Simeon Doorenbos was a Dutch horticulturist best known for his work as Director of The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

 Parks Department from 1927 until his retirement in 1957, with a brief interruption during the Second World War when he was dismissed and evicted by the Nazis for refusing to remove trees and shrubs to facilitate the construction of a V1 flying bomb launch pad.

Doorenbos started his career as a nursery representative in 1915, visiting the UK and USA. His long career was distinguished by the raising of a number of important cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

s, including Symphoricarpos

Symphoricarpos

Symphoricarpos, with common names in English of Snowberry, Waxberry or Ghostberry, is a small genus of about 15 species of deciduous shrubs in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. All species are natives of North and Central America, except one native to western China...

 × doorenbosii, Betula utilis

Betula utilis

Betula utilis is a Birch tree native to the Himalayas, growing at elevations up to . The specific epithet, utilis, refers to the many uses of the different parts of the tree. The white, paper-like bark of the tree was used in ancient times for writing Sanskrit scriptures and texts...

'Doorenbos', and numerous Dahlia

Dahlia

Dahlia is a genus of bushy, tuberous, perennial plants native to Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. There are at least 36 species of dahlia, some like D. imperialis up to 10 metres tall. Dahlia hybrids are commonly grown as garden plants...

s. Perhaps his most famous achievement was the hybrid elm

Elm

Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...

 cultivar 'Den Haag'

Ulmus 'Den Haag'

The hybrid cultivar Ulmus Den Haag is a Dutch development derived from a crossing of the Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila and the Belgian Elm Ulmus × hollandica 'Belgica' in 1936 by S. G. A. Doorenbos , Director of Public Parks in The Hague...

, indeed it has been postulated that he was the first to think of crossing elms to obtain varieties resistant to Dutch elm disease

Dutch elm disease

Dutch elm disease is a disease caused by a member of the sac fungi category, affecting elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease has been accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native...

. Doorenbos was also responsible for the introduction of the Himalayan Elm Ulmus wallichiana to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, cuttings of which he obtained from the Arnold Arboretum in 1929; the species was later to play a major role in the Dutch elm breeding programme.

Doorenbos was a founding member of the International Dendrology Society http://www.dendrology.org/; beyond the world of horticulture, he was also a keen pigeon fancier.

Eponymy

Symphoricarpos

Symphoricarpos

Symphoricarpos, with common names in English of Snowberry, Waxberry or Ghostberry, is a small genus of about 15 species of deciduous shrubs in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. All species are natives of North and Central America, except one native to western China...

 × doorenbosii, Betula utilis

Betula utilis

Betula utilis is a Birch tree native to the Himalayas, growing at elevations up to . The specific epithet, utilis, refers to the many uses of the different parts of the tree. The white, paper-like bark of the tree was used in ancient times for writing Sanskrit scriptures and texts...

'Doorenbos', Iris

Iris (plant)

Iris is a genus of 260-300species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species...

'Gerrie Doorenbos', Rosa

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

'Anneke Doorenbos'.