FOREWORD

The approach to combine the paper and poster sessions with visits to places of commercial growing, collections, and places of research proved to be very useful. Excursions to the nurseries of Böhlje, Bruns, Hachmann, Hobbie, and Wieting showed us the excellent quality of rhododendron production, trips to the famous collections of rhododendrons: the Rhododendron Park in Bremen and the collection of hybrids of the Horticultural Research Station in Bad Zwischenahn showed us the variability of the genus Rhododendron, trips to the Japanese Garden of "Planten un Blomen", and the New Botanical Garden in Hamburg, and the Berggarten in Hannover showed us the possibility of designing with rhododendrons, a visit of the research station of the Institute for Fruit and Nursery Science in Sarstedt gave a view to actual Rhododendron research.

In the local organisation of the conference I had an invaluable local help by Mr. Otto Burchards, because he is familiar with the area and especially with its nurseries, and by the "Kurverwaltung" of Bad Zwischenahn. For the main part of scientific organisation and correspondence Dr. Werner Dierend was responsible, supported by Dr. Steffen Waldenmaier, Dr. Heike Bohne, and Burkhard Walter and the staff of my Institute. Thanks are due to all of them for their efforts in making the conference a success.

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry, and the German Rhododendron-Society.

On the occasion of this conference my old idea of a comprehensive bibliography of the genus Rhododendron could be realized and presented at the conference. The papers of the bibliography include all the worldwide knowledge of rhododendrons. The papers of this conference will be included in the addition to present all rhododendron scientists, horticulturists, and gardeners the top actual information on the lovely genus Rhododendron.

Wolfgang Spethmann


ADDRESS OF THE LOWER SAXONY MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOOD,
AGRICULTURE, AND FORESTRY, MR. KARL HEINZ FUNKE,

on the occasion of the 5th International Rhododendron Conference
in Bad Zwischenahn
on the 21st of May, 1992.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

it is my pleasure and a great honor to welcome you at this place in the centre of the Saxony nursery region, truly the Kindergarten of our rhododendrons.

I congratulate you, Prof. Spethmann, to hold this meeting right here, to let your colleagues have an idea of the performance and the range of Lower Saxony nurseries as well as the institutions of research and extension. Also, this gives us a chance to show our visitors from all over the world the state of Lower Saxony on your field trips

In brief, you have taken an excellent choise of location for your International Symposium. With an area of 47.000 km² and 7.2 million inhabitants it is a vast rural state of the Federal Republic. With a population density of 153 people per km² it is much less densely populated than the average, and large regions are devoted to agriculture. The scenery of the state is quite variable: green coastal areas in the North, a vast plain where you are right now, are typical for the North West, whereas the North East is characterized by its exentive heather areas, the Lüneburger Heide. The South West is an intensive agricultural and animal husbandry region and differs considerably from the pure field crops areas of the South East.

The scenery varies furthermore due to the hills of the Weser and the Harz mountains. There is hardly another federal state as variable in appearance, as we have the sea, vast bog areas, heather, river basins, hills and mountains. Also, the people who live in this state are quite diverse, coined by the scenery surrounding them.

Here, in Oldenburg and Frisia you find a very original, liberal group of people somewhat conservative with regard to the values in life. Economically, however, they are adaptable, reliable, and very very laborious.

In this region of Oldenburg-Frisia you have the right climatic and pedological conditions to develop the cultivation of Rhododendron which was started some time in the 18th century.

Until the second world war the Dresden area was the center of Rhododendron breeding and production. I may be exaggerating a little when I claim that you are in one of the most important Rhododendron production centers, but it is a large one nevertheless. As a Minister of State for Agriculture I visualize a vast picture book with many detailed pictures. Start with "Alpenrose" and think through to the economical factor Rhododendron, and please do not mind when I avoid to enter into botanical details on origin and systematics of this genus. Of course, I know that Rhododendron is a cosmopolitan genus. Its origins are located in East Asia and in North America.

This brings me to the special welcome of the Board of this meeting:

The president of the International Rhododendron Union, Mr. Ralph Sangster from Australia

The president of the German Rhododendron Society, Mr. Berndt-Adolf Crome

and for the International Society for Horticultural Science, Dr. Heursel from Melle in Belgium.

But let us return to the first statement, viz. economic factor in Lower Saxony. In the first place it is the horticulturists and breeders to whom we owe the production of around 8 million plants which were created by breeding from the nearly 1000 species from all over the world. The production value amounts to 120 million DM.

For a rural area with all its problems in consequence of the Common Market decisions and the possible results of the GATT negotiations this is an important stabilizing factor for the labor market. After all, there are 1200–1500 people employed in this industry.

Our task in politics is to draw up the programs for the development of Horticulture and Special Crops in Lower Saxony to create the framework for further development of these farms.

It is most important to protect the free market conditions which, of course, also means intensive international competition of the production localities within the future EEC internal market. High quality standards of the markets and the development of costs will lead to increasing intensity and to growing capital investment to reduce losses in production. This, in turn, may result in effects on the environment, especially with regard to soil and water. I cannot go into detail, but I want to encourage both scientists and friends of Rhododendron to avoid pollution of soils and water resources. Rhododendron is one of the subjects of research for the benefit of carefully planned horticultural activities. The Lower Saxony Government has allocated funds for such research. Immissions may be caused by phytochemicals as well as by fertilizers, and I may be allowed to mention that the federal and the local legislation has produced the most rigid regulations in the world. We shall work for the promotion of the idea to expand these regulations within the framework of international agreements.

I am sure that the obedience to such regulations will eventually be an important prerequisite for the continuation of Rhododendron production.

Let me make another comment.

I am glad to see here representatives from the gene centers of South East Asia and North America. As a State Minister of Agriculture I know very well about the importance of supplying new plants to the market, to offer something special. That's what makes the economy strong. That's what arouses the interest of plant lovers and Rhododendron enthusiasts. But even for the field of ornamental plants the laws concerning protection of wildlife and plants must be respected. I want to take the opportunity to request your cooperation in all your countries to protect the wide spectrum of species, in this case of rhododendrons.

Let me add just one sentence on the possibilities and chances of gene technology.

Breeding work, especially resistance breeding is of great importance for the environment, but I do believe that economic considerations must not result in developments which at some stage drift out of control. This would not be in the interest of species protection and wild plant development.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear visitors of Lower Saxony, I have seen in the program of your meetings that you have already done must of your work here, also, that you have discussed many problems of plant production and systematics, and therefore I do not want to keep you away any longer from your well-deserved calories.

I hope you all will have a productive and informative visit in the State of Lower Saxony. Also, I want to express to the organizers, Prof. Spethmann and his crew, my gratitude and my wish for a successful end of the meeting and the field trips.