The Rhododendron Society of Canada, Niagara Region

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Rhododendron Society of Canada,
Niagara Region.

The Niagara Region

The Niagara Region is an extended community of 10 municipalities each making its unique economic and cultural contribution to the area. Tender fruit such as cherries, peaches, apricots and nectarines, the more hardy pears, plums of course, ubiquitous apples are a feature of the Region. Also grown in the area are Vinifera grapes, from which prize winning wines of the Vintners Quality Alliance are produced. Approximately 80 per cent of Canada's wine grapes are cultivated in the Niagara Peninsula. Niagara's grape industry has over 6500 hectares (16, 000 acres) of growing area and the wineries are connected through a Niagara wine route. This rural tranquility is complemented by the area's small town charm, sophisticated theatre, fine arts and excellent dining to reveal the breadth of cultural diversity and activity in the area.

We note that while the climate favours growing of tender fruit and vinifera below the escarpment, it is hostile to Rhododendrons and Azaleas. Nevertheless many growers successfully meet the challenge of this hostile environment.

Links to Public Rhododendron Gardens in the Niagara Region

Rhododendrons at Brock University
This garden was established be Mike Little during his tenure as Director of Physical Plant at Brock University. During this period, the estates of Al Smith, Sophia Maitland and Lyal Fretz donated significant numbers of Rhododendrons and Azaleas to Brock University to be used in ways determined by Mike Little. Photgraphs of the garden and of specimens in the garden will appear in these pages late in 2007.

Rudy Behring's St.Catharines Rhododendron Garden (Photos Pending July 2007)
In 1978 Rudy Behring, then a member of the Rhododendron Society of Canada, entered into an agreement with the St.Catharines Parks Department which allowed him exclusive rights to create, cultivate and use, for hybridizing and show purposes, a Rhododendron Garden in a waterfront location along Lake Ontario. Rudy Behring's account of the creation of this garden was reported in the Bulletin of the Rododendron Society of Canada. Reproduced here, Rudy Behring's article is available in the link shown above this note. The agreement was promulgated in the City of St.Catharines By-Law # 78-19.

Niagara College (New) Rhododendron Garden September 2006
In the late summer 2006, the Niagara region Chapter of the Rhododendron Society of Canada contributed $6,333 to Niagara College to support the creation of a test garden in the College's School of Horticulture. Jim Thomson, Horticulturalist and Manager of the College's Greenhouses coordinated the initiative between the College and the Society. Work was started in September 2006 by students in the program under the supervision of Professor Mike Hoekstra. Michelle Purchase, Landscape Designer and professor in the School of Horticulture designed the physical layout and provided the artistic concept and vision for the project. The design of the site includes a sophisticated watering/misting system which will be used during dry periods in spring and summer to irrigate the area. Plants to populate the site will be selected by a committee of individuals from the Niagara Region Chapter and the College. Progress reports and photographs will appear on these pages as the work progresses.

Niagara College (New) Rhododendron Garden January 2007
This page shows progress made on the site to approximately the middle of January 2007. Work had to stop at this stage because of the inclement winter weather.

Niagara College (New) Rhododendron Garden: Michelle Purchase's Vision for the Garden. (File size is 3mb, please be patient)
Michelle Purchase is a Landscape Architect and Professor at the Niagara College School of Horticulture where she teaches courses in Landscape Design. She obtained a Master's Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Guelph after studying Planning and Fine Arts at the University of Waterloo. Over the past 10 years she has worked in private consulting, executing designs for small private landscapes as well as for large public sites. Among her clients have been Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments, private developers, as well as individual homeowners. She specializes in landscape design and project planning associated with significant natural features including woodlands, valleylands and wetlands.

HRIO, now Guelph University Vineland Research Station, at Vineland Ontario
The first planting of rhododendrons at HRIO, Vineland, was executed by Bob Fleming in the early 1950s. Hybridizing of rhododendrons and azaleas started in the late 1950's with the work of Roy Forster. Ken Begg, a graduate of the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture was probably the plantsman who first identified the quality of a yellow seedling which was later named Vinecrest and released to the nursery trade. He was followed by Al Smith who produced a vast number of plants and who influenced a local enthusiast, Jack Looye in his hybridizing work. Al Smith was the primary force responsible for founding the Niagara Chapter of the Rhododendron Society of Canada.

Lyal Fretz: Gentleman, Fruit Grower, Rhododendron Grower and Hybridizer. Story forthcoming.

