JARS v58n4 - The ARS Gold & Silver Medal Who's Who and Their Associated Hybrids, Part V

The ARS Gold & Silver Medal Who's Who and Their Associated Hybrids, Part V
Clive L. Justice
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada

In the Fall 2003 issue, Clive Justice began his discussion of ARS Gold and Silver medal winners. Part II was published in the Winter 2004 issue, Part III in the Spring 2004 issue and Part IV in the Summer 2004 issue. He concludes the series with Part V.

One of the group of Washington State, Seattle-Tacoma area, amateur hybridizers was Endre Ostbo of Bellevue on the east side of Lake Washington across from Seattle. He received the Society's fourth Gold Medal in 1957. However, it was not until six years later that his close friend Halfdan Lem received his Gold medal. As Sonja Nelson notes in The Pacific Coast Rhododendron Story , "Ostbo's most well-known cross is 'King of Shrubs' ( R. fortunei ssp. discolor x Fabia Group) with orange flowers and yellow stripes... " ³⁹ However, the one I prefer to remember is an azaleodendron, a cross he made with his hybrid 'Mrs. Donald Graham', and the native West Coast azalea, R. occidentale . He named it 'Martha Isaacson'; it has pink flowers, maroon foliage and is fragrant. Halfdan Lem received his ARS Gold medal just six years before he died, having produced some of the showiest and largest flowering hybrids since the Loderi Group. Although he got interested in rhododendrons while he was living in Ketchikan, Alaska, and used to raise seedlings in pots on the wheelhouse windowsill of his fishing boat, it wasn't until he moved to Seattle that he really got to work raising and crossing them. Many will remember him for his "Wallopers" but I remember Lem for the rhododendron hybrid 'Isabel Pierce' ('Anna' x 'Lem's Goal'). It was named for a Seattle lady at whose very English suburban country house I was a weekend guest on several occasions when I was asked to judge at the annual Seattle Rhododendron show. ⁴⁰ Isabel and Lawrence Pierce had a fine large garden in West Seattle that included a pair of my favourite rhodo hybrid, 'Beauty of Littleworth', each 4 meters high, on either side of the front door. I first saw Lem's 'Seattle Gold' in the Rhododendron Dell on the front grounds there. Isabel Pierce was a most gracious hostess. She reminded me very much of Eleanor Roosevelt although I doubt if Isabel was a Democrat.

Many of us who had been born, raised and had gardened and raised plants from cuttings on the West Coast could never understand the purpose of the Nearing Frame. Guy Nearing had evolved this simple device for sun-protected, over-winter rooting of hardwood cuttings in the Delaware and New Jersey climate. It may have worked in the Pacific Northwest but was probably never tried, as the winter sun protection was not really necessary in the PNW as there was never very much of it to protect from. Guy Nearing , who invented it, was awarded the Gold Medal in 1959, and was the Society's fifth award. In his intense search for hardy rhododendrons he chose to work with both the lepidotes and elepidotes. He scored with 'Windbeam', an open pollinated seedling of 'Conestoga' ( R. minus var. minus Carolinianum Group x R. racemosum ). 'Windbeam' received the ARS Award of Excellence in 1973. ⁴¹ However the Nearing hybrid that was the sister seedling of 'Windbeam' is the one I prefer; it is 'Wyanokie', a slow grower, with white flowers - great in a hillside of heather.

Dr. John C. Wister received the ARS Gold Medal in 1961. I first came in contact with the name John Wister in association with lilacs not rhododendrons. He taught horticulture at Swarthmore, then a women's college, and was curator of the Arthur Hoyt Scott Arboretum on the grounds of the college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. In 1945 the Arthur Hoyt Scott Arboretum was the first to receive a gift of over 100 of Charles Dexter's rhododendron seedlings under eight numbers from his Cape Cod estate. They were mainly R. fortunei , R. fortunei ssp. discolor and R. decorum crosses; subsequently sixteen were given names. ⁴² Dr. Wister led the way in ensuring that the Dexter rhododendron hybrids became part of gardening with rhododendrons in northeastern U.S. and maritime Canada. The rhododendron I identify with that connects Wister and Dexter is the hybrid 'Brown Eyes'. This pink with brown flare fortunei hybrid was a standout when I first saw it in the dell at the Heritage Plantation in Sandwich, Massachusetts. I was so taken with it that I bought one from Joe Gable's nursery and had it shipped to a friend in North Tisbury on the Vineyard. Salley and Greer note that it is "rated among the top five Dexter's." ⁴³

