Appreciation: Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden - the Parks Board 50

Well, this is a little ambitious. I blame @Nina Shoroplova, whose new book Legacy of Trees - Purposeful Wandering in Vancouver's Stanley Park (Heritage House, June 2, 2020, 278pp) has a brief chapter on the Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden, with her own map of the trees from the Park's Board's https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/ted-and-mary-greig-garden-50-rhododendrons-of-interest.pdf document, with the trees listed in order by walking tour. Thinking this would be easy now, I set off right away, book in hand, to photograph them all, forgetting for a moment that I didn't know what they looked like, and more than half of them were finished blooming by now. Then I went back, got my Parks Board document so that I could see what they were supposed to look like and started over. My next discovery was that where the maps show two cultivars, there are six on the site, none of them of the colour I was expecting. And of course, in the however many years since the document was created, some of the trees have disappeared or been moved.

Alas, I am into it now. My ultimate goal is to provide more than one photo of each of the rhododendrons in the Parks Boards "50 Rhododendrons of Interest", showing the habit, flowers, leaves and any other distinguishing feature. I would like for each to include the blooming month or months, so that a query on month in this thread will bring up postings of what's in bloom that month. I am inviting anyone with photos of the plants in this document to contribute postings. I will edit postings not made by me to have a standard first line. Clearly, this is a multi-year effort - what gets missed doesn't come around for another year. Oh well, here we go. Quoted text is from the Parks Board document linked to above. The locations map is the last page of that document.

Now I'm having trouble keeping track of what I've posted. I'm going to keep this list of links to the postings updated, sorted alphabetically, omitting the "R."

'Aladdin'
ambiguum
'Anna Rose Whitney'
augustinii
auriculatum
'Baden Baden'
'Beauty of Littleworth'
'Beethoven'
'Chionoides'
'Cilpinense'
'Crest'
'Cunningham's White'
decorum
Electra Group
'Fabia'
‘Fastuosum Flore Pleno’
fortunei hybrid
'George Watling'
'Haydn'
'Impi'
'May Day' and 'May Day'
Moonstone Group
'Mrs. A.T. de la Mare'
'Mrs. Furnival' / 'Mrs. G.W. Leak'
'Naomi Hope'
'Naomi Nautilus'
occidentale
'Palestrina'
'Point Defiance'
'President Roosevelt'
'Professor Hugo de Vries'
'Sappho' and 'Sappho'
schlippenbachii
'Scintillation'
smirnowii
'Susan'
'The Honorable Jean Marie de Montague'
'Unique'
Wedding Present
'Whitney's Orange'
'Yellow Hammer'

Omitted
These from the brochure are no longer there.
atlanticum. This was listed as a cultivar, but it's a species. Head gardener Dave told me he has none of these.
'Bonfire'. Dave said the bed where this was has been redesigned and it's no longer there.
'Royston Red'. Dave said there were two; now there are none.

 

Rhododendron 'Chionoides' - white flowers - Blooming: June

This was a good start - it is in bloom (or was a week ago when I took these photos), and it's where the maps say it is.

 

Rhododendron 'Fastuosum Flore Pleno' - lilac-coloured flowers - Blooming: May-June

This was another that was easy to identify - the name says the flowers will be double, and they are, sort-of. Semi-double.


Edited June 10, 2020: I found another of these down from Haro Street, on the lagoon side of the tennis courts. I don't think this is technically still the Greig Rhododendron Garden.

 

Rhododendron 'Fabia' - pinkish orange - Blooming: May-June

This seems to now be called Rhododendron Fabia Group. The photos are from May 21; it's a long bloomer, as these plants are still in bloom, still looking ok a week into June. The coloured calyx is characteristic. There are a lot of locations in the garden, only two of which are on the map.

 

Rhododendron Wedding Present - orange - Blooming: May

Barbara Cook told Nina Shoroplova that the plant called 'Wedding Present' was a wedding present to Alleyne and her, and they did not know the cultivar name. Well, there are two plants similar to the colour shown in the brochure at the location given on the map. Since we don't know the cultivar name anyway, I am just going to show photos of what I think is the more likely, and the other that is next to it.
This shrub seems to be exactly where the marker shows, right on the walking path where the Davidia is.


[Edited May 13, 2021] There are more flowers on this today. Now that I've decided what is 'Whitney's Orange', that really only leaves this in the running for "vivid red-orange flowered".

 

Rhododendron 'Impi' - dark red - Blooming: May June

I don't know about the "ruddy green" leaves, but it has some red petioles and strikingly dark red flowers and is in the spot indicated.




Edited June 18, 2020: these are still in bloom. The blotches are visible in these.

 

Rhododendron 'Anna Rose Whitney' - deep pink - Blooming: May

These two trees are on the south side of the Nelson Street entrance to the park. It was well-finished blooming on June 1 - I won't get any prizes for these photos. Maybe I'll get to replace them next year.

 

Rhododendron 'Sappho' - white with purple - Blooming: May

This was so finished on June 1, but I think it works to show what it looks like. There are more photos at Appreciation: - Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden - the Parks Board 50.

 

Rhododendron 'George Watling' - white with pale primrose - Blooming: mid-May

I found an American Rhododendron Society plant registry entry for this:

This isn't exactly at the location of the marker, but it's sort of close - it's very close to the golf course fence, hard to get right up to. It looks just like the photo in the brochure. Yes on the iridescent glow. I don't know about the ribbed foliage, though I see a bit of that in the 2nd photo when I zoom in. Most of the ribbed foliage is on the blackberries.


