A Tale of Two Islands

Béatrice Chassé

Published May 2017 in International Oaks No. 28: 105–132

Introduction

One could easily and convincingly argue that, although Martha’s Vineyard and Taiwan are both islands, they do not have much in common. That being said, my visits, nearly back-to-back, to those two places in the autumn of 2015 have linked them forever in my mind. And in fact there is not only a botanical link (Polly Hill’s search for the Taiwan endemic Rhododendron nakaharae for her arboretum on Martha’s Vineyard) but a human one as well (the obsession I share with her for growing plants raised from wild-collected seed in our respective arboreta).

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