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

"Several clones exist".

Hybrid Rhododendron Plant Description

 

Rhododendron 'Professor Hugo de Vries' - magenta-mauve with white - Blooms end April

Well, everything that comes up on a query for this name looks totally different from every other thing that comes up on a query. Seriously, look what comes up:

This is in the brochure, but I can't find it on the map. This individual is across the parking lot from the Park Board Office on Beach Avenue. The design of the colouring matches the photo in the brochure and the colour is pretty close.

 

Rhododendron fortunei hybrid - white flowers - Blooms end April

These three large plants are where the marker in the brochure shows them. I seem to have caught them before they had many flowers open, a week ago,

and then when they were past their prime yesterday. The contorted new leaf bundles in the last photo seem unusual.

 

Rhododendron 'Beauty of Littleworth' - white flowers - Blooms end of April

Here's another that is as where it's supposed to be and is as described.
This first group was photographed as the flowers were opening on April 22.


Today, April 30, they're fully open, peak bloom.

 

Rhododendron Mrs. A.T. de la Mare - white flowers - Blooms early May

These are two rather delicate-looking shrubs, one each side of the path into the park from Comox, the one to the south set back from the path, both very shaded. The brochure marker is at this location, and the colouring is as described.

 

Rhododendron 'Baden Baden' - red flowers - Blooms late April

This is where the marker indicates, to the left of the entrance to the pitch and putt golf course. I didn't notice darker centres, but it's otherwise as described.

 

Rhododendron 'Yellow Hammer' - very small yellow flowers - Blooms late April

This is on the magnolia path, near the top. Once I looked them up and got the idea about the narrow tubular shape, I was surprised to see that I had photographed them. There are two shrubs spaced a bit, with their bases together.

 

Rhododendron 'Crest' - large yellow flowers - Blooming end of April

This is where the marker shows it, quite near the service entrance to the pitch and putt golf course. I see the colour described elsewhere as primrose yellow, which seems apt. The shiny leaves and red markings in the centre of the flower seem distinctive.

 

Rhododendron 'The Honorable Jean Marie de Montague' - red flowers - Blooms on Mother's day (early May) (revised)

This is a totally revised second attempt. The shrub to which I gave this name originally is now called Taurus, and you can see its photos at Identification: - Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden including some unknowns for ID. This time, I am sticking with the program and showing the red flowered plant that is growing where the marker indicates. To me, the flower colour and petals edges look nothing like the photos I see online. But I didn't do so well matching those things. What this has going for it are what's described at Rhododendron 'The Honourable Jean Marie de Montague' | Landscape Plants | Oregon State University as leaves that are "often not flat but V-shaped". And the blooming time is more appropriate, as these flowers are just opening.


[Edited May 13, 2021] Here are two more photos from this individual. The stamens and pistil seem to be the appropriate colour as well.


Not more than a half block to the north, past the Magnolia Path, on the lawn side of the R. 'Sappho' is another planting that I think is the same. It's in full bloom and looks a little more convincing to me. The last one that looks such a different colour in the photo is the same plant; some of the photos came out that colour.

Around back of these is a scrawny shaded plant that I think is the same, with new leaves.

 

Rhododendron 'Naomi Nautilus' - peach and cream flowers - Blooms early May

Some more details from Naomi Nautilus | Singing Tree Gardens Nursery (singtree.com): "The foliage is somewhat rounded on the ends, is an attractive medium green, and has purple leaf petioles, making it one of the most attractive rhododendrons ever produced. The large rounded shrub blooms in April/May with light pink flowers with a kiss of yellow, creating a soft glow. The flowers are also quite fragrant."

This is at the service yard road to the golf course on the bike path, where the marker indicates [edited after re-checking]. It looked pretty peachy with the kiss of yellow, has leaves with rounded ends, and I do see some purplish petioles.

 

Rhododendron 'Susan' - lavender flowers - Blooms early May

These are growing where indicated in the brochure, near the heronry and several other rhododendrons and a cherry I never noticed before this year, though it's not new. These look less like azalea flowers than it would seem in these photos - they're around 9cm across. Boy, I've done all these postings and have just learned the term "macula" for the blotch, which is purple on these. I'm still looking for a description of the rhododendron parts.
Leaves are shiny.

