Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden

The Miller Memorial Lecture

Mrs. Miller was dedicated to the education of gardeners and relished the opportunity to share her insights with others and to bring knowledgeable horticulturalists to the Pacific Northwest to share their experiences. As a lasting gift to the horticultural community, the Pendleton and Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation, the Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden, the Northwest Horticultural Society and the Elisabeth C. Miller Library sponsor an annual memorial lecture to remember the legacy of Betty Miller.

Each year a renowned speaker is invited to Seattle share their knowledge with others. These lectures are free to the public. If you would like to be placed on the invitation mailing list, please email your name and mailing address to info@millergarden.org. Invitations are mailed approximately 30 days before the event.

Gordon Collier photo (left) by Daniel J. Hinkley; all other photos by Gordon Collier

Gordon Collier: A Land Apart — New Zealand’s remote offshore Chatham Islands

September 16, 2010 at the University of Washington's Meany Hall. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.

This illustrated lecture will focus on the unique flora of these far off specks of land where earth meets sky. Images of some of its 40 endemic plants that cling to life there will tell a tale of millions of years of isolation from other land masses; these include two plants beloved by gardeners everywhere — the giant forget-me-not Myosotidium hortensia, and the equally spectacular Astelia chathamica. The fauna too is fascinating, more than 100 species are recorded — the black robin, diminished to five birds, was famously rescued from extinction on Little Mangere an even more remote island, a story in itself. No witness to the Chatham’s could conclude without reference to its turbulent and sometimes tragic human record. This is the compelling account of a tiny group of islands, its flora, its fauna and its people stuck someplace in the vast ocean between Chile and New Zealand.

Gordon Collier, creator of the famous Titoki Point garden, has been interested in plants and gardens all his life. Over 45 years he has been Board member, Chairman and Patron of the Pukeiti Rhododendron Trust; NZ Vice President and founding editor of the International Dendrology Society. A prolific writer on gardening, he is currently Gardens Editor for NZ House & Garden magazine. Active as garden advisor to the National Arboretum, Eastwoodhill, to Government House and many private gardens, he also took a leading role in the New Zealand Gardens Trust as Trustee, writer and senior assessor. Gordon is also a long standing member of the advisory panel of the Cecil and Molly Smith Garden, Newberg, Oregon and trustee at Ayrlies Garden, Auckland. More recently the Queen made him a member of the NZ Order of Merit (MNZM) for distinguished services to horticulture.

Past speakers have included: