BOONES MILL — Paul James credits two things that made his devotion to native plants possible. In 1974, he bought the company he worked for - Ropho Graphic - and in 1984, he sold it and was able to retire in his 40’s to fulltime gardening.

A casual visitor to his 85-acre haven for native plants comes away with many more reasons the Franklin County native became an international resource on azaleas and rhododendron. Some 8,000 of these plants grow on his property, along with 2,000 other plantings representing flora from all over the world.

Day in and day out - except when James is traveling to see plants or attend shows - he weeds, feeds and mulches to nurture a private arboretum that has its roots in his childhood.

James, one of 11 children, grew up on the other side of Maggodee Creek, a waterway that rushes through his property with enough energy to be heard from inside the house. One of his grandmothers recorded the daily weather for 55 years; the other was a midwife and herb doctor.

The natural world was always there for him, James said. He just needed to get to the point in life where he had the time for it.

“We do not know where our lives will take us,” James said. “I remember reading that all of us look at others’ lives as extraordinary, but every life is extraordinary. Everyone needs to find their spot; I’m happy with this.”

Shortly into his life as a gardener, James became the first president of the Blue Ridge Native Plant Society. He also accumulated a collection of Weldon Delp rhododendron hybrids that made him an international resource for this plant.

“I’ll never forget my first rhododendron meeting. I didn’t know anyone and I was about the youngest there,” James said. He was persuaded he was in the right company, though, when on a bus trip the whole group disembarked during a violent rainstorm to go look at a plant.

The plant world is not dominated by women of substantial years, however. Men, especially doctors, seem to be drawn to the hobby, James said.

“It’s amazing who gardens,” he said.

James has met a good number of the world’s prominent plant folks during trips to New Zealand, the South American rainforest or shorter jaunts to the West Virginia’s Dolly Sods and Cranberry Glades area, which attract people from all over the world.

In July, Cranberry Glades provides an array of orchid blooms, and visitors likely will find James there flat on his stomach on the wooden ramp that crisscrosses the bog trying to photograph one of the blooms.

Paul and Barbara James have grown their house along with his garden so that the home rambles comfortably with lots of windows to bring in the outdoors.

They open their property for local garden events, including educational tours by area nursery workers, and play host to guests from around the world. Some of their guests speak no English. Anyone who talks plant talk - knows the proper names for the plants - can communicate, James said.

James does his share of communicating internationally via the Internet, too, receiving and answering messages daily from fellow plant enthusiasts. Or, he might take off from a trip to spot a plant in its native setting such as the four-day, 2,200 mile trip he took to see a particular plant bloom in the wild in Providence Canyon, Ga.

His property sits in Zone 6, which means it offers diverse temperatures for growing plants. His banana plants don’t produce because of the short growing season, but they survive on his Franklin County site. Anyone who wants to try growing native plants just needs to look at where they live and choose a similar spot anywhere in the world and those plants can be grown.

James’ garden includes a 3-foot Jack in the Pulpit from the Himalayan Mountains.

The James’ land also boasts a substantial collect of dwarf conifer, and James belongs to the Dwarf Conifer Society.

James is no plant snob, though. Sitting right there among his exotic species are weeds he has found intriguing. Variegated pokeweed is one. Variegated Virginia creeper is another. A variegated stickweed, dug up from a nearby pasture, also has a home at the James’ place.

A neighbor reminds James “that ain’t nothing but a dammed old stickweed, but I’ve sent it all over the world,” James said. Variegated plants, mutations, appear particularly popular among the plant people.

“I just saw a variegated kudzu,” James said.

Barbara James keeps a low profile and says of her husband’s plant passion: “What can you say about a person who has a happy heart?”

James has reached a crossroads in his hobby, though. For the first time this year, deer invaded and ate the azaleas. He’s long seen coyote and black bear, but never encountered deer damage.

“I’m not sure of my course of action,” James said. “I have some plants that have to be protected as one of a kind. But, I can’t kill the deer.”

Except for installing high fencing to protect the special plants, James believes he will use the experience with deer to study how his plants will fare under new circumstances.

“Maybe I’ll stop growing so many plants and enjoy the ones I have,” he said.

For more information about James’ plants and others, check out these sites:

www.donaldhyatt.com/ARSPVC/articles/News0303.html

www.rosebay.org/chapterweb/specmax.htm

www.gct21.net/~dsauer/delp/Delp_Passion_for_Rhodo_Hybrid.htm

www.gct21.net/~dsauer/delp/rhodo_index.html

www.tjhsst.edu/~dhyatt/gardencenter.html

www.lib.virginia.edu/science/sciscan/rhododendrons/ran9903/ars.htm

www.rhododendron.org/v53n2p62.htm

www.vnps.org/programs.html

http://members.tripod.com/blueridge_wildflower/id17.htm

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