Ever thought of going on a plant-hunting safari to Tibet? That's just what Sechelt author and gardener extraordinaire Bill Terry and his wife Rosemary Bates did last year when they joined a group of botanists on the journey of a lifetime. They drove by jeep 2,500 km from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province in China, to Lhasa, over some of the world's most hair-raising roads.
They travelled in monsoon season, crossing the raging headwaters of the Yangtze, the Mekong and Salween rivers. They traversed a series of mountain passes, as high as 5,000 metres where, even in summer, the wind scours exposed skin like steel wool. And they found the Himalayan blue poppy, growing in the wild.
Relive this journey with them on Thursday, Jan. 14, at Terry's digital slide presentation entitled The Perfect Garden: Plant Hunting in Tibet at the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse Theatre at 7:30 p.m., sponsored by the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden Society.
The show will include pictures of many rare and beautiful alpine plants, particularly species of Asiatic poppy and primulas never found in cultivation. Terry will also share impressions of life in Tibet under Chinese rule.
Terry is recognized as a legend in our region; according to University of British Columbia Botanical Garden acting director Douglas Justice, Terry is "observant, clever, resourceful" and his style a "self-effacing, fireside approach with a strong narrative structure."
In a review for Pacific Horticulture of Terry's book Blue Heaven: Encounters with the Blue Poppy, the American plant hunter, writer and horticulturist Dan Hinckley wrote: "It is the crafted word and distillate of Terry's passion [for the blue poppy] that make Blue Heaven a true gem to read."
Those who attended his previous talks about blue poppies or hellebores will look forward to this all-new lecture and the chance to travel to the roof of the world with this local guide.
Tickets are available at B&K Garden and Land-scape Supply, Quality Farm & Garden, the Sechelt Visitors' Centre and on-line at www.coastbotanicalgarden.org.
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