Garden Hybrids

I have not been an avid collector of hybrid rhododendrons, but over the years have accumulated many named plants, some of which have become quite rare. Cultivars fall out of favor and nurserymen stop propagating them. Of the thousands of named cultivars, only a tiny number are available to the very interested grower and only about 30 or so cultivars are available to the general gardening public. Just go to your local nursery and see how many rhododendron cultivars he has available.< Here is the list of the hybrids: Accomplishment Adele Lovett - A hybrid of Nat Hess. Named for an old friend of Nat's. Cavalcade x hardy fortunei. America Anna Anna Rose Whitney Banana Flip - I've never seen it bloom. Beatrice Hyde - My own hybrid. White muchronulatum x white Carolina Ben Mosley Betty Hume Blue Cloud - A Nat Hess hybrid Blue Yak - Flat leaves with a blue-green color. Sid Burns plant. Heavy indumentum. NOT a good doer. Brandywine Brookville Busy Bee Carolina Rose Catwalk - AKA Phipps 27. A Dexter seedling at the Phipps garden. Fragrant Pink/Yellow. Knockout plant Cerise Edge - Hardgrove's description of plant: "Probably catawbeinse compactum x 'Venator'. Low, dense plant, dark green foliage which the insects do not seem to like. Color very unique. A clear light yellow with an edging of bright cerise-pink." H59-2 Chaumont Cinnamon Bear County Of York - A gross plant but is wonderful understock for grafting. Somewhere on the site is some information on propagating rhododendrons. Look there for instructions for grafting/rooting Crete David Gable - Everyone should grow this plant.It blooms unfailingly every year with a perfect, large pink truss. Debutant - yak x Mars. Bob Robbins made the cross. Very nice plant, but pink. Slight tomentum on the top of the leaf, but no indumentum. Dexter Pink #1 - A selection of Paul Vossberg. In the 1960's a very desirable plant. Now there are other Dexter pinks that surpass it. Dexter Spice - Very hard to root. Mine is a graft. I have seen tissue cell plants for sale. Gets to be a major plant in the garden. Yes it is fragrant with very large white flowers. The truss form is not great, but overall it is quite impressive. Director Hjelm Donna Hardgrove - Hardgrove's most intense yellow/orange. I don't consider is very ornamental in the garden. Easy to root. In 1964 Hardgrove wrote of this plant: "Before buds start to open, it is red and when the flower first opens it is apricot-pink. Then as the flower opens fully, it is orange. On the same truss you will have all of these colors at once." As you can see, Hardgrove thought highly of it. Dora Amateis - The best of the Amateis hybrids. Very hardy white lepidote. Sterile. Sid Burns bought the plant from Bill Effinger, a nurseryman who became ill and couldn't continue on with it. Sid propagated it like crazy. (It roots very easily.) All the plants you see of it are propagations of Sid's plants. In full sun will get lace wing fly. In old age (25 - 30 years)will tend to be a ground cover. Very hardy. Some people think that there are three clones of the cross all called 'Dora Amateis'. Sid began to think so too. Hot plant in the 70's, but you don't see it too much anymore. Dorothy Russell - Quite a nice Dexter red. Gets to be large. Damaged quite badly in winter of 03-04. (-1 degree F) Dorothy Schlaijker - Nat Hess named this for a lovely lady and past President of the NY Chapter ARS. I have never seen it bloom. My plant is very small and not doing well. Dumper Yellow - Henry Dumper got seed from Wisley of fortunei and grew them on. In those days, Wisley sent out open pollinated seed as the true species. This is obviously a hybrid as it is NOT fragrant. It has given some good yellow hybrids. Very difficult to root. Edgemont Erchless - Named by Howard Phipps. Probably a Sappho hybrid. Very leggy. Flower is terrific. Welch word meaning solitude, solemnity,calmness. Francesca - A very large blue-red hybrid which will knock the socks off non-rhododendron specialists. Plant gets enormous, but when covered with these red flowers will certainly catch your eye. Very easy to root. Gate Cream - This is a plant that I have. Not the 'Gate Cream' from Heritage Plantation. From the Collins collection at Planting Fields. Cream color, fragrant.