B4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 29,1982
Hybridist at Verde Vista
(Continued from Page B 2)
"I’ve never been satisfied; I've
always wanted to make them
better,” the hybridizer admits of
his intense, never-ending search
for improved seedlings
Among his goals is the breeding
ol a yellow evergreen azalea, and
the developing of selected azaleas
as houseplants Smith would also
like to continue increasing the hues
in the color range, and add
fragrance to this largely non
fragrant species.
••I’ve created some monsters’
already,” he chuckles. “Then I
have to go back to a certain point in
the crosses and start over.”
But you can’t hurry the maturing
tune of plants, although one season
can be gamed by using the
greenhouse.
“Time is so precious,” Smith
sighs. "And there is still so much to
be done.”
His years of careful obervation
and volumes of written records
have led him to develop some
theories on genetics. Smith
believes that the female parent of
hybrid crosses has greater in
fluence on the overall plant habit,
while the male genetic material
lends more to the bloom character
Heavy emphasis is placed on
winter hardiness. Smith has ob
served that his early blooming
varieties aren’t disturbed by un
seasonably cold weather in early
fall, because new growth has had
time to mature and harden. But
late winter warm spells will break
their bud dormancy, and the bud
may blast. Later bloomers, on the
other hand, aren’t as readily af
fected by February warm spells,
but are more susceptible to mid
fall heavy freezes.
Smith’s love tor these plants,
each one a “child” of his creation,
is the moving force of the
widower’s active life. He does
some writing and lecturing, and
still attends various rhododendron
related functions
Although a rhododendron
breeder for 25 years before he
belonged to any organized group,
he’s now a member of four
Rhododendron Societies, and
recently started a chapter in the
York area Smith is a fellow in the
celebrated Royal Horticultural
Society based in England and a
member of the Brooklyn Botanic
Gardens where his expertise is
sometimes sought
In all of his years ot growing
rhododendrons, Smith says he has
never seen a winter as harsh as
was this past one One day
especially is imprinted in his
memory, when the temperature
was extremely cold, and the wind
chill was a reported minus-SO
degrees He shutters when
remembering that the snow blew
parallel, first from one direction,
then tapidly shilling und coming
the opposite way.
Although Smith’s Eden and
Susquehanna Valley hybrids are
selected to withstand severe
temperatures, he admits that day
was a low point of his career.
"It was most discouraging. 1
thought I’d lost everything. The
leaves were all curled and some
looked black,” he says of the near
disaster. Many of his specimens
are still one-of-a-kind, and almost
a half-century of work hung in the
balance. spring planting giving organic
Although a few plants suffered materials tune to decompose,
severe damage, and others had Good drainage is essential, since
some leaf burn and blasted buds, the rhododendron species are fair
the bulk of the specimens jy shallow-rooted and can drown
withstood the Arctic blasts well It with overwatering in heavy, clay
was a sort of ultimate test that solls . But several of Smith’s giant
Smith philsophically figures oW plants plus m
"separated the sheep from the seedling beds, thrive in a several
g0 D. ‘. . . . lnch d «iP layer of the soil mix
Plants at Verde Vista get no spread over an old clay lennls
coddling, and Smith avoids court on the property
spraying or feeding Moreim- If gardeners have rhododendron
portant, he believes, is to prepare or azalea plants that show signs ot
the soil well at the original planting yeJJowll) g f Smlth recommends
tune, working in quantities ol peat watering them with a solution ol
moss, perhaps some perlite, and weak tea. weak epsom salts water,
cottonseed meal tor nitrogen. He or on med cot[ee and lea ’
recommends that beds be grounds to help correct soil
prepared in the tall, and left for
f
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Walking on the paths through his
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would understand the im
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