not take
place until autumn or winter of 2011-2012.

        I know that you join
me in wishing there were sufficient resources to retain these collections. I

hope that you will understand that we cannot simply wait nor abandon
collections when there is a
reduction in staff. Because all signals
currently point to a lack of financial resources sufficient to
maintain
existing collections by 2012, it would be irresponsible to allow the
opportunity
to
distribute germplasm to pass by while we still have the staff to do the
distribution or
transplanting. While some might argue for the simple
abandonment of garden spaces when staff
positions are lost, this is not a
responsible approach. Abandonment is environmentally harmful
because of the
potential for invasive species to become entrenched. It is nearly
impossible to

recover such collections after just a few years of abandonment without
considerable expense.
 Permanent
sustained funding to support the minimum number of staff needed to develop
and

maintain our collections, but especially the boxwood and perennial
collections and the azalea
hillside, is the only viable way they can be
saved. Should such funding become available, the
replacement of unpedigreed
plants with Glenn Dale cultivars on the Glenn Dale Hillside could be

accomplished gradually, in a way that maintains the spring show while newly
planted azaleas
become established, and the de-accession of the National
Boxwood Collection and Perennial
Collections will not be necessary.



    Managing resources through difficult economic times is
challenging, but it can also offer
opportunities. We will be carefully
examining the resources we have to better engage the public
and build strong
support for the future. Visitation is trending upward, and the arboretum is
still
fortunate to have great potential in terms of location, land resource,
and positive public
recognition. Hopefully these assets will translate into
a sound financial future if we can be prudent
and deliberate with our
resources in this time of transition.


    I would be happy to speak with you to discuss ways in which
you could help support the gardens
and collections of the National
Arboretum. You have been valuable partners in the past, and we
look forward
to strengthening this important relationship in the future.

Sincerely,

Ramon Jordan

Interim Director, U.S. National Arboretum



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