When I first started assembling a library of books on the rhododendron I was fortunate to purchase a first edition of Clement Bower's 1936 book, Rhododendrons and Azaleas . It was the first book in the twentieth century published in the United States specifically devoted to the species and its hybrids. If I remember though, I had to purchase it from David Lloyd before he moved his bookshop from Guildford to Kew in the U.K. When the second edition came out in 1960 it was just a year before David Leach's Rhododendrons of the World was published. ⁴⁴ The presentation of the Gold Medal to Clement Bowers was a bit unusual as it was not at an ARS annual convention but at a special New York Chapter meeting held on Long Island, May 26th 1963. While only a dinner meeting, it was a mini eastern conference as many members from several ARS chapters attended: New Jersey, Tappan Zee, Philadelphia and Princeton. Dr. J. Harold Clarke, then ARS president, sent a congratulatory message. ⁴⁵ Dr. Gus Mehlquist and David Leach gave congratulatory remarks. ⁴⁶

This 1963 New York Dinner also honoured Paul Vossberg with the ARS Gold Medal. He was a taxonomist and propagator of roses for the Westbury Nursery on Long Island and had served with Henry Skinner, Donald Wyman, ⁴⁷ and John Wister on the Dexter Committee set up by Clement Bowers to name and rescue the Dexter Hybrids. One of his claims to rhododendron fame, so the story goes, is that he took a number of cuttings of the first named of these rescued Dexter hybrids that had been named from a single plant. When this plant was accidentally destroyed Paul Vossberg's cuttings of it saved what was judged and subsequently became one of the very best if not the best rhododendron hybrid that Dexter created. It was 'Scintillation'.

Three Gold Medals were given at the 1964 ARS Annual Convention held in Seattle. The first in alphabetical order was Seattleite Herbert Irhrig . One of the earlier public rhododendron collection and displays, particularly the Loderis and Wilson's 50 Kurume Azaleas, ⁴⁸ was at the University of Washington Arboretum, an Omstedian landscape in Seattle. In 1944 in association with John Hanley, Herbert Ihrig wrote a handbook of the rhododendrons held in the arboretum. ⁴⁹ However, Herbert Ihrig should be best remembered for his almost single-handed effort to obtain official recognition for R. macrophyllum as the state flower of Washington. Through his effort the Pacific Rhododendron was by act of the state legislature, declared the state's flower in 1955. So I identify Herbert Ihrig not with a North American hybrid, but with the western North American indigenous species discovered in 1792 on Washington's Olympic Peninsula by Archibald Menzies, surgeon-botanist with Captain George Vancouver, and declared Washington's State Flower 163 years later.

The second 1964 ARS Gold Medal went to Ben Lancaster , like Herbert Ihrig a Washingtonian, from Camas on the north side of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington, which is not to be confused with Camas Valley, Oregon, although both places reflect in their name places where fields of this blue flowered native Camassia leichlinnii occurs naturally. Before settlement the native peoples used to have large areas of this lily, the bulb, they dug for food. ⁵⁰ Ben was a prolific breeder and one of a few who worked with the West Coast native deciduous azalea R. occidentale , so the name I favour most of Ben Lancaster's hybrids is the deciduous azalea hybrid, one of a number he made using the fragrant Ghent Azalea and R. occidentale . It is the one he named 'Sacajewa' ⁵¹ after the young mother who showed Lewis and Clark the way to the Pacific Ocean twelve years after Alexander McKenzie had made it to the Pacific in 1793. Other azalea hybrids made with a selection of R. occidentale called 'Graciosum' and the Ghents he gave local names to such as 'Wallawa' and 'Wapato'. The former is a range of mountains in Oregon just west and along the Snake River while the latter is a small town south of Yakima on the Yakima River in Washington. Dr. Frank Mossman and Britt Smith, the great authorities on the western azalea R. occidentale , may well have had a hand in the naming. I like to think so. However, Ben is probably best known for his R. degronianum ssp. yakushimanum crosses; there are seven with the "Yaku" prefix, one of which is 'Yaku Picotee'. ⁵² The seeming preponderance of medals to those in the Pacific Northwest was partially corrected with award of ARS Gold Medals to three of Eastern United States' distinguished horticulturists: Fredrick P. Lee , Dr. Henry Skinner and David G. Leach . All three were published writers on horticulture including rhododendrons and azaleas. Fredrick P. Lee served as Director and Editorial Committee member of the American Horticultural Society, chaired the National Arboretum Advisory Council, was a horticultural lecturer and seemingly if not actually managed the USDA stations at Bethesda, Maryland, and Glenn Dale. He was largely responsible for allowing - or fostering perhaps is a better word - Benjamin Yoe Morrison's work and development of the Glenn Dale azaleas. When in the late forties Morrison, who was also editor of the National Horticultural Magazine, was asked to write an article for the ARS Quarterly Bulletin on the Glenn Dale azaleas, he declined; stating his views in a letter to the Quarterly Bulletin editor: "All the wonderful things that can be grown in the Pacific Northwest are of no use to us. Many of them I find ugly. No one in Great Britain has had the courage to say in print, that plenty of the species are UGLY...A thing is beautiful or it isn't whether it once grew wild or in a greenhouse. The things that I would know about wouldn't be of any interest to the majority of your [ARS] members and quite properly so. I do not believe that the Glenn Dale Azaleas would be of much use in the Puget Sound area; they will sigh for a good hot summer and maybe a little for a cold winter." ⁵³

