What do you say to your idol, your hero?
For nearly twenty years I have been enamored by Dan Hinkley. I have walked in his garden near Seattle on four occasions. I have spoken with him only once before, while standing in the midst of his spectacular garden, considered by many as the most significant private garden in North America. I have read every word of his books, his magazine articles and his catalogues. For me, and many others, he is the nation’s ultimate plantsman. Dan Hinkley is the Sir Edmund Hillary of horticulture.
So I was overwhelmed when I received a call that he wanted to visit with me and talk about plants and gardening. I was mystified. What do I say?
Perhaps you don’t recognize the name. Dan Hinkley searches the world, literally, for plants that will enrich the gardens of the rest of us. When he discovers a candidate, perhaps in Asia, Africa, Europe or The Americas, he adds it to his garden and to the gene pool of well over 10,000 varieties he has already grown.
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| Plant Explorer Dan Hinkley being guided across a treacherous river somewhere in Asia. |
Dan Hinkley is an extraordinary person. He is always on the move. Most times, he is on his way someplace, either to explore for plants, speak on plants or learn of plants. His passport is riddled with stamps, from places like Korea, Japan, Nepal, China, Taiwan, Chile, Tasmania, South Africa, Turkey, Sikkim, Bhutan or dozens more.
Despite the vast number of plants he has amassed, he relentlessly explores the world in search of more. When he finds a plant, perhaps on a cliff overhanging a remote mountain pass, he first sets out to understand its home and its neighbors. What is its natural habitat? It’s soil? It’s fondness for sun or water or nutrients? Perhaps this plant might have a comrade with variegated leaves or another flower color? He collects copious amounts of seed; almost never harming the wild plants and labels them carefully with exacting detail. When back in his garden, he grows it, tests it, evaluates it, and ultimately shares it.
The plants Dan Hinkley brings back from these distant places are not for the meek or mild. These are plants from the far reaches of the world. I have had the fortune of stepping into countless gardens, with striking plants in spectacular arrangement. You would recognize the names of these famous, picturesque gardens, both private and public: Huntington, Longwood, Kew, Butchart and others roll from the tongues of avid gardeners.
But at Dan Hinkley’s gardens the plants are not only beautiful, they are unique; frequently unknown. The plants in his gardens are true rarities. Not one or two unusual plants, here and there, scattered among the recognizable mainstays that make up nearly all gardens. At a Dan Hinkley garden, the entire garden is rarities. His gardens are a horticultural trivia of the plant world.
Years ago, when I first walked into Dan Hinkley’s Heronswood garden on Washington’s Kitsap Peninsula, I consumed half of the day investigating the first twenty feet of plants, and there were five more acres to go. It was overpowering. The plants were foreign. These were aliens. They were plants from another world; with unpronounceable names, artfully combined and masterfully grown. A flood of texture, fragrance and blossom that filled the senses. Imagine an artist, toiling for years to create beautiful works of art on canvas panels. Then, in one moment, after years of labor, a dozen new colors you had never known of or even thought about were handed to you. Imagine your enthusiasm. That is how I felt.
Hinkley’s stature in horticulture is unparalleled. He speaks throughout the world. He is profiled in The New York Times. Martha Stewart gushes about him. He writes for Garden Design Magazine. Yet, for weeks at a time he still sleeps in primitive conditions in a tent in the mountains of Nepal or perhaps in a river valley in Tasmania, eating local fare and rising before sunrise to explore nature’s hidden gardens.
What could Dan Hinkley want to talk to me about?
Turns out, he just wanted to talk about plants; and that’s what we did. We walked and talked, stopping at interesting plants along the way. We talked about the plant; touched them and smelled them. We shared stories of where they came from, what their neighbors were, how well they grew and maybe other forms of the plants that we had heard of and lusted over.
In the end, Dan Hinkley is a plant explorer. So he came to Newport Beach and was still a plant explorer. He found a few more plants, learned about them, learned of their neighbors and learned their stories.
Ron Vanderhoff is the Nursery Manager at Roger’s Gardens, Corona del Mar
Questions from Readers
January 26, 2008
Question:
I so enjoyed the timely article on Japanese Camellias in today's LA Times! Thank you. Do you advise no fertilizer at all; using only mulch to maintain a proper pH balance, or would you advise fertilizer only during the growing half of the year, April to September?
Lauren
Answer:
I suggest feeding lightly during the first half of the growing season, beginning about April. Use organic cottonseed meal and do not cultivate it into the soil. Of course, always maintain an acidic mulch over the roots as well.
