Community Corner
TOUR AN OUTSTANDING RHODODENDRON GARDEN IN APTOS
On Sunday, May 4, at 1 PM, the Monterey Bay
Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society will feature a tour of the Monte
Toyon Garden of Maury and Fran Sumner, located at the Monte Toyon Camp and
Conference Center, 220 Cloister Lane, Aptos. From the parking lot, please
walk uphill to the Observation Platform of Rhododendron Garden.
The tour will be led by Mike McCullough,
who knew the Sumners from 1975 until they died.
The Sumners lived in San Francisco, but in
order to test and display their hybrids such as the Maddenii Series
rhododendrons My Lady, My Guy, Mi Amor, Saffron Prince, Martha Wright and Owen
Pierce; and to grow other rhododendrons, in the 1950s they established the
three acre Monte Toyon Rhododendron Garden in Aptos.
Find out what's happening in Santa Cruzwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Information on Maurie and Fran Sumner can
be found at:
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JARS/v47n4/v47n4-morebeck.htm
Find out what's happening in Santa Cruzwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
During the tour it is likely that we
will be able to see the Sumner Maddenii Series hybrids Mi Amor, My Guy, and the
unnamed R. burmanicum x R. dalhousiae should be in bloom as well as their
elepidote hybrid Katherine Tice and some of their unnamed hybrids, as well as
rhododendrons such as such as the Maddenii Series species R. supranubium, the
Maddenii Series hybrids like Roy Hudson and Tyermanii; elepidote species like
R. yakushimanum, the elepidote hybrids like Lem’s Cameo and Red Olympia; and a
row of deciduous azaleas including Cecile, Orange Aide, and Ilam Red.
Maddenii Series rhododendron species range
from the Himalayan forests South to Burma and Thailand, and up to
Vietnam. Many species and hybrids have fragrant flowers, make superb
container plants, and many were hybridized in California.
There
is no charge for admission.