Largely through the effort of Fredrick P. Lee the Morrison Azalea Garden at the National Arboretum was created. It was dedicated in 1954 and besides displaying all the azalea creations of the first Arboretum Director (Morrison) it was to be "one of a series of gardens to contain ultimately all the named azaleas susceptible to cultivation in this climate, to be used to determine correctness of name, cultural desirabilities, and their peculiarities on a testing basis." So stated the newly appointed Arboretum Director Henry T. Skinner at the Morrison Garden dedication. ⁵⁴

Dr. Skinner, when he was the horticulturist at the Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia, had served as a member of the Dexter Study Committee. ⁵⁵ However, perhaps his greatest contribution to the genus was his previous study of the native deciduous rhododendrons and the discovery and recording of the population centers of these natives along with the many introductions of selected forms and natural hybrids and "azaleas susceptible to cultivation" he brought to the National Arboretum during his term as Director. ⁵⁶ My American hybrid reminder of Dr Skinner is the R. canescens - R. austrinum cross 'Yellow River' he made and named not for China's River, but the one in the Florida panhandle and on up into Alabama- or was it the Yellow River in Central Wisconsin? The former most likely.

David G. Leach received his ARS Gold Medal in company with the elder Henry Skinner at the 1985 Annual Convention held at the Planting Fields Arboretum on Long Island. President Edward P. Dunn of Seattle made the presentations citing, "As a breeder of rhododendrons you have achieved new standards of beauty and hardiness in a difficult climate. As an author you have made notable contributions to rhododendron literature not only through numerous papers but also by the production of your book Rhododendrons of the World recognized throughout the world as a definitive and comprehensive work on the subject." ⁵⁷ David Leach was the one of the new breed of rhododendron enthusiasts and one of the first American rhododendron hybridizers whose background was in the discipline of pure science of chemistry and genetics. Previously most hybridizers had been gardeners, nurserymen or horticulturists, professionals yes, but lacking perhaps the discipline of a pure science required for understanding the colour and chromosomes. This enabled David Leach to create a prodigious number of hybrids using the hardiness of the native rhododendrons and azaleas as parents and combining them with the colour diversity of the species like R. dichroanthum and R. degronianum ssp. yakushimanum to make a break and create hybrids with new vibrant colours and shades that were Ohio hardy hybrids. ⁵⁸

The writer being a collector of the literature on the rhododendron and its history horticulturally found the Appendices 'A' through 'F' in Rhododendrons of the World the most complete of all in every aspect of the botanical/horticultural history of the rhododendron as a garden plant that was all collected in one volume. It made it quick, convenient and easy for anyone to find the facts. It was only much later that the realization came that Chapter XIII "Breeding Rhododendrons" made David Leach's book special and unique among the few books on the genus. The chapter explained for this first time, outside of purely academic learned paper circles, the process of how to go about creating hardy, compact, sun tolerant rhododendron hybrids for the garden - what species, what parents would likely produce a particular flower colour or produce a compact, low growing plant or one hardy in Ohio but, most importantly to my mind, what parents would transmit to their progeny comely leaf form, size and shape for the other fifty-two weeks of the year in the garden. In true American (US) "do-it-yourself" tradition Rhododendrons of the World is the most basic, complete and thorough treatment of any and all the books that have been published on the rhododendron as a plant for the garden.

