The Associated Press is reporting that horticulturalists from Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in South Carolina are traveling to Washington to take cuttings from rare azaleas at the National Arboretum to share with gardens around the country.

Earlier this year, the 65-year-old azalea collection was saved by an anonymous $1 million donation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had planned to remove them because of funding troubles.
 
The horticulturalists from Magnolia Gardens will take the cuttings this week. They say the plants likely have a genetic link to material kept at the Charleston, S.C., site.

The National Arboretum's first director, Ben Morrison, used materials from Magnolia for his extensive breeding program to produce the first large flowered azaleas that could withstand cooler temperatures in the mid-Atlantic region.

Adrian Higgins, writing in the Washington Post, declared that Morrison changed the face of Washington and its older suburbs with the introduction of stout, hardy and diverse hybrids known as the Glenn Dale azaleas.

Some 10,000 of his hybrids were planted on Mount Hamilton in the Aboretum and Washingtonians have been flocking to see the azaleas every spring since 1949.