The ongoing controversy over the threatened destruction of 60 year old azaleas- the source (grandparents) of much of the Mid Atlantic breeding stock of Azaleas by the administrators of the National Arboretum.
Apparently there are threats to the Boxwoods and other collections as well.
The some of the best arguments for not destroying the collection(s) are the images on the Arboretum's website. It might be easy to dislike an unattractive plant like a fungus or ragweed, but realize it's value as genetic stock, and thus the necessity of preserving it, but these plants are both beautiful and genetically important.
One of the reasons that the Arb is giving for removing these plants is that they are unknown varieties. Indeed, some of these untagged plants may be more important than the tagged ones, as they represent earlier and more diverse stock than the readily identifiable ones.
If you are out of town or in the DC area let the National Arboretumknow you plan to visit in the Spring to see the Azalea Collection.
Save the Azaleas website has some good news- but we need to keep the heat on to prevent this issue from being buried in the Holidays to come. Save the Azaleas has a lot of contact information to make your views known.