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PREPARATIONS AND DEPARTURE
Plans for the collecting trip were laid early in 1951 and one of the first steps consisted of the preparation of a map of the eastern United States which could show by letter and color key the geographic distribution of wild azaleas likely to be in flower during each week from mid-March to mid-August, as discovered from numerous herbarium specimens previously studied. The canvas backing of this little map became very worn before the trip was over, for at every point this was the guide for direction of the next day's travel to catch azaleas in bloom. Then there was a large Rand-McNally atlas with location data for previously collected species. From a glance at this map one could tell where azaleas once grew, where collections had not been made and which points perhaps needed revisiting to clarify some question concerning the original collection.
These, plus endless additional maps, were the guides. The equipment was interestingly diverse, consisting of piles of presses, blotters, newspapers and a specially designed electric drier for the pressed specimens; of digging tools, shears, burlap and packing materials for handling the living plants, of the inevitable cameras, labels, tags, and notebooks and of course one's personal living needs for a matter of at least a month or so at a time. For transportation the Arboretum had provided a Chevrolet delivery truck which was most happily selected for size, speed and rideability as was repeatedly proved during the succeeding 5 months of continuous travel over everything from first class roads to trackless hillsides, through the freezing spring floods of the Mississippi or through summer drought at 104 degrees. Into this truck were piled these many supplies in time for a mid-afternoon departure from Philadelphia on Saturday, March I7th. The goal was Florida, for the first azalea on the time schedule of our map.
The first run south provided the customary thrill of this rapid journey into springtime: from Pennsylvania winter to quinces and daffodils in Richmond; wisterias in bloom with the exotic azaleas of Charleston; and then in Georgia the potently delightful scent of the Jessamine thicket (Gelseinitum) on the damp of the evening air. It is no wonder that this Jessamine is a southern favorite; it is a wonder that it is so seldom seen in Washington or Philadelphia where its Virginia representatives would almost certainly succeed.
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