Being born on a 200 square mile island in the Strait of Georgia, the writer has a thing about small Islands. This must have been one shared by David Leach as he named many of his rhododendron creations after islands from 'Trinidad' to 'Fiji' to 'Catalina' and twenty-three more after islands. ⁵⁹ My selection would have to be 'Singapore' (yes it is an island) and 'Hong Kong', also surrounded by salt water. The former is a cross of 'Fanfare' with a selection from the Gertrud Schäle Group, and the latter is a cross with the white form of R. catawbiense , which Leach considered one of the best American parents for hardiness and freedom from mauve, and the English hybrid 'Crest', considered the best yellow produced in the U.K., with the former island named being a Shammarello (Gm '73), cross of two red catawbiense hybrids that Leach introduced as 'Fanfare' and a hybrid from the 'Gertrud Schäle' Group. ⁶⁰ Why he would want to give the name of 'Singapore' to a rhododendron with such a potential for Ohio hardiness when everyone knows who has ever been there that Singapore is smack on the equator and never gets colder than 25°C (80°F) even at night.

There would be eleven Silver and thirteen Gold Medals awarded in the next two decades, the period 1966 to 1986.

Footnotes (numbering continues from Part IV).

³⁹ Endre Ostbo's registered introductions include: RR. 'Alley Cat', 'Colonel Coen', 'Coral', 'Edna McCarty', 'Edward Dunn', 'Elizabeth Blackford', 'Elizabeth Red Foliage' (syn: 'Ostbo's Red Elizabeth'), 'Endre Ostbo', 'Helen Johnson', 'Jane Rogers', 'King of Shrubs' (syn: 'Orange Azor'), 'Lily' (syn: 'Easter Lily', 'Lily no.1', 'White Lily'), 'Lollipop', 'Martha Isaacson', 'Mary Harmon', 'Miss Olympia', 'Mrs Donald Graham' (syn: 'Mrs D.G. Graham'), Olympic Lady Group, 'Opal Fawcett', 'Ostbo's Copper', 'Ostbo's Low Yellow', 'Otto Homdahl', 'Phyllis Ballard', 'Spectra', and 'White Olympic Lady'. Names courtesy Jay Murray and Clover Springs Computer Services, Rhododendron and Azalea Names, Copyright 2003. I have grown 'White Olympic Lady' in my garden for many years for its foliage and flower but most particularly for the lady's legginess.

⁴⁰ For many years the Seattle Chapter annual shows were held in Bellevue, one of the first shopping centres in the Pacific Northwest. These shows always included landscape exhibits put in by local nurseries. As a landscape architect I was invited by the Seattle Chapter to judge these gardens that were set up on the shopping centre parking area. I did judge trusses one year but found it too rancorous.

⁴¹ Initially the ARS began a process to rate and give awards to North American created rhododendron hybrids similar in nature to the RHS Award of Merit (AM), and First Class Certificate (FCC) for plants. However, The ARS awards system consisted of three successive stages to the top award. The first step was a Preliminary Award (PA), then an Award of Excellence (AE), and finally a Test Garden Certificate (TGC). It proved unworkable and misleading on a North American wide basis as it really only ever proved of any merit, regionally. However, with adoption of international registration of rhododendrons hybrids under RHS rules, the ARS Awards program has fallen by the wayside. Regional test gardens like Meerkerk might be an answer, but that is another story.

⁴² See Appendix D, Livingston, Philip A., and Franklin H. West, Editors, Hybrids and Hybridizers , Harrowood Books, Newton Square, Penn., 1978. The book whose full title, Hybrids and Hybridizers Rhododendrons and Azaleas for Eastern North America is dedicated to John C. Wister "...in appreciation of his devoted service to horticulture and the genus rhododendron."

⁴³ There is a great Harold Greer photo of a 'Brown Eyes' truss in "Rhododendrons of the Year Awards, 2003" among the Midwestern Region entries in the ARS Vol. 57, No. 3, Summer 2003, on page 163.