(Judge Collins was an early collector of Dexter hybrids. He eventually sold his land to Nassau County as a park, Takapausha Preserve, and most of his Dexter plants to Mr. Coe at Planting Fields. Some of his rhododendrons were also moved to Eisenhower Park.) I've used this in hybridizing and gotten some nice plants. Gertrude Saxe - Named after my Aunt Gert. My hybrid. Pink muchronulatum x pink Carolina. Blooms in early May. Is very hardy for me. My plant is about 12' across. Gibralter GiGi - A Dexter red with black spots. Growing in the Ross garden as Ross GG. Thus its name. A very good-doer in the garden. Gets to be very large. Easy to root. Ginny Gee - Warren Berg's plant. Terrific for the small garden. Perfectly hardy for me. Glenalden Glowlight - One of Hardgrove's best crosses. An intense yellow. Mentioned in article in the Summer, 2003 issue of the Quarterly. Hardy fortunei x Fabia. Hardgrove wrote the following description of the plant: "The closest to orange from a distance. A blend of salmon and yellow but a bright color not the usual pastel. Actually glows. 13 flowered truss. Very fine. H60-4. Sid Burns purchased this plant from Hardgrove in 1964 but for some reason didn't do much with it. Seems to be quite hardy for me. Golden Star - Hardgrove yellow. Good color but leggy plant. Dies back a lot. Hardy fortunei x croceum. Hardgrove wrote about this plant: "This is the deepest yellow of any of this cross. Flowers of fine modelling with a chartreuse colored throat marking. Very good foliage. Flowers about 3 1/2" across, 8 to the truss 16 stamins." The color of this plant compares favorably with any of the modern yellows. Its biggest drawback is its leggy growth. Roots easily.. Golfer - My plant is only 2 or 3 years old, but it is obviously going to be a great, dwarf, indumented plant. Gomer Waterer - Reported to throw tetraploides. Open pollinated seed should be grown. I have never gotten pollen to take on it nor have I ever seen seed on it. Great Scott Halolite - Hardgrove cross. Hardy fortunei x (wardii x dichroanthum). Hardgrove describes: "Yellow with wide edge of soft salmon pink. Lovely. Very floriferous." H58-14 Hardgrove 58-6 - Hardy fortunei x (wardii x dichroanthum). In 1958 Hargrove wrote about this plant: "Yellow blended orange-yellow. Fine textured, front facing flowers, over 3" across. Very floriferous and a vigorous grower. Possible the most beautiful thing yet." Original plant was sold to Planting Fields in 1964. Hardgrove 64-1: - ((catawbiense compactum x (lacteum x 'Mary Swaithling')) x (campylocarpum x 'Penjerrick') In 1964 Hardgrove said of this plant: "5 lobes, tawny gold, good depth of color, floriferous, opens slowly". This is quite yellow but the flowers a somewhat small, 2" across. Hardgrove White - Dory Royce got this plant from Hardgrove. Holds its flowers 2 - 3 weeks. Quite a nice white. Harold Amateis - How Amateis got this intense red from maximum x strigillosum is beyond me. It certainly is red. Helen Everitt - Wonderful white but almost never opens a full truss. 1 or 2 pips are always winter killed. A wonderful story behind this plant: Henry Fuller's daughter worked for a florist and helped with the flowers at the wedding of one of Sam Everitt's daughters. Sam was so happy with the flowers, that he gave a little potted Dexter seedling to Henry's daughter. She didn't know what to do with it so she gave it to her father. Henry near fell over when he saw it bloom and entered it in the New York Rhododendron Society show where it was a knock-out. After the show, Sid Burns took the entry and stuck it in his propagating frame. Out of dumb luck it rooted. He could never root it again!! I tried rooting it with 4% IBA and it worked. My plant is about 10' wide. Jean Marie - Fairly hardy for me. I have a tough time getting pollen to take on it. Historically, has thrown some fantastic seedlings. I try every year. Jean Marie Tetra - From the West Coast. It is too small to bloom but it sure has thick leaves and stems. Joshephine Everitt - A Dexter plant found on the Everitt estate. ` Katarina - Nice salmon pink. Ray Kruse hybrid. Not registered. Ray told me the cross, but I didn't believe him so I won't repeat it here. Kathryn Roboul - spinuliferum x racemosum F2 hybrid from Hardgrove. Not much unless