Selecting for Late Blooming Deciduous Azalea: Ed Reekie

Selecting for Late Blooming Deciduous Azaleas
In Nova Scotia, deciduous azaleas put on a spectacular floral display in spring, but we have a much smaller selection of cultivars available in our area that bloom during the summer. There are several deciduous azaleas species native to south eastern North America that flower during the summer or fall. Several selections have been developed using these species that are well adapted to Nova Scotia. These cultivars, although lovely in themselves, lack the large flower & truss size found in our spring blooming cultivars and have not achieved the same popularity as their spring blooming cousins. In this talk, I will discuss some of the obstacles involved in developing late flowering deciduous azaleas with the spectacular floral traits of our spring blooming azaleas. I will also outline the approach I am taking to try and overcome these obstacles.

Bio
Ed Reekie has a B.Sc. in Agriculture and a M.Sc. in Plant Ecology from the University of Saskatchewan, and a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Illinois. He taught and conducted research in the Biology Department at Acadia University from 1985 till his retirement in 2013. Research interests at Acadia included plant reproductive ecology, the response of plants to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, and the factors limiting rare and endangered plants in Nova Scotia. Although he has been growing Rhododendrons in his garden for a number of years, his interest in Rhododendron breeding is a recently developed passion.