"Enchanted Forrest" Exhibition by the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists

The first major exhibition of the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists (SSBA) is titled "Enchanted Forrest".  It will focus on the plants brought back to Scotland by Falkirk-born plant hunter George Forrest, who was known as the "Indiana Jones of the plant world".

Flyer for the Enchanted Forest Exhibition

Venue: Park Gallery, Callendar House, Falkirk FK1 1 YR. 
Dates: Monday 12th September - Sunday 16th October 2016
Opening hours: 10am - 5pm daily apart from Tuesdays

The Scottish Society of Botanical Artists (SSBA) is a relatively new art society. It was formed in 2014 by a group of botanical artists based in Scotland, who were keen to provide a forum in Scotland for meeting with like minded artists, exhibiting their work, and promoting botanical art as a genre.

This exhibition will

• feature mainly watercolour paintings of plants including Forrestii specimens. All paintings will be for sale. Prints and cards will also be available.
• include demonstrations by member artists of their approach to painting plants

Artists participating in the exhibition include:

• Dorothy Allan,
• Jean Cameron,
• Anne Carlaw,
• Brenda Davis,
• Sharon Fox,
• Aileen Friis-Jorgensen,
• Valerie Gordon,
• Nicola Macartney,
• Margaret Maxwell,
• Hazel Morris
• Kathleen Munro,
• Mary O'Neil,
• ​Coral Prosser
• Jocelyn Anne Rabbitts,
• Alexa Smith,
• Elisabeth Scott,
• Jill Sievewright,
• Margaret Walty
• Catherine Waterman

Links in names are to SSBS profiles or the artist's own website.

About George Forrest

Forrest made several plant hunting expeditions over a period of 17 years at the beginning of the 20th century to Yunnan Province in Western China.

In total he brought back over 30,000 specimens of 10,000 plants to the Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh. He also collected and brought back seeds, herbarium specimens and a collection of photographs. 

​British gardens owe much to the intrepid explorer - rhododendrons and azaleas, primulas and gentians, orchids and magnolias, saxifrage and pieris, iris and jasmine, to name but a few!

George Forrest (1873-1932), Scottish botanist, explorer of Yunnan province, China (via Wikimedia)

Callendar House, Falkirk

About Callendar House

The grounds of Callendar House are called Callendar Park and cover 170 acres and are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens. In the 1970s the arboretum was planted with the descendants of the original specimens collected in Yunnan Province by George Forrest, over 100 years ago. ​

There was much new planting here in the 1970s, including native and exotic species, in the form of the George Forrest Collection. Some of 40 plants listed include Rhododendron (Rhododendron trichostomum, Rhododendron decorum), maple (Acer forrestii), Pieris (Pieris forrestii 'Wakehurst'), Fragrant olive (Osmanthus yunnanensis), Butterfly bush (Buddleia fallowiana), and Daphne (Daphne odora).
Callendar Park | Historic Environment Scotland

One of the very old trees in Callendar Park

About Yunnan Provence

The Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh, in conjunction with Kumming Institute of Botany, China, has established a botanical garden in Yunnan Provence, the Lijiang Alpine Garden, as well as the Jade Dragon research station, Britain's first joint scientific laboratory with China.