JARS v64n2 - In Memoriam: Frank Mossman
In Memoriam: Frank Mossman
Michael OliverFrank Mossman, whose significant work with azaleas and rhododendrons spanned several decades, passed away on November 2, 2009. He was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He attended the University of Nebraska and its medical school. He graduated with his M.D. in Ophthalmology in 1940. When he was a teenager, he met his future wife, Doris Roberts. They were married in 1937, and over the next fifteen years had three children.
In WW II, he joined the Army and served in several theaters, and was discharged in 1945 with the rank of major. Opportunities to obtain a residency were limited, but he selected one with the Kaiser hospitals in Portland, Oregon, where he worked for eight years before setting up a private practice in Vancouver, WA.
During the first years in Portland, he developed his interest in rhododendrons and started growing and propagating them. He visited Halfdan Lem in Tacoma, and obtained cutting material from him as his interest grew. Also at this time he met his future partner in azalea exploration, Britt Smith, who also lived in Portland.
Both Frank and Britt became interested in the western azalea, Rhododendron occidentale , and they initiated a methodical study of plants in their southern Oregon and northern California habitats. They made several trips a year for over ten years to "occidentale-land" and cataloged the most unusual forms. They then published several articles describing the very large variation in the flowers that they had found. These articles brought Frank into contact with rhododendron experts from around the world. Beyond these articles, they created increased interest in Rhododendron occidentale by making many contributions of wild collected seed to the ARS Seed Exchange. Frank also made presentations at chapter meetings and annual conventions. On another front, Britt and Frank were key forces in pushing for the creation of the Azalea Reserve at Stage Coach Hill south of Orick, CA. Primarily for his azalea work, Frank was awarded the ARS Gold Medal in 1977.
Frank chaired an Annual Convention in Portland in the early '70s where one of the guest speakers was H. H. Davidian, from Edinburgh, Scotland. Dr. Davidian believed the observed large variation in R. occidentale flowers was due to interspecific and not intraspecific variation. When Frank took him on a trip to the occidentale habitats, he managed to convince Davidian that it was indeed intraspecific variation that produced the large floral variation. He also became a friend of Hideo Suzuki, a RHS Gold Medal recipient, and the Suzukis often stayed with the Mossmans at their home in Vancouver, WA.
After a decade or so, Britt Smith and Frank suspended their azalea hunting trips, but their descriptions have inspired others since to explore R. occidentale habitat. About this time Frank became interested in tender rhododendrons, such as the Maddenias and Vireyas. He explored some of their habitat, and he and Dave Goheen made a plant hunting expedition to Borneo. They traced Herman Sleumer's trail up Mt. Kinabalu, a known Vireya habitat, and collected seeds, cuttings and plants.
Frank made a number of crosses using material from this expedition, and one, R. 'Doris Mossman' was registered by Bovee's Nursery and is now in the trade. Their trip is documented in the January 1983 issue of the ARS Journal. Unfortunately, however, shortly thereafter the plastic-covered shelter where he had his tender rhododendrons was damaged and he lost all of his plants.
Frank was an enthusiastic member of the Portland Chapter. He was awarded the Bronze Medal by the Chapter in 1969, served as chapter president from 1978 to 1980 and was a ARS Life Member. He was a generous contributor to the chapter's plant auctions and served for many years as auctioneer. Many local gardens are in debt to his contributions. Frank also judged many of the chapter's shows and donated a trophy for the R. occidentale section. He last served as a judge in May of 2009 only months prior to his death.
From the time of his initial interest in rhododendrons, he always had done some hybridizing. Beyond his Vireya crosses, he produced others but registered only two. The first, 'Taurus', an early-medium red, was introduced in 1972 and later received the Superior Plant Award. The second, the deciduous azalea 'Washington State Centennial', was introduced in 1989 for the centennial of the state of Washington. Richard Cavender was given one of his intraspecific R. occidentale crosses, which Richard later named in Frank's honor and also was a trophy winner at chapter shows.
Beyond his own work on rhododendrons, he was interested in other plants, including trees such as Japanese maples and magnolias. He grew specimens of many of these on his property, which he propagated and contributed to Portland Chapter auctions.
In 2000, the Lake Wilderness Arboretum in Maple Valley Washington, initiated a project to save specimens of as many Smith-Mossman azaleas as possible. Frank Mossman contributed almost all of the plants from his property and also made several financial contributions. At present, a sizeable collection is thriving at the arboretum.
His wife, Doris, died in 2003 and left a large vacuum in his remaining years. In the last decade of his life, he took up hybridizing daylilies, which could be flowered two years after planting the seeds. At the time of his death, he had several hundred seedlings planted out to bloom in 2010. He will be greatly missed by the many people he mentored and inspired.