you love lepidotes then it is quite nice. Ken Jannek - Heavy indumentum. Strong roots. Light pink flower. Quite hardy. La Bar's White - An important historical plant, but not very ornamental. Very leggy. Was much in demand when many were making catawbiense crosses. It is a pure white cultivar of catawbiense that has no lavender in it at all. Was supposed to impart hardyness and no color in its offspring. Discovered by Russell Harmon at La Bar's Nursery in Straudsberg, Pa. somewhere where catawbiense grows. I don't know if I have ever seen a hybrid registered with this in its background. Lady Alice Fitzwilliam - A lovely old plant. Pink. Lady L - A Dexter red with black spots on the flower from the Ross garden. Known as Ross L. Thus the name. Mac Kinnon's Favorite - A Dexter seedling growing at the Phipps Estate. Rock hardy, beautiful pink. About 15' high now. Spectacular every spring. Just a great garden plant. Named after Ewen Mac Kinnon, the estate superintendent at the Phipps garden. Not registered. Margolit - A Nat Hess plant. Nat told me two stories about this plant at different times. Once he said he made the cross of Cavalcade x Hardy fortunei. Then later, he said the seed came from Hafdem Lem. (Nat got a lot of seed from Lem.) It is flesh colored, perfect sphere of a truss and hardy to +5 F. It is the Hebrew spelling of Nat's wife's first name Margaret. Mars - 100 years old and still a terrific red. Mary Fleming Marybelle - One of Joe Gable's nicest hybrids. Meadowbrook - Mrs. C. S. Sargent x Pink Everestineanum. Paul Vossberg hybrid. Paul was always insistent that you said 'Pink Everestineanum' not just 'Everestineanum' when you spoke of the parents of 'Meadowbrook'. In the late 1920's, Clem Bowers was making a lot of ironclad crosses at Hicks Nursery where Paul Vossberg worked. Paul decided to copy a Bowers cross of Mrs. C. S. Sargent x Everestineanum but used the pink form of Everestineanum instead of the ironclad form that Clem used. The pink form has a pubescent overy and the ironclad form has a glabrous overy, was lavender and was used in 'Roslyn' . Paul told me that there were only three good seedlings in the group of 85 seedlings of the cross and he named the best of the lot 'Meadowbrook' . (Somewhere on the site, if I ever get to it, is, or will be, a history of cultivated rhododendrons on Long Island.) Mist Maiden - David Leach's yakushimanum or yakushimanum hybrid. Is very nice, especially when it gets old. Mr. W. R. Coe - Dexter plant found on the Parker Estate. Mrs. Butler Mrs. Furnival Mrs. W.R. Coe - Dexter plant found on the Parker Estate. Mrs. Woodrow Wilson - A Nat Hess hybrid. Enormous plant, lavender flower. I don't know the cross. Could be 'Cavalcade' x hardy fortunei. Nathan Hale - A Dexter seedling found on the Parker estate. Later owned by Dorothy & Hugo Schlaijker. Nestucca - A very nice white hybrid. Slow growing. Oliver Twist Orange Sherbet - Hardgrove hybrid. It is wishful thinking to think the flower looks like orange sherbet. Don didn't mention it in his notes. Painted Star - Hardgrove hybrid. The parent of one of his better things. Not worth growing. Parker's Pink - Probably the best Dexter pink. Found on the Parker estate (later owned by Dorothy & Hugo Schlaijker. Paul's Pink - Was going to be called "Paul's Hot Pink" because of the color. Muchronulatum seedling of intense color. Paul Vossberg grew many generations of pink muchronulatums to get this plant. Much better than 'Cornell Pink' . Cuttings should be taken about July 15th. Like all deciduous azaleas, after rooting there must be a flush of growth before autumn leaf drop or it will not break dormancy next spring. This is usually accomplished by artificial lighting. Pete LoTruglio - A very nice williamsianum hybrid that Pete had. I don't know if it was his cross or someone else's. Pete was quite friendly with an early hybridizer/grower named Vorringer. It might have been one of his seedlings. Blooms with Taurus, so no one looks at this. Phipps 32 - AKA 'Phipps Yellow'. The original seedling has always kept a low growing style which, for yellow, is quite unusual. It is yellow. No one knows the exact cross, but after looking at Howard Phipps' hybridizing notes I believe it to be: Yellow seedling x 'Golden Star'. Yellow seedling