Our Cover - R. macabeanum
Robert L. Badger, Tacoma, WashingtonThis fine colored R. macabeanum is growing in the gardens of Mr. and Mrs. Corydon Wagner, Sr. in the Lakewood area, Southwest of Tacoma, Washington. The clear deep yellow flowered truss is accentuated by the reddened stigmas of each of the flowers. The foliage, typically R. macabeanum, is dark green with the main veins impressed above and covered below with a woolly grayish-white indumentum - which covers the lateral veins as well as the midrib. The photograph was taken when it first bloomed in 1967 and a finer performance is expected from later blooming.
The plant is now about 15 years old, 8 feet high by about 6 feet wide and is planted under the high shade cast by several large Douglas Fir trees. This plant was obtained from Mr. Lester Brandt's Nursery in 1961 and has withstood several winters when the temperatures dipped to the range of 8° to 12° above zero.
Dr. Rollin Wyrens of Everett, Washington received seed in 1954 from several of the great rhododendron gardens on the Southern Cornish Coast of the British Isles. He forwarded much of the seed to Mr. Brandt for germination.
Of curiosity is the fact that a sister seedling of the same age and height but with a thinner indumentum which is early deciduous on the midrib and lateral veins below has bloomed a very pale creamy yellow of no distinguishing merit.
