QBARS - v17n4 14th Annual Seattle Rhododendron Show

14th Annual Seattle Rhododendron Show
May 24, 25, 26, 1963

A beautiful new setting contributed to the success of Seattle Chapter's Fourteenth Annual Rhododendron Show, held in the new Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. This is one of the buildings in our new permanent Civic Center on the site of last year's Century 21 Fair. Our Show was incorporated with the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival.

Entrance to the Show led the visitors to a balcony where they first saw the colorful panorama beneath them, a dramatic moment before going to the lower level for closer inspection of the many displays.

This year our exhibitors had available a uniform covering for their beds of shredded bark, a very pleasing dark brown color. There were various shapes and sizes of raised beds, some grouped near the center of the hall, others on the perimeter, and aisle spaces were generous to accommodate the viewers and photographers.

Prentice Nursery achieved a spectacular display which won First Place. Huge rocks (of plastic) jutted high, topped with pines. A waterfall spilled over the rocks which had plantings in many of the angles formed. Some of the large and brilliant rhododendrons placed among the rocks were 'Peter Koster'. Clarence Prentice Crosses #88, #107 and #278. Large plants of azaleas were 'Ginger', 'Persil', and many Exbury seedlings. Smaller azaleas were 'Helen Close' and 'Treasure.' At the base of the rocks some of the rhododendrons used were 'Mrs. Furnival', 'Purple Splendour' and R. obtusum . In the foreground were various Acers and the dwarf R. keleticum , with patterns of moss and sedums in pebbles.

Richmond Nurseries, Special Award Winner, showed a charming, shady, secluded patio of cement blocks with a sawdust path. In the background were hollow, weathered stumps, shaded by trees of Larix decidua and Fagus sylvatica laciniata . Other interesting background plants were an unusual Wisteria floribunda rosea and Enkianthus, with ground covers of Epideumiums, Mahonias, Leueothoe davisiae, Pachistima canbyi, Asarum caudatum, Cornus canadensis and Azalea 'Sekidera'. A foreground planting used Betula pendula, Lonicera pileata and Ilex erenata. Many colorful rhododendrons accented the groupings such as 'Mrs. J. G. Millais', 'Boule de Neige', 'Mrs. E. C. Stirling', 'Dr. A. Blok', 'Mrs. Lindsay Smith', 'Helen', 'Mrs. Charles Pearson', 'Gomer Waterer', 'Sappho', 'Fastuosum Flore Pleno', R. mucronatum , and azaleas 'Gumpo' and 'Rosebud'.

A quiet, subtle design won a Special Award for Seven Firs Nursery. Conifers, acers and ferns formed the background. Then groupings of rhododendrons, all in shades of pink, led to the foreground plantings of white and lavender azaleas. The rhododendrons used were 'Betty Wormald', 'Mrs. Furnival', 'Gomer Waterer', 'Sappho', 'Madame Fr. J. Chauvin', 'Madame Mason' and 'Lady Bligh'.

Homestead Nursery placed mossy logs and weathered driftwood in a light woodland area effect for rhododendron plantings, and the ground was completely covered with moss. The colorful rhododendrons displayed were 'Edna McCarty', unusual Whitney hybrids, 'Bowbells', 'Broughtonii Aureum', 'Blue Peter', 'Betty Wormald', 'Mrs. Furnival', 'Queen Mary', 'Countess of Derby' and 'Mrs. Charles Pearson'. Nicely planted with the rhododendrons were several golden dwarf maples, kalmias and maidenhair ferns. In the foreground were azaleas; including 'Wendy' and 'Mrs. Fisher'.

King of Shrubs Nursery won a Special Award for their planting of large rhododendrons well spaced. The center of attraction was a glowing 'Ostbo's Low Yellow', and others were 'Mrs. E. C. Stirling', 'Mrs. Furnival' and 'Endre Ostbo'. In the foreground were many mounded plants of Andromeda polifolia.

Another Special Award went to Anhalt's Shur-Gro Nursery. Their landscape design featured pebbled concrete rounds set in gravel, with benches and planters of the same material in various sizes and shapes. The background trees were vine maple, weeping silver birch, copper beech, tri-color birch, weeping copper birch, Golden Moon maple and Tsuga mertensia . One huge planter bowl held rhododendrons 'Purple Splendour' and 'Broughtonii Aureum', with other plants of 'Pink Pearl' and 'Doncaster' placed effectively. Dwarf chrysanthemums in shades of yellow made bright accents in the foreground.

The restrained design of Rhod-Azalea Gardens was a foil for the very good color combinations of the planting and won a Special Award, Dwarf conifers in the background were the perfect complement. Rhododendrons used were 'Pink Pearl', 'Souvenir of Anthony Waterer', 'Mrs, E. C, Stirling' and 'Countess of Derby', Azaleas were R. occidentale , 'Floradora', 'Beethoven', 'Norma' and 'Fanny'.

Hopkins Nursery won a Special Award for their inviting woodland path with log steps. In the suggested shady background were a weeping Alaska Cedar, a grouping of vine maples and a European White Birch, Some especially nice plants were Magnolia macrophylla and Clematis 'Edith Cavel'. Rhododendrons included 'Cynthia', 'Alice', 'Pink Pearl' and 'Trilby'. Azaleas which added color were 'Rosehud', 'Fanny', 'Exquisita' and R. occidentale . The foreground was planted dwarf junipers, sedums and Ceanothus gloriosus .