⁴⁴ I value the Second Edition of Rhododendrons and Azaleas more highly than the first as it has Clement Bowers signature on the title page. It is directly below Joe Gable's signature.

⁴⁵ In those days Dr. Clarke's congratulatory message would have been an American Express telegram.

⁴⁶ See: Hager, Betty, "New York Chapter Presentation Dinner", Quarterly Bulletin of the American Rhododendron Society , Vol. 17, No. 3, July 1963.

⁴⁷ Donald Wyman, horticulturist, was the author of several garden plant books that have become the standard reference texts for trees, shrubs, groundcovers and vines for gardens, park and urban landscapes particularly for eastern North America. He was one of the first authors to rate the hardiness of garden plants using the USDA hardiness zones system. Unfortunately until such recent books as Edward Reiley's Success with Rhododendrons and Azaleas , Timber Press, Portland, 1992, and Sonja Nelson's Rhododendrons in the Landscape , Timber Press, Portland, 2000, this was not extended to rhododendrons, species or hybrids. The old English H and ABC hardiness ratings have finally given way to the USDA and CanAg hardiness zone ratings.

⁴⁸ Wilson's 50 Kurume Azaleas are listed by Japanese name and English name equivalents on page 170 in Fred Galle's Azaleas , Timber Press, Portland, Oregon,1985. In 1917-18 Wilson had two of Japan's leading experts on the Kurume select the best six of the 50. They are 'Azuma-kagami', (No.16 'Pink Pearl'), 'Kirin' (No. 22, 'Daybreak'), 'Kumo-no-uye' (No. 29, 'Salmon Prince'), Kuraino-himo' (No. 40, 'Carmine Queen'), 'Kure-noyuki' (No. 2 'Snowflake'), and 'Takasago' (No. 11, 'Cherryblossom').

⁴⁹ Ihrig, Herbert G., and John H. Hanley, et al., University of Washington Arboretum Handbook of Rhododendrons , Arboretum Foundation, Seattle, Wash., 1944. I have never been able to find a copy of this publication.

⁵⁰ There are two species of camas in the Pacific Northwest, the short early flowering Camassia quamish of the Puget Sound Gulf and Garry oak, Arbutus (madrone) of coastal areas and the later flowering taller growing Camassia leitchlinnii of Camas Valley, Blue Mountains, Spokane and other yellow pine zones. Although Lewis and Clark discovered it in 1805 it was discovered thirteen years earlier in 1792 by Archibald Menzies, the surgeon-botanist with Capt. George Vancouver when he accompanied Peter Puget in the charting of Puget Sound.

⁵¹ Sacajewa was the young aboriginal mother who showed Lewis and Clark the way to the Pacific Coast via the Snake and the Columbia rivers in 1805. Chatham, Capt. Vancouver's sister ship, had charted the Columbia from its mouth up to the Willamette River (present day Portland) thirteen years previous to Lewis and Clark's journey.

⁵² Ben Lancaster's hybrids include: RR. 'Aesthetica', 'Aladdin's Light', 'Allegro', 'Americanum' (syn: 'Americana'),' 'Aola', 'Aztec Gold', 'Ben Lancaster', 'Bluette', 'Britannia's Bells', 'Buff Lady', 'Cherry Bright', 'Crimson Bells', 'Crimson Queen', 'Currant Bells', 'Easter Bells', 'Glad Tidings', 'Golden Anniversary', 'Golden Glow', 'Inca Gold', 'Ivory Bells', 'John Skrentny' (selection from arboreum ), 'Kalama', Lackamas Group*, 'Lackamas Blue', 'Lackamas Bouquet'*, 'Lackamas Cream', 'Lackamas Firebrand', 'Lackamas Glory', 'Lackamas Gold', 'Lackamas Ruby', 'Lackamas Sovereign', 'Lackamas Spice', 'Laura Marie', 'Little Dragon', 'Mazama', 'Mellow Gold', 'Mission Bells', 'Mollala', 'Moon Mist', 'Mucronatum Pastel', 'Mucronatum Roseum'*, 'Multnomah'†, 'Myeena'†, 'Old Spice', 'Oliver Twist', 'Peach Lady', 'Rom', 'Rose Elf', 'Rose of China', 'Rose Splendour', 'Ruffles', 'Sacajewa'†, 'Signal', 'Silver Bells', 'Silver Wings', 'Snow Bells', 'Snow Sprite', 'Tahoma', 'Vesper Bells', 'Vulcan's Bells', 'Vulcan's Flame', 'Wallowa'†, 'Wapato'†, 'Washington', 'Winona'†, 'Yaku Cream', 'Yaku Frills', 'Yaku Incense', 'Yaku Picotee', 'Yaku Splendor', 'Yaku Sunrise', 'Yaku Warrior', 'Yaquina'†, and 'Yellow Bells'. Names courtesy of Jay Murray and Clover Springs Computer Services, Rhododendron and Azalea Names, Copyright 2003. Those with a † are Ghent, occidentale crosses.

