Naoke Abe - Saving the blossom: 'Cherry' Ingram and his rich legacy

The Chartered Institute of Horticulture is proud to welcome Japenese author and journalist Naoke Abe to deliver a guest lecture entitled "Saving the blossom: 'Cherry' Ingram and his rich legacy". The lecture will be held in the Teikyo University of Japan in Durham.

Refreshments will be served on arrival and Naoke will have copies of her books availble for signing.

Teikyo University of Japan in Durham. Lafcadio Hearn Centre, Mill Hill Lane, Durham DH1 3YB. https://www.teikyouniversitydurham.com/en/contact

Synopsis

Collingwood "Cherry" Ingram (1880-1981), the Englishman Who Saved Japan’s Blossoms. Ingram, an eccentric Edwardian gentleman, had fallen in love with Japanese cherry blossoms at the beginning of the 20th century and went to Japan three times to bring back cuttings of different species and varieties of ornamental cherry trees. By the 1940s, he had created the world’s largest cherry tree collection in his garden in Benenden, Kent. He also created new varieties by artificial hybridisation.

Ingram spread the beauty of cherry blossoms across the UK and beyond. He was determined to preserve the diversity of cherries at atime when many varieties were disappearing from Japan because of industrialisation and militarisation.

Ingram saved several varieties in his garden that had gone extinct In Japan. The most notable was the ‘Taihaku’ (the great white cherry)variety, which Ingram returned to Japan in 1932 after five years of failure. The original ‘Taihaku’, which is almost 100 years old, still blossoms at his former residence.

Naoko will also talk about the symbolism of cherry blossoms in Japan, including the Japanese military’s ideological distortion of cherries during the Second World War. Cherry blossoms were used to encourage Kamikaze pilots to die bravely for their country. Ingram’s legacy continues to the present day. Naoko will explain how and why cherry blossoms are increasingly popular in the UK, with many new projects planned.

Host or Publisher Chartered Institute of Horticulture