was probably: (Hardgrove Hicks Yellow x 'Naomi') x 'Crest'. Hardgrove Hicks Yellow is probably: hardy fortunei x (dichroanthum x wardii). Hardgrove was not good at growing seed, so he gave his seed to Paul Vosburg to grow for him. In the spring Hardgrove would buy the seedlings from Paul, but if Hardgrove didn't have enough money, Paul was free to sell the seedlings to anyone. Paul had a close and old relationship with Henry Hicks at Hicks Nursery and undoubtly sold a flat or two of Hardgrove seedling to Henry. Howard Phipps was a frequent customer at Hicks Nursery so he was certainly able to get Hardgrove pollen or even plants from Hicks (without Hardgrove's knowledge). Pierce's American Beauty Pink Cherub Pink Everestineanum - Used to create 'Meadowbrook' See Meadowbrook for some interesting details. Pink Wallaper - Pink Wallaper The plant lives in my garden, but I have never seen it bloom. PJM Tetra - I question if it is a tetrapoloid. Platinum Pearl Prince Camille De Rohan Quaker Girl - Very early bloomer. Queen Alice Red Head - Open truss. Much sought-after plant 30 years ago. Red House - It is red allright but not ornimental. Romani Chai - I've seen it bloom once in my garden in the last 20 years. Two flowers opened! It is red though. Rona Pink - A very nice pink Dexter. Tom Koenig selection. Ross RR - Dexter selection at the Ross estate. Nice red. Royal Star - Hardgrove hybrid. Carolina x augustinei, Russell Harmon SAE "A" - Paul Vossberg selected this plant at Sam Everitt's garden. Never named it. There are better Dexter pinks but this one is very hardy and can take the sun. Sam Everitt - A Dexter plant at Sam Everitt's garden that both Sid Burns and Nat Hess had. Very fragrant pink. Susceptible to petal blight. Not registered. Sappho - As leggy as ever and as beautiful as ever. Schlaijker Yellow - AKA 'Hardgrove's Deepest Yellow'. hardy fortunei x (dichroanthum x wardii). Hardgrove sold this plant to Dorothy & Hugo Schlaijer in 1964. It is open growing but quite yellow. Sid Burns had a large plant of it in his garden that bloomed every year with little damage growing in a lot of sun. It seems to be bud hardy to at least -5 F. It roots easily. Scintillation - The standard, commerical Dexter pink for the North East. Paul Vossberg found this plant at the NY Botanic Garden and propagated it. Several years after Paul started rooting cuttings, the original plant was washed away in a flood. I asked Paul how he came up with the name and he told me that one day he was admiring the plants in bloom in a nursery row and realized it was scintillating. Thus the name. Shalimar - Dorothy Schlaijker named this Dexter Plant found in her garden (the old Parker estate). Showboat Solidarity - A great hybrid. Sphinx - Blotched plant Spring Song - Sister seedling of 'Mary Fleming'. Hardgrove got it from Nearing.'Mary Fleming' is probably better. Susan Everitt - Very late blooming Dexter seedling. Found at the Everitt garden. No one ever sees it as it is so late to bloom. Taurus - A spectacular red that is hardier than you would think. Tiana - I was kidding Sid Burns one year about making rhododendron crosses and said the most obvious cross was to put yakushimanum onto Sappho and I couldn't believe no one had done it. He had both plants and said that I should do. So I did and gave some seed to Werner Brach. Werner named this and 'Gordon Jones' from his batch of seedlings. Utopia Vulcan Vulcan's Flame Westbury - An original Dexter plant used by Howard Phipps in his first hybrids. Crossed with 'Meadowbrook' it gave 'Wheatly' & 'Brookville'. I believe though that 'Westbury' was open pollenated (probably selfed) to produce 'Wheatly' & 'Brookville' as it was Howard Phipps' habit to allow the flower to completely open, unprotected from insects, and then to cross onto it. 'Westbury' blooms much later that most other Dexter plant. Westport Wheatley - One of Howard Phipp s first named hybrids. See info under 'Westbury'. White Peter White Wedding Wyandanch Pink - A wonderful pink but must be 10 years old to bloom. Loading the soil with super phosphate will make it bloom young. Just watch out you don't poison the soil with too much super phosphate. Z - A red with black spots Dexter. From the Ross garden. Known there as Ross Z. Thus its name.