⁵³ While he was highly thought of in ornamental plant circles, USDA's priority in those days for fruit and vegetable development probably coloured Morrison's attitude. Ornamental plant development and breeding was at the bottom of the list of USDA priorities. One suspects that breeding of Kurume type azaleas for the florist pot plant became a good cover for plant development for garden use.

⁵⁴ For the full text of the speakers and Morrison's reply see Chapter III of Livingston, Philip A., and Franklin H. West, Editors, Hybrids and Hybridizers, Rhododendrons and Azaleas for Eastern North America , Harrowood Books, Newton Square, Penn.,1978. The Morrison Azalea Garden was a geometric bedding display garden in the style that Edward Luytens and Gertrude Jekyll had developed in England prior to WWI.

⁵⁵ Ibid, David Leach had also served on the Dexter Study Committee.

⁵⁶ At an ARS Annual Convention I remember Dr. Skinner was a speaker on the native rhododendrons showing slides of his maps of the different species' main population centres. I was thrilled to see them for first time as I did not know these maps existed so I asked why they had not been published or shown before. The quick answer given was that should the maps ever be published people would be able to go there and dig them up for their gardens and so wipe out the native population. It was an elitist view that we had abandoned for the precept that knowledge and understanding brings possession, possession brings protection. We had used it successfully to wipe out park and school grounds vandalism throughout our practice area as well as giving tours to students of wild flower areas for garden clubs nature study groups, etc., to see native wild flowers in situ. The days of wild plant collection were over in the west by the mid sixties. The influence of John Muir and the Sierra Club was all-persuasive in the West. Perhaps this tradition, "take only pictures, leave only foot prints," never got to eastern North America. Introductions credited to Henry Skinner include: RR. 'Bowie', 'Camp's Red' (selection from cumberlandense ), 'Cornell Pink' (selection from R. mucronulatum ), 'Gretchen Medlar', 'Hohman' (selection from R. prunifolium ), 'Louisa Duemling' 'Morris Gold', 'Queen Anne's', 'Saint Mary's', 'Tsuneshige Rokujo' (valid syn: 'Shigi'), and 'Yellow River'. Names courtesy Jay Murray and Clover Springs Computer Services, Rhododendron and Azalea Names, Copyright 2003.

⁵⁷ Quarterly Bulletin of the American Rhododendron Society , Vol. 19, No. 3, July 1965, Editor J. Harold Clarke, page 133.