Fretz's Red #9
The photos in the link above are those of a seedling Lyal Fretz identified as Fretz #9. It was his selection from a cross of (Mars x America)

Lyal Fretz Memorial Garden: at the United Mennonite Home, 4024 23rd Street, Vineland Ontario. Photos to be available July 2007.
The United Mennonite Retirement Home in Vineland is built on the site of the original Fretz Fruit Farm. The home of the Late Lyal Fretz and Anna-Maye Fretz was located on this site. The original Fretz home has been replaced by the retirement home and associated driveway and walks. The azalea beds and a number of prize trees, such as the 20foot Shaggy Bark Maple, and most of the deciduous and evergreen azalea beds have been transplanted to Brock University. The original Rhododendron Garden with most of the original trees has been preserved. This garden may be found adjacent to 23rd St in front of the main building of the retirement home, in a plot at right angles from the street. Most of the original plants in that bed have been preserved and a collection of approximately 30 new varieties have been added to the area. The United Mennonite Home hopes to designate this garden as the Lyal Fretz Memorial Garden,

Joseph B. Brueckner - A Canadian Hybridizer

Joseph B. Brueckner Garden location in Mississauga

Rhododendrons & Azaleas in Niagara Park's Commission Botanical Gardens

The Niagara Parks Commission Botanical Gardens are the outdoor classroom for students in the Commission's School of Horticulture. The gardens include displays of thousands of roses, annuals and perennials, organized in spectacular beds with original and classic designs that are visually delightful and conducive to stimulating ideas that the viewer may try at home. A herb garden contains ornamental herbs, edible flowers, a collection of poisonous plants and everlastings. A vegetable display garden produces bountiful crops. There are a number of natural ponds that attract wild ducks, geese, frogs, are a home to fish and contain interesting water specimens such as Water Lettuce, Taro and Umbrella Sedge. The arboretum, located to the northeast of the Butterfly Conservatory contains a fine collection of native and exotic tree. A good number of rhododendrons are located in this area. Plans are currently being made to increase, in spring 2007, the number of rhododendron genera in the arboretum.
SOURCE: Text by Ann Marie Van Nest, Photographs by Dwayne Coon, Niagara in Bloom: The Gardens of the Niagara Parks Commission. James Lorimer & Company. Toronto, 2002.

Links to Private Rhododendron Gardens in the Niagara Region: May Be Visited by Appointment Only

Dave Hinton's Rhododendron Woods in Orono, near HWY 401 & HWY 35 en-route to Peterborough

The (former) Hansen Gardens in Mississauga
The (former) Hansen Gardens were the creation of the late Ralph and Carol Hansen. They took their love of flowers, shrubs and trees to extraordinary heights by developing a 35 acre treed plot into an exciting woodland paradise. Among the trees, Ralph and Carol planted hundreds of Rhododendrons and Azaleas, each sited to use the right amount of sunlight required for efficient growth and flower production. Paths were constructed that afforded ever changing vistas and discoveries around every turn. Perennial beds would be found in the most unexpected places. The interior of a foundation of a former, now demolished, barn provided a protected microclimate for plants that would otherwise not do well in the upland area of the northern reaches of Mississauga. A one acre natural pond had a floating island of flowering aquatics and a massive fountain that aerated the water. This large natural pond provided water to an irrigation system that would be the envy of any determined grower. The Hansens, in the 20 years following retirement, together worked to develop and maintain the landscape. The property was maintained as a controlled natural habitat, but was remarkably weed free. Native plants, shrubs and trees were not allowed to take over the perennial beds or the carefully introduced flowering shrubs. With the ever changing bloom, the gardens could be enjoyed in any season. Ralph, an engineer, was adept at using heavy power equipment and Carol was a willing partner in the seemingly impossible task of maintaining and developing the property. The beauty of the property was at its zenith for tours conducted during the 1998 National Convention of the American Rhododendron Society, held at Niagara Falls, Ontario. Alas, Ralph died suddenly early in the new century and Carol passed away soon after. The property lay untended for a couple of years until it was purchased in 2006 by Patrick and Martina Skuce. They invited members of the Niagara Chapter of the Rhododendron Society of Canada to visit the property to comment on the state of the Rhododendrons and Azaleas. Although there was evidence of invasiveness of plant materials which had been well controlled by the Hansens, the gardens appeared to be in very fine shape in the late summer of 2006. There was no evidence of chlorosis, no evident insect invasion and no sign of damage following the hot dry summer of 2006. Some trees had increased in size. Their size and spread suggested to the Skuces that judicious pruning was in order. Patrick and Martina show a great deal of respect for the work of the Hansens and are hoping to enjoy and develop the property within the context of the heritage left by the Hansens.

The Little's in Fonthill

Jack Looyes Garden

Wanda and Nick Yarmoshuk's Garden