QBARS - v27n4 R. 'Anna Rose Whitney'

R. 'Anna Rose Whitney'
Lawrence J. Pierce
Seattle, Washington

Pictured on the front cover of the Bulletin is the well-known rhododendron named by William Whitney as a tribute to his mother. From the many seedlings of a ( R. griersonianum x 'Countess of Derby') cross raised in Camas, Washington by Mr. Whitney, he selected one for propagation that he thought would meet any grower's set of desirable plant criteria. When presented to the Portland Chapter in 1954 for judging, it received the preliminary award.

Among the chief attributes are its ease of propagation, vigorous growth, resistance to disease, tolerance of both heat and cold, tight trusses of good color, free flowering, and fine leaf texture. After a twenty-year experience record on both the East and West Coasts of the United States and Canada, and now in Australia, we can affirm Mr. Whitney's good judgment in making the original selection.

In my Seattle garden, there are three plants eight-feet tall covering approximately nine square feet. They are on the eastern slope in half shade. When they bloom in late May, as they do regularly, and as people drive down the roadway, they see luminously glowing in the filtered sunlight deep pink trusses of twelve to eighteen flowers each.

There was little wonder in 1969 when 'Anna Rose Whitney' placed among the first ten in a Seattle poll naming preferred rhododendrons. In remembering his mother, William Whitney selected a living plant of great strength and beauty.