This is a great site and a great setup so I am very happy to join the forum. I am a horticulturist and a writer with a deep interest in perennials. I am the co-author of the Timber Press title, "Heucheras and Heucherellas" (along with Dan Heims). My current interest is with Monkshoods and I am amassing much info for something I am calling the Aconitum Breeding and Development Project (ABDP). I am hoping to get UBC involved but it is not certain at this point. At any rate, I do have people on board from the RFE (Russian Far East), Kunming BG and the Lyon BG in France. Seeds and rhizomes are expected soon from Vladivostok, Magadan and Sakhalin in the RFE and Yunnan and Sichuan in SW China. I am hopeful that we can take Aconitum to a new level. I am currently preparing an article on Aconitum climbers for a British publication. I might start a Monkshood thread here if there is enough interest. We'll see. If anyone would like to share their monkshood stories with me/us, I/we would be delighted. Cheers, Grahame
Hello Grahame, Good to see you on here! As you're no doubt aware, UBC has roughly 20% of the world's species of Aconitum in its collections. Regarding a breeding project, the best person to contact would be Dr. Andrew Riseman. I would enjoy a discussion on Aconitum - they are one of my favourite photographic subjects.