Another Special Award went to Elmer Fisher Rhododendron Nursery, Their landscape design featured a pool surrounded by mossy logs and rocks, and pebbles in the foreground with plantings of sedums and succulents, An especially lovely Enkianthus campanulatum drew attention, and the many rhododendrons included some rarely seen, Those displayed were 'Leona', 'Tallyho' x 'Margaret Dunn', 'Queen of the May', 'Gold Mohur', 'Mrs, Betty Robertson', 'Goldsworth Yellow', some R. williamsianum hybrids, 'John Couts', R. williamsianum x 'C. P. Raffil', a R. repens seedling, 'Temple Bell' x 'Fabia', 'Mrs, Donald Graham', 'Mrs, Lionel de Rothschild', 'Revs Rose' and 'Broughtonii Aureum'. Azaleas were 'Rosebud' and 'Schubert'.

Rainier Mt. Alpine Gardens won First Place in their class, A block walk led one through a garden of miniatures with a background of conifers and shrubs such as the 20 year old Picea conica and Cornus welchii . There were many miniature evergreens-varieties of Cypress, Abies hudsonia nana , etc. The very dwarf rhododendrons were too numerous to name, and their exquisite little forms were a contrast to some Exbury azaleas and 'Rosebud'.

A surprisingly "different" design won a First Place for the Associated Landscape Designers and Contractors. Large rounds of cedar made a path leading to a raised platform of redwood. On the platform were redwood benches and a low table of simple design. For a background there were plantings of a tall Acer palmatum and climbing hydrangeas, then such trees as Fagus sylvatica and Prunus pissardi , with bright Kalmia latifolia . Ground covers completed the picture, using Gaultheria procumbens , Vaccinium , vitus idaea and ivies, Well placed for color were rhododendrons 'Broughtonii Aureum', 'Purple Splendour', 'Gomer Waterer', 'Sappho', 'Antoon Van Welie', 'Goldfort', 'Mrs. Lionel de Rothschild', and 'Rosebud' azaleas.

The University of Washington Arboretum had a very interesting exhibit of large specimen rhododendron plants Bonfire', 'Damozel', 'Mars', 'Goldsworth Yellow', 'Corona' and 'Viscosepalum Daviesii'. Large azaleas were R. calendulaceum and many R. occidentale hybrids, smaller azaleas shown were 'Glacier' and 'Bagdad'. Two smaller rhododendrons were R. atlanticum and R. mucronatum 'Sekidera'. Plants of Pieris forrestii also helped create this much studied display.

The Rhododendron Society Study Group designed a beautiful rock garden which won a Special Award, In the background were dwarf conifers and rhododendrons R. bauhiniiflorum and R. macrophyllum . Many unusual rhododendron species were R. hodgsonii , fictolacteum , coryphaeum , smirnowii , and silvaticum . Smaller and miniature species were R. caesium , virdescens , calostrotum , aberconwayi , haematodes , glaucophyllum , quinquefolium , williamsianum , canipylogynum , campanulatum , trichostotum , radicans , leucaspis , keleticum , kotschyi , brachyanthum and impeditum , This was a very educational exhibit and visitors were intrigued by the immense variety, so little known.

A Special Award went to the Washington State Nurserymen's Association. Their landscape display featured tree groupings in the background of 'Cherokee Princess' Dogwood, European Birch, Pinus thunbergii , vine maple, Hinoki Cypress and Picea abies remonti , Large, colorful rhododendrons were 'Anna Rose Whitney' and 'Cynthia'. Completing the masses of color were azaleas 'Rosebud', R. oldhamii hybrid, 'Louise Gable', Knaphill 'Percil' and Mollis "Van den Akher Strain."

The American Rock Garden Society design won a Special Award, It was a typical northwest rock garden with mossy logs and rocks. The plantings were mingled dwarf conifers, rhododendrons and azaleas, some of them miniatures. There were interestingly used sedums, oxalis, primroses, genista, dianthus and menziesia, all little gems.

INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS

First prize for one flowering plant of any hybrid seedling rhododendron not previously exhibited, this plant to be the result of hybridization made in the State of Washington, went to Lester Brandt of Tacoma.

Other prize winners included Dr. C. E, Simons, Jr., William O'Brien, Mrs. Stephen E. Anderson, E. L. Irvine, Dr. Stewart Hilscher, Don McClure, Lem's Nursery, Ray Prentice, Dick Mauritzen, Mrs. Chas. D. Sully, Mrs. Kerry Trimble, Mrs. Pendleton Miller, Mrs. H. A, Manring, Mrs. W. S. Gilbert, Mrs, Roy Douglas, Mrs. Evan McCord, Mrs. Wm. Culliton, Mrs. Henry Isaacson, Ralph C. Jacobson, Mrs. James Madison, Mrs. Berg Larsen, Mrs. Helen O'Brube, Fay Garner, Pam Parker, Mrs. Paul C. Kundahl, Mrs. E. Ostbo, Mrs. E. L. Dempsey, Leona Hartman, Mrs. H. C. Rolfe, Mrs. B. Joslin, Mrs. Martin E. Hanson, Dr. and Mrs. John Shiach, Mr. R. E. Bennett, Les Anderson, Mrs. Wm. Taylor Patton, Erle Hannum, Gen. Don Zimmerman, Mrs. J. P. Butler, Dr. Earl Bassett and Mrs. L. J. Janzen.