When I spotted the small ad in the local paper inviting the public to the Monte Toyon Rhododendron Gardens of Maurie and Fran Sumner, I imagined this would be at an exquisitely landscaped private residence of an elderly couple whose delicate blossoms cultivated over their many years together would be shared with other flower lovers.
Not so. The gardens are located in a redwooded campground/retreat center deep inside a windy canyon in Aptos and approached by foot after a healthy hike up a wildflower-strewn mountain path. I’d worn the wrong shoes, of course.
On the observation deck, I found Mike McCullough, the host of our tour and Program Chairman of the Monterey Bay Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society, discussing the characteristics of a certain rhododendron hybrid with another chapter member.
- Mike McCullough and author, Viktoria Vidali
It was all Greek to me. Actually, during our tour I was a little hesitant about interrupting Mike’s discourse to pose a question I’d carried around in my mind for some time:
Is an azalea a kind of rhododendron?
[To lessen his anticipated shock, I'd buffered my query with the introductory phrase: “I have a novice question to ask....”]
Mike explained that the X number of species of rhododendrons (the taxonomists differ as to the number of species) are broken down into groups of related species which are called series. A series is a family of rhododendron species, and there are approximately 40 series, of which azalea is one.
Native of the Himalayas, swamps of the Carolinas, jungles of Borneo, islands of Japan, the rhododendron boasts 1025 species, with the azalea being one of them.
So who are the Sumners? Regional rhododendron hybridists par excellence after whom the garden was named.
Two of the leading rhododendron hybridizers Maurie and Fran Sumner, hybridized many hybrids such as Fran Sumner (Seta x R. johnstoneanum), Irene Tice (Muriel Pearce x IMS), Katherine Tice (Muriel Pearce x IMS), Little Lou (Lucy Lou x R. valentinianum), Martha Wright (R. burmanicum x Fragrantissimum), Maurie Sumner (Seta x R. spinuliferum), Mi Amor (R. lindleyi x R. nuttallii), My Guy (Owen Pearce x Mi Amor), My Lady (Fosterianum selfed), Owen Pearce (Saffron Queen x R. burmanicum), Saffron Prince (Saffron Queen x R burmanicum Cox form), and Spanish Glory (R. elliottii x Fabia).
Maurie and Fran Sumner lived in San Francisco, but in order to test and display their hybrids, and to grow other rhododendrons, in the 1950s they established the three acre Monte Toyon Rhododendron Garden in Aptos.*
As the experts exchanged local rhody news before the next tour, I wandered off to take photos and got lost in the beauty of the blossoms.
This week’s image ~ above right ~ Sumner hybrid: My Guy, a cross of Owen Pearce x Mi Amor (a cross between a yellow and a white).
* Excerpted from the May 8, 2010 newsletter of the Monterey Bay Chapter. Please contact Mike McCullough to sign up.
An excellent rhododendron reference is Jane Brown’s Tale of the Rose Tree: Ravishing Rhododendrons And Their Travels Around The World.
An outstanding book on azaleas is Azaleas by Fred Galle. A highly regarded book on azalea species is volume 4 of Rhododendron Species by H. H. Davidian.