 

Rhododendron 'President Roosevelt' - flowers white edged with purple - Blooms early May

I saw this on May 1, thought it matched the blossom photo of 'President Roosevelt' exactly ("picotee" refers to light flowers edged in a dark colour), but I told myself it should not be, because the leaves on that are supposed to be variegated.
It's pretty much where that cultivar is supposed to be. Well, today I found a tag on it! It's the first tag I've found. I'm hoping someone who is reading this thread is going around now putting tags on the ones I haven't posted yet. :)
So I guess the leaves have reverted to a solid colour. Or maybe new ones will come in variegated?

 

Rhododendron 'Unique' - white flowers - Blooming late April

I've been following this for over two weeks. I think I've been reluctant to name it because the description here fits pretty much every white flowering rhododendron, and the location of the marker is a little approximate, with a lot of white rhododendrons around. I found the page at Rhododendron 'Unique' | Landscape Plants | Oregon State University mostly helpful, particularly the detail about the red stigma, and the leaf photos.
These photos are from April 16. I actually think the first photo was taken from the same spot as the one in the brochure.

On the other side of the Azalea Path, also on the bike path, is what looks the same to me, but with much creamier-coloured flowers and with more flowers open. Is this also 'Unique'?


I'm confused about the location of my other photos that I think are the same cultivar. Here is one individual on April 22. The third photo was taken to contrast the colour with the white paper.


And this might be a third location taken on May 1, all of them near the Azalea Path.

 

Rhododendron Moonstone Group - white or cream coloured flowers - Blooming late April

I started to do this last night, then something made me think I had it wrong and I should check again if there's one at the brochure location. No, for the fifth time, there still is not one at the brochure location. But there are very many of these in this garden. All of the ones I'm posting have bronze new leaves now, and they have hairs on the pedicels and on the new leaves and their petioles. Now that I see that it's designated as Moonstone Group and not a cultivar, I'm wondering how much these can vary. Are these all (any of them?) Moonstone Group?

These photos are from April 28, on the path down from Pooh Corner Daycare.

Same day and location, but white flowers.


April 30, on the path into the park from Nelson St.


May 3, near the 'Susan', near the heronry on Stanley Park Drive.


May 4, on the Magnolia Path.

 

And I have visions of Christopher Robin with all his friends amongst the beautiful flowers. Of course with T i g g e r bouncing up and down between each Rhododendron....lol.
What a wonderful place and name Wendy. Lots of smiles this side of the pond whilst having a coffee. Thankyou.

 

Rhododendron 'May Day' - red with red calyces - Blooming: May (additional photos for posting #11)

This year I caught these shrubs in bloom. These photos are from the Magnolia path location on the brochure map.

 

Rhododendron smirnowii - deep purple-pink - Blooming mid-May

This looks similar to what I'm seeing on the internet and it's where the marker indicates. Species Rhododendron Plant Description describes the indumentum as "pale fawn to pale brown". Rhododendron smirnowii - Smirnow’s rhododendron | Arboretum Mustila says "The new leaves and shoots are covered in silvery-white felt." and "At Mustila, as in the wild, it has shown itself variable. In some individuals the indumentum is white, in others reddish brown or greyish."

 

Rhododendron 'Sappho' - white with purple - Blooming: May (additional photos for posting #8)

This is a more interesting planting than I had realized last year. The R. 'Sappho' is nestled in between two plants that I original took to be it, and I do see one posting on Flickr calling the other plant 'Sappho', but the other plant is much more purple with larger flowers that have frillier edges. The trunk and leaves - new and old - look alike to me. Searches for purple sappho have brought up 'Blue Peter' that looks like this other one, so that's what I've called it.

Here is R. 'Sappho' in the centre surrounded by R. 'Blue Peter'.


'Sappho'


Here are the two together.


And these are (what I've guessed are) 'Blue Peter'.

 

Rhododendron 'Haydn' - pale lavender-coloured flowers - Blooms mid-May

I have a couple of problems here, not the least of which is that R. 'Haydn' doesn't seem to really exist, except in the Park Board document (this seems clearly to not be 'Joseph Haydn' and there are no descriptions or photos that I can find to check). The other is the bit about hairless leaves, which these are not. Other than that, it's where the marker is, the flowers look like the one in the document, and the plant looks like the supposed look-alike 'Palestrina'. There is also quite a lot of it, at the bottom of the Magnolia Path and around the corner over to the seating area at the Davidia. I found the purple anthers to be a nice touch.

