Rhododendron Heaven; A Hunts Point Garden Showcases Color, Variety And Good Breeding

DR. NED BROCKENBROUGH is still waiting for the rhododendron he will name after his wife, hoping to breed a plant better than any he has created so far.

The census to date is eight hybrids bred, named and introduced from Brockenbrough's Hunts Point garden, including the yellow `Nancy Evans' and the pink `Bambino' donated to Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center for fund-raising.

The count could be greater, but Brockenbrough's standards are high. "He's burned stuff other people would have put in commerce," says Ned Wells, owner of Wells-Medina Nursery.

While Northwest gardeners have long claimed rhododendrons as their own, and adopted our native R. macrophyllum as the state flower of Washington, rhodies have a long international history. The Greek word rhododendron means "rose tree," and dates back to Dioscorides; Linnaeus included rhododendrons in his first edition of "Species Plantarum," completed in 1753.

The genus Rhododendron includes a thousand species native to habitats around the world. Many thousands more hybrids have been bred from crossing cultivars and species. It is mostly these familiar hybrids that signal springtime in our gardens, blooming their heads off in cascades of pink, white, peach, red and yellow from January through June.

In a game where geneticists, horticulturists and hobbyists compete to breed plants with new and outstanding characteristics, dozens of rhododendrons are named and introduced to the nursery trade each year. Breeders seek an array of new and distinctive characteristics - disease resistance, exceptional hardiness, fancy colors, large or unusually-shaped flower trusses, compact form, interesting foliage or long bloom time - and gardeners wind up with a near-bewildering choice of plants.

As Brockenbrough tells the story, it seems circumstances conspired to introduce him to his avocation. After completing surgical training at the University of Washington, Brockenbrough bought property on Hunts Point from a member of the American Rhododendron Society who left behind not only mature rhodies, some from the 1930s and '40s, but his library of plant books as well.

Fate then crossed his path twice. Brockenbrough met his wife, Jean, through the society and, if that weren't quite enough to nudge destiny, it turned out her father had raised rhododendrons for years. By the mid-1960s, Brockenbrough had built a greenhouse and begun crossing plants. He later trekked in Sikkim (now part of India) to see rhododendrons growing in the wild, and has tended his own large garden for more than 35 years.

Breeding garden-worthy new plants is a long and painstaking process; Brockenbrough hopes this year to name some of the rhodies he crossed as long as 15 to 20 years ago.

When he first began to breed rhododendrons, he worked with the lovely, compact R. yakushimanum in an attempt to breed rhodies with more attractive foliage. Native to Japan, Yaks are known for the beauty of their foliage even more than their flowers, with the undersides of each leaf coated in coppery, felt-like indementum. Disappointed that the flowers of his first-generation crosses faded to white, he began to work on second-generation crosses, and ended up down the line breeding one of the early yellows, a cross between `Hotei' and `Lem's Cameo.'

When Gov. Dan Evans left Olympia, mutual friends wanted to do something nice for his wife, Nancy. So Brockenbrough named his new, strikingly yellow rhododendron for her and presented it at a ceremony at the governor's mansion.

Many `Nancy Evans' now bloom at the Evans' Seattle home each spring and Brockenbrough has gone on to breed numerous `Nancy Evans' progeny, working toward a yellow with a larger flower. He also has introduced a whole line of `Horizon' hybrids; `Snowbird' is white, `Dawn' a clear yellow and `Lakeside' a light yellow with a red flare.

What is the ideal Brockenbrough seeks in a rhododendron, the lure that keeps him working at it?

He looks for rhododendrons that don't get too big, are easy to grow, and he especially enjoys pastels and blends of different shades, with a darker flare or blotch in the center that sets off the flower color. He still likes yellow, in part because it is a fairly rare color among species rhodies and a challenge to breed.

The breeding process, from first making a cross to having it reach the market as a new, named variety, is arduous. It takes from five to seven years for a plant simply to bloom, giving a breeder an idea of what has been accomplished. Brockenbrough likes to bloom the plant for at least five years, explaining that some faults don't show up right away.

He weeds out plants that suffer cold damage, bloom irregularly or open flowers in the fall that are sure to be frozen over the winter. He grows plants for a few years in full sun to see if the foliage scorches. A Sedro Woolley nurseryman tests the new rhodies out in the field to see how they perform under the harshest conditions. This way, the public gets to see the plants and offer feedback. "There may be a plant I like that the average gardener wouldn't," says Brockenbrough. He carefully considers all these factors before deciding whether to name and introduce a rhododendron.

In order to then sell a rhododendron, it must be registered with the international rhododendron registrar. A complete description and proposed name is submitted, and if the plant is acceptable, the breeder receives a certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society in England.

"There is no financial incentive," explains Brockenbrough. "You have to love doing it."

He has raised hundreds of seedlings and only a few have proved to be garden-worthy - a process he cheerfully describes as six to seven years of anticipation and only one day of disappointment.

Brockenbrough now devotes his time to breeding tetraploids, which have double the number of chromosomes found in most plants or animals. Here the physician meets the hybridizer, as Brockenbrough explains that colchicine, a drug used for gout, induces this tetraploid condition in rhododendrons when it is applied during the process of micropropagation. (Interestingly, the drug colchicine is derived from the fall crocus.) Tetraploids have proved to have many desirable characteristics; they are sturdier, tougher plants with vigorous growth, thicker foliage and long-blooming flowers.

In his lakeside garden, Brockenbrough grows hundreds of rhododendrons. The long driveway is lined with mature specimens, some dating from long before he bought the place. Ferns, maples, hostas, lily-of-the-valley and spring bloomers like trillium, snowdrops and anemones mingle with the stars of the show, the large flowered hybrids.

Despite being surrounded by beauties of his own creation, when asked which rhodie is his favorite, Brockenbrough replies as most gardeners would:

He likes best whatever is in bloom at the moment.

Valerie Easton is a horticultural librarian and writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com Greg Gilbert is a Seattle Times staff photographer.