⁵⁸ David Leach's prodigious hybridizing led to his naming the following: (note that many are not yet registered), 'Anna H. Hall' (syn: 'Anna Hall'), 'Applause', 'Argentina', 'Arizona', 'Atlantis' (syn: 'Asia'), 'Bali', 'Ballad', 'Bangkok', 'Bermuda', 'Betty Breene', Bikini Island' (syn: 'Bikini'), 'Blaze', 'Blazen Sun' (syn: 'Sunburst'), 'Blondie'*, 'Bombay', 'Borneo', 'Boule de Rose', 'Bravo!' 'Brickdust'*, 'Bristol' (syn: 'Franklin'), 'Brittany', 'Burma', 'Cairo', 'Calcutta', 'Canary Islands', 'Canterbury', 'Capistrano', 'Casanova', 'Catalina', 'Ceylon', 'Chamois', 'Chesterland', 'Coloratura', 'Colossus' (selection from R. calendulaceum ), 'Congo', 'Cream Puff', 'Crete', 'Cyprus' (syn: 'Capri'),' 'Dolly Madison', 'Duet', 'Edmond Amateis', 'Fanfare', 'Fiji', 'Finlandia' (syn: 'Alaska'), 'Flair', 'Flamenco', 'Golden Gala' (syn: 'Fifty-fine'), 'Good Hope', 'Great Lakes', 'Hawaii', 'Hindustan', 'Hong Kong', 'Hudson Bay', 'Inca Chief', 'Ivory Coast', 'Ivory Tower', 'Janet Blair' (syn: 'John Wister'), 'Java', 'Jericho', 'July Jester', 'July Jewel', 'July Jingle', 'July Joy', 'July Jubilation', 'July Julep' 'June Bride', 'Kunming', 'Last Hurrah' (syn: 'Athens”), 'Leach's Mount Mitchell' (selection from R. maximum ), 'Limelight', 'Lodestar', 'Longwood' 'Luxor' (syn: 'Morocco'), Madison Group*, 'Madison Flower Girl'*, 'Madras' (syn: 'Bengal'), 'Madrid' (syn: 'Seville'), 'Maid of Honor', 'Malta', 'Maori' 'May Time' (syn: 'Evensong'), 'Mist Maiden' (selection from R. degronianum ssp. yakushimanum ), 'Monaco', 'Monte Carlo', 'Montego', 'Monterey', 'Moonmist'*, 'Nepal'*, 'New Orleans', 'Nikko', 'Nile' (syn: 'Sahara'), 'Normandy', 'Nuance', 'Panama', 'Party Pink', 'Peaches and Cream'*, 'Peach Parfait', 'Peking' 'Persia', 'Pink Fire' (selection from R. cumberlandense ), 'Pink Flourish', 'Pink Frosting', 'Pink Mango'*, 'Pink Parasol (selection from R . degronianum ssp. yakushimanum ), 'Pink Plush', 'Pink Puff', 'Polynesia', 'Poppinjay', 'Portent', 'Presque Isle', 'Pride's Whipped Cream'* (syn: 'Whipped Cream'), 'Rangoon', 'Ravenna', 'Redder Yet', 'Red River', 'Red Sea', 'Rio', 'Robin Leach', 'Rococo', 'Samoa', 'Santa Fe', 'Savanna', 'Scarlet Blast', 'Scarlet Salute' (selection from R. cumberlandense ), 'S.D. Coleman' (selection from R. prunifolium ). 'Senegal', 'Serenata, 'Shanghai', 'Shenandoah', 'Siam', 'Singapore', 'Small Wonder', 'Spellbinder', 'Spring Frolic', 'Spring Party' (selection from R. vaseyi ), 'Spring Salvo', 'Spring Spangle', 'Stockholm ' (syn: 'Iceland'), 'Sudan', 'Sumatra, 'Summer Glow', 'Summer Sequel', 'Summer Snow', 'Summer Solace', 'Summer Song', 'Summer Splendor', 'Summer Summit', 'Swansdown', 'Tahiti', 'Tang', 'Tennessee', 'Tow Head', 'Trinidad', 'Trumpeter', 'Tuscany', 'Vee Vee', 'Venice', 'Vernum' (syn: 'Vernus'), 'Vestale', 'Virginia Leach', and 'Yukon'. Names courtesy Jay Murray and Clover Springs Computer Services, Rhododendron and Azalea Names, Copyright 2003

⁵⁹ David Leach's islands are as, 'Atlantis' (syn: 'Asia'), 'Bali', 'Bermuda', 'Bikini Island' (syn: 'Bikini'), 'Borneo', 'Canary Islands', 'Catalina', 'Ceylon', 'Crete', 'Cyprus' (syn: 'Capri'),' 'Fiji', 'Hawaii', 'Hong Kong', 'Java' 'Malta', 'Polynesia', 'Samoa', 'Singapore', 'Tahiti', 'Trinidad', 'Venice', Names courtesy Jay Murray and Clover Springs Computer Services, Rhododendron and Azalea Names, Copyright 2003.

⁶⁰ The hybrid “Gertrud Schäle is a 'Prometheus' x R. forrestii Repens Group cross made by Dietrich Hobbie of Oldenburg, Germany. A well-known Hobbie hybrid is 'Scarlet Wonder'.

* Name is not registered.

Clive Justice is a member of the Vancouver Chapter.