[Edited May 13, 2021] I originally indicated this as blooming in June, but this year, May 13, 2021, there are a lot of flowers already on the ground. I figured out how to get up to the tree on the golf course, and there are also branches hanging over the outside of the fence. I understand now what was meant by the ribbed-foliage, as often on rhododendron leaves, the lateral veins are not prominent the way they are here. Anthers are yellow; stigma is green. I see that I caught it on May 4 before it had a lot of flowers open:

The rest of these are from May 13.

 

I am glad I have broad shoulders! Well done, Wendy Cutler, and all the best with your goal. As you say, it may take a few years, but it will be worthwhile. I will join in once in a while!

 

Rhododendron 'May Day' - red with red calyces - Blooming: May

Ron B has said that "'May Day' is a grex, with several clones having been circulated", and that it has a broader corolla than what I have posted as a contender for that name. This one is in the two locations marked on the map, has the coloured corolla and cinnamon brown indumentum on the leaf undersides. I have missed the best flowering - the first photos were taken at the end of April, the others in June.



This was taken in May a year ago.

 

Rhododendron ‘Cilpinense’ - pale bluish pink - Blooming: March

I see that RHS calls these Rhododendron Cilpinense Group. These just have buds so far, which is good, because the hairy leaves and stems are pretty cool. I was paying a lot of attention to this first group, not thinking I'd be able to identify them.

But then I found these where the R. 'Cilpinense' are supposed to be, preparing to bloom when they're supposed to.

 

Rhododendron ‘Cilpinense’ - pale bluish pink - Blooming: March, continued

These are blooming today. The first group are at the location of the last two photos above, the ones marked in the 50 Rhododendrons brochure.


The brochure mentions 22 specimens; it looks like three or so remain at the above location, but it also shows up in some other locations. In addition to the first ones in the posting above, which were at the north end of the Azalea path, today I saw this one at Ceperley Meadow.

 

Here is a section of my 12-year-old R. 'Cilpenense' - not as healthy as the one from the Ted & Mary Greig Garden - I'm going to cut it away back after it blooms to see if will become more compact.

 

Lots of flowers though. I've added a habit photo for the one in Ceperley Meadow. I think these are going to be my favourite, because of all the hairs, and also how easy it is to identify.

 

Rhododendron ‘Cilpinense’ - pale bluish pink - Blooming: March, continued

How many more photos of R. 'Cilpinense' am I allowed to post? Maybe I can stop now. This is the one I posted last, at Ceperley Meadow.

 

What a beauty! My Rhododendron 'Cilpenense' has now faded almost to white. It is one of the earliest in my garden and so much appreciated at this time of year.

 

Thanks, Margot. I didn't know it would do that.

 

Check for foliage mildew. If that is present and causing premature leaf drop cutting the shrub back will probably kill it. Because based on my own experience (with different kinds of rhododendrons than this) the mildew is likely to defoliate the replacement sprouts completely.

 

Rhododendron schlippenbachii - white with hint of pink - Blooming mid-April

I had given up on finding this, as I assumed early in the season would be March and it's almost the end of April. But there it was yesterday, unmistakable even for me. Actually, this is another one that I think I have learned well enough to remember.
There are lots of hairs on this.

 

It's charming. Nice images, Wendy.

 

Rhododendron 'Electra' - light purple with lime green blotch - Blooming end of April

RHS gives the name for this as Rhododendron augustinii Electra Group. This individual is at the northwest corner of the Park Board office building at the foot of Pendrell, not at the location on the map. [Edited] I see that R. augustinii is also on this list, see next posting. Maybe this looks just like that species at UBCBG because it is the species? Is there more yellow around the blotch here than on the species plant below? The plant I thought was 'Electra' at the location in the brochure doesn't seem to have hairs anywhere on the leaves, and I'm not finding anything indicating that its hairiness would differ from R. augustinii, so I'm not including that plant here.



May 4, 2021: This plant is at the location on the brochure. The flowers look similar to me to the ones above.

 

Rhododendron augustinii - light purple - Blooming end of April

The Electra Group augustinii hybrid description mentions the "distinctive flowering pattern, with each branch end holding four trusses of four flowers". It gets that characteristic from R. augustinii, does it not? The delicate branches that fork and then fork again are the case here as well. This plant is in the location as described in the brochure.

 

Rhododendron 'Mrs. Furnival' - pinky white flower with red centres with red blotch - Blooming end of April

This is in the location given in the brochure, near the top of the Camellia Path, but it's overshadowed by two red rhododendrons. This plant has flowers that are pink, except for the red centres, with the blotch being a single red colour.


To the left of this, and more prominently displayed, is what seems to be 'Mrs. G.W. Leak', with almost white flowers except for the red centres, and with a red blotch that is a darker almost purple colour at the centre. Nothing here indicates that this flowered before 'Mrs. Furnival', but if it did, that might explain the more white colouring. As it is, next to each other, they don't look that hard to distinguish.

 

Rhododendron 'Cunningham's White' - white flowers with yellow centres - Blooming end of April

I'm a little uncomfortable with the length of the leaves here, which are supposed to be only 10 cm. long, around twice the length of the diameter of the flowers. But it's where it's supposed to be, and otherwise appears to be a good match.