 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Niagara Region.
History
From left to right:
Weldon Delp, David Leach and Al
Smith in David Leach's research gardens in Pennsylvania.
|
Niagara Region. History
From left to right:
|
| Al Smith is considered to be the founder
of the Rhododendron Society of Canada, Niagara Region. Together with then
growers Sophia and Irvine Maitland, Lyall Fretz, Wayne Funk, Lyall Crober,
Arthur Oslach, and other like minded individuals, Al Smith provided the
leadership to organize the local chapter of the Rhododendron Society of
Canada. He did this at a meeting of some 25 people, held in the Fall of
1974, at the Horticultural Research Institute of Ontario (HRIO) in Vineland
Ontario, then a horticultural research station operated under the aegis
of the Ontario Ministry of Ontario.
Work on hybridizing rhododendrons and azaleas was started at Vineland some twenty-five years before Al Smith arrived on the scene at Vineland. In 1974 Al Smith was employed at the HRIO as an rhododendron and azalea hybridizer and as an expert in the propagation and growing conditions of rhododendrons. He continued the fine work of Roy Forster, Bob Fleming and Ken Begg. Al Smith maintained contacts with hybridizers throughout North American, Europe and Asia and was significantly influenced in his thinking about hybridizing and growing rhododendrons by David leach and Weldon Delp. The result was that many new and interesting selections found their place in the Horticultural Research Institute landscape.
Fretz Red #9. Aa cultivar developed, grown and selected by Lyall Fretz, Vineland, Ontario
Rhododendron
Society of Canada, Niagara Region.
|
The
gain in popularity of rhododendrons and azaleas in the Niagara Peninsula
can be attributed substantially to the efforts of Forster, Begg and Smith.
Examples of their work will be found on various pages of this WWW site.
