Kristian Theqvist, Finland, zone 5a
Notes:
*1. R. brachycarpum ssp. tigerstedtii: Controlled pollination at Arboretum
Mustila between several original plants Dr. C. G. Tigerstedt grew from
seed collected in 1930 in North Korea, Mt. Pungsan, 1200 m altitude.
(Please note that this is the "real thing" described by Nitzelius as
ssp. tigerstedtii, whereas some of the "spp./var./Group tigerstedtii"
around the world appears to have questionable smirnowii-type features.
These often very hardy hybrids probably descend from seed
open-pollinated by hardy Seidel smirnowii hybrids at Arboretum Mustila.)
Based on the Pollen-to-Seed Program Mr. Theqvist ordered
pollen from RSF and formed a small hybridizer team in Finland. The two other
hybridizers in addition to Mr. Theqvist were Osmo Jussila from
Naantali and Jaakko Saarinen from Arboretum Mustila.
To optimize the amount of
seed they made R. brachycarpum ssp. tigerstedtii crosses with two separate
plants, one at Naantali and another at Arboretum Mustila. The seed batches were
merged before sending to ARS.
The main aim
in the hybridization program was to to get hardy big-leaf plants by using the
super hardy R. brachycarpum ssp. tigerstedtii and hardy proven Finnish hybrids
as seed parent and pollen from big-leaf Rhododendron species. In addition there
were side goals for yellow flowers, late flowering and good indumentum.
So far he has
seen a couple of good results when crossing big-leaved not-so-hardy species
with the super hardy R. brachycarpum ssp. tigerstedtii.
Mr. Theqvist was
a bit hesitant in giving his two mix-up batches (lot #'s 385 & 386) on
the list as these things should not happen. However, he felt that the
cross is interesting with either R. arizelum or R. sinofalconeri and the
resulting plants may tell which one of the two possibilities was the actual
pollen giving species. He has R. brachycarpum ssp. tierstedtii x R. rex (a
cross by Kaarel Voitk) and in Sweden he has seen a nice cross with R.
macabeanum.
Links
for further information:
Mr. Theqvist's seed list for ARS 2008 Seed Exchange @: http://www.rhodogarden.com/ARS/Seed_X_2007.html
Breeding
Hardy Rhododendrons in Finland @: http://www.rhodogarden.com/cross/elepidotes.html
The Finnish Rhododendron Club @: http://www.dendrologianseura.fi/rhodokerho/club.html
Arboretum
Mustila @: http://www.mustila.com/index2.htm
Kristian Theqvist's web site:
www.rhodogarden.com