Planthunter John brings remote seeds back to Exbury

Seeds brought back from an expedition to the wildest parts of the Indian-Burmese border by Exbury’s head gardener, John Anderson, are already germinating in the New Forest Gardens’ glasshouses.
John and a small group of other plant specialists travelled to the remote mountainous parts of Arundachai Predesh where they hired porters mainly from the local Mishmi tribes and trekked high into the wooded slopes of mountains overlooking the Burmese border.

“It must be one of the most remote areas of the world,” said John, who lost two stone in weight over the three-week expedition. “We climbed up to 14,000 feet, slipping on rocks, crossing rivers by means of fallen trees, relying on our porters to set up camp and cook for us each evening.

“We hit the end of the rainy season and for the first few days everything from our sleeping bags to rucksacks and clothes was wet. We had to wear gaiters because we were climbing through thick undergrowth which snagged and shredded our clothes.  “But it was worthwhile because of the seeds we collected, from rhododendrons to meconopsis, berberis to abies, juniper, gentians and asters,” he said.

A typical day started with a cup of sweet tea at five in the morning followed by a breakfast of eggs or porridge and chapattis an hour later. Then it was out on the trail, collecting and labelling along the way, following the trail signs left by the porters who went on ahead to set up camp for the next stage.

“It was easy to get lost as we straggled out along the trail, identifying plants and collecting the seed.
“Some of our porters climbed up into those mountains wearing only flip-flops on their feet; the porters from the lowlands had never seen snow, so when we reached snow-covered peaks, they rushed off to look at it,” he said.
The expedition, funded by the charitable trust that runs Exbury Gardens, brought back seed that will be used not only at Exbury, but in gardens around Britain.

John brought back 220 different seed accessions which were cleaned and sown by Exbury’s propagator, Lucy Cartledge.
“They will be grown on, used here and distributed widely,” said John. “We hope that this will help to ensure the future of some plants that would otherwise be endangered.”