QBARS - v14n3 Results of the Seattle Chapter 11th Annual Rhododendron Show

Results of the Seattle Chapter Eleventh Annual Rhododendron Show
May 6, 7, 8, 1960

Staged by the Seattle Chapter, American Rhododendron Society, in the Pavilion of the Bellevue Shopping Square. Co-sponsored by the Greater Bellevue Chamber of Commerce.

Show Committee: Chairman-Edwin Arntsen; Assistants: F. C. Bloxom, Jr., Mrs. Linley Janzen; Design, Linley Janzen; Judges & Awards, Brian O. Mulligan; Receiving and Classification, Mrs. Ralph Jacobson; Publicity, Mark Collarino, J. T. DeFriel; Educational Exhibit, Frank Doleshy; Staging, Bruce Leber; Sponsors, Mrs. Albert Brauss; Amateur Exhibitors, Mrs. James Madison; Hosts, Mrs. F. C. Bloxom, Jr.; New Members, Arthur O. Luther; Bellevue Chamber of Commerce Chairman, Howard Reagan. Judges: Brian O. Mulligan, Otto Holmdahl, Oliver Ester, Mrs. L. N. Roberson, Carl P. Fawcett, G. H. Bowen, Ben Nelson.

The attractive Pavilion of the Bellevue Shopping Square was again the setting for our show with a few noteworthy changes. Colorful new canvas canopies were provided and side panels as protection from wind and sun. The various-sized displays were all rectangular and edged with two-by-sixes.

Rain and wind did their best to deter exhibitors, judges, and workers the first day, but forty-nine exhibitors brought twenty-two plants and two hundred and twenty-seven trusses. Ten commercial exhibitors outdid themselves with the beauty of their plants and designs. Many more yellow rhododendrons were displayed due, perhaps, to the show being held two weeks earlier than usual.

The University 'of Washington Arboretum had a breathtakingly beautiful exhibit featuring R. 'Beauty of Littleworth', 'Mrs. G. W. Leek', R. wardii , 'Elspeth', 'Daybreak', R. carolinianum , an oriental Hornbeam Carpinum orientalis , two interesting vacciniums, V. versicolor (Japan) and V. simulatum (Eastern U.S.), azaleas and Japanese maples.

The Blue Rosette Ribbon winner in Class 1, Section A, Landscape Displays (200 sq. ft. or over), was Homestead Nursery and Landscaping of Redmond. Harold Johnson used a Japanese-influenced design with natural rock, waterfall, stream and pool, flat rock path and bridge, stone lantern: a 'Mt. Fuji' cherry, native trees, shrubs, and ground covers added to the beauty of hybrid and species rhododendrons and azaleas.

The Red Rosette Ribbon in Class I was won by Rhod-A-zalea Gardens of Snohomish. Mr. Learner's display was designed by Don Korsmo and was also influenced by Japanese style. The rhododendrons and azaleas were associated with Japanese maples (both red and cut-leafed), pendulous spruce, Andromeda polifolia , and other conifers and ground covers grouped around a waterfall and pool. Rocks, rounded stones, an image, and stone lanterns carried out the oriental theme.

In Class 2 (under 200 sq. ft.) Owen Ostbo's King of Shrubs Nursery of Bellevue won not only the Blue Rosette Ribbon in this class but won the large silver Frederick and Nelson Perpetual Trophy for Best Landscape Design.

In a woodsy setting of mossy logs implanted with Lingonberry Vaccinium vitis-idea , Mr. Ostbo placed magnificent large specimens of R. 'Susan', 'Butterfly', Loderi 'King George', 'The Hon. Jean Marie de Montague', 'Lady Primrose', 'Bow Bells', 'Mrs. G. W. Leek', 'Cunningham's Pink', and some younger specimens of other hybrids and species, including R. macabeanum , and kalmia latifolia .

Red Rosette Ribbon was won by Mr. and Mrs. James Caperci's Rainier Mountain Alpine Gardens of Seattle. Their interesting display included fifteen species and hybrid dwarf rhododendrons, three azaleas, and seven types of dwarf and prostrate conifers.

White Rosette Ribbon winner was Harold Hopkins of Hopkins Nursery, Bothell. Well-grown hybrid rhododendrons and azaleas were tastefully arranged with Alaska Yellow Cedar chamaecyparis nootkatensis , pines, mossy logs, and excellent specimens of Chinese white and purple wisteria and clematis montana splendens .

Four other Class 2 entries must have made selection difficult for the judges: Mr. and Mrs. Renton's Seven Firs Nursery of North Bend, with its R. augustinii , 'Electra', 'Carita', caeruleum album ; Pacific Northwest Nursery of Bellevue, with its weathered grey logs, large R. 'Butterfly', 'Unique', 'Blue Peter', 'White Squall' azaleas; Blueberry Lake Nursery of Lake Hills, Bellevue, with its Rh. 'Alice', 'Rh. 'Souvenir of W. C. Slocock', 'Earl of Athlone', azaleas, and as an excellent associate, 2 varieties of blueberries, one of which was 8 ft. high; Mizuki Nursery and Landscaping of Seattle, with R. 'Betty Robertson', 'Mrs. G. W. Leak', azaleas, a grafted Koster's blue spruce, and Japanese maples grouped around a three-tiered fountain and stone lantern.

In addition, the East Lake Washington District of Garden Clubs had put in a lovely courtesy display across the entire width of the south end of the Pavilion showing a variety of rhododendrons, azaleas and companion plants, both native and exotic, with a circular fountain in the center.

The Educational Display this year attracted a great many visitors by showing origins of certain species rhododendrons; also shown were various methods and mediums used in propagating them from seed.

A new feature of the show, which added beauty and aroused a great deal of interest was a group of 12 small (3' by 5') competitive displays by ten members of the Society's study group. These showed examples of planting situations and companion plants suitable to selected species rhododendrons. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Davidson, Bellevue, Mrs. Birdie Padovich, North Bend, and Mrs. Albert Brauss, Redmond, won First, Second, and Third Prize respectively. Here, also, the judges had difficulty deciding, and asked that Honorable Mention be awarded to Mrs. James Madison and Mrs. Hugh Baird of Bellevue.