 

Rhododendron 'Palestrina' - white flowers - Blooms late-mid May

Well, the look-alike R. 'Haydn' is in full bloom, and this has three flowers open total. At this point, May 12, they are not so hard to distinguish. I think the older leaves on 'Palestrina' are darker than on 'Haydn'. This is where the marker indicates, a little before 'Haydn' as you approach the end of the Magnolia Path. They are in the same area, but not right next to each other. Around the corner, there is one small 'Palestrina' shrub mixed in with some 'Haydn'. I will add blossom photos to this posting by next week.

[Edited on May 15, 2021]While I've been waiting for these to open, now that I've got the idea, it occurs to me that this is not the exact spot as described, as it's not next to the 'Haydn' "in a small massing". Around the corner, on the bike path, there are two locations where the two are together. Here are 'Palestrina' on the left and 'Haydn' on the right; in the second photo, 'Palestrina' is in front. The third and fourth photos are 'Palestrina'. You can see 'Haydn' in the posting just before this.


Here is the larger 'Palestrina' planting, on the Magnolia Path, just starting to open. What I find so odd about the leaves, evident in the last three photos, is the whorl of smaller dark leaves with a rounded tip, below the new larger leaves with a pointed tip. I don't even understand - as soon as it decides to form a bud in the fall, it puts out this whorl of special leaves? I'm not seeing this on 'Haydn'.

 

Rhododendron 'Whitney's Orange' - coral-pink-orange flowers - Blooms mid-May

This does give the impression of a strong deep orange, and the flower buds look orange with red tips, but the colours on the front seem to be everything but orange. Still, it's where the marker is, and my photos look like the one in the document. Photos are from May 11, not in sun, and today an hour earlier. I guess today's habit photo looks orange.


And four days later.

 

Rhododendron occidentale - white or pink with peach and yellow flowers - Blooms mid-May

This looks a lot like the very many hybrid Exbury azaleas along the Azalea Path (you can see them at Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden including some unknowns for ID), so it helped to find this where the marker indicated, close to the Magnolia Path but hidden from it. This species has been used to create some of those hybrids, so it's not surprising that they seem similar, but this is very much less hairy than those hybrid azaleas.


This one is along the bike path north of the Azalea Path.

 

Rhododendron 'Point Defiance' - White flowers with purple petal edges - Blooms mid-May

There are not many flowers on this, at least facing the path, and I didn't notice many buds, but the flowers look fresh. This is near the top of the Magnolia Path, where the marker indicates.

[Edited]: Here are some more photos from the next day. There are six or seven flower clusters, and it doesn't appear that there are any more buds. These clusters do seem to the be size of basketballs. Slight exaggeration. I remembered to take a habit photo, but there isn't any clear view of it.



[Edited]Here is another individual, at Ceperley Meadow next to a Magnolia tripetala and near a Taxodium distichum. There are just a few aging flowers on this, pure white as described, with pedicels and calyx bright red. In the photo before the last, you can see the red has started to develop.

 

Rhododendron 'Naomi Hope' - pink flowers - Blooms early May

I feel even less confident of this than the others, as I can find nothing at all about it on the internet, including when it's supposed to bloom. I did find one photo at Rhododendron Naomi (AM form) - Buy Naomi Rhododendrons Online - Millais Nurseries; the flowers look sort of similar and the stigma is green, as it is here.
I don't think I noticed a fragrance. Now I can't remember if photo opportunities were limited on May 3 because it wasn't open or if it was already finished. It was definitely finished on May 11. This is in the area where the marker is, the trusses seem to be about the right size, and the flowers look similar to 'Naomi Nautilus'.
May 3:

May 11:

 

Rhododendron ambiguum - pale yellow flowers - Blooms mid-May

I saw this at UBCBG two days ago, so I knew what I was looking for, but almost missed seeing it both times. The flowers are maybe 3cm in diameter and seem to be easy to miss. It's just across from the bamboo grove, on the side closest to the nearest path.



[Edited]After forgetting three times, I finally remembered to smell the leaves today, on a different individual toward the south end of the Azalea Walk. Yes, they're quite aromatic.