The Cupertino Courier
Cover Story
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Charlotte Pannell is kept company by her dog, Rosie, as she waters a rhododendron called 'Karen' in her yard in Cupertino. Next spring, the rhododendrons will be in full bloom from March to May.
Lush Beauty
Charlotte Pannell and others say nothing compares to the lovely rhododendrun
By Anne Ward Ernst
For Charlotte Pannell, the decision to grow rhododendrons in her Cupertino garden was seeded in her upbringing. She's been around them her entire life. Her parents grew them in the yard of her childhood home, and they were co-founders of the DeAnza Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society.
Two years ago, at 41, Pannell became a member of the club herself.
When her father died, she inherited his rhododendrons and includes them among 40 that grow in her garden. One in particular is a personal favorite.
It is one of the hybrids her father developed and, to help carry on her father's dream, she is working through the process of propagating and officially naming and registering it with the international organization.
"I am naming it Jerry's Dream," she says.
"It has one of the most wonderful fragrances, sort of in a funky strong way."
She is drawn to many plants because of their scent and says she buys roses based on their aroma, not on the look of the blossom.
Cuttings and starter plants in Styrofoam cups covered with plastic bags line shelves in a bathroom off her kitchen. They aren't only rhododendrons, but rhododendrons are clearly a passion of Pannell's.
Pannell learned a lot from her parents. They owned five acres in the Santa Cruz mountains where they propagated rhododendrons and sold cuttings and seeds wholesale.
Some of her fondest childhood memories are of scooping out potting mix from her father's wheelbarrow and patting it gently around her houseplants.
Growing rhododendrons helps her feel closer to her parents, and being part of the American Rhododendron Society helps her continue to learn about the plant, she says.
Established in 1978, the local club's region includes the Peninsula and San Jose. It is a chapter of the larger national organization and a spin-off of the parent chapter, which now covers the regions of San Francisco and Oakland.
Joining a gardening organization with the word "society" in its name conjures up images of crisply dressed women wearing big floppy hats and clean gardening gloves. There may be such members, but mostly the group consists of people such as Pannell--people who love rhodies, and who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty.
Rhodies, a common nickname among enthusiasts, are fairly easy to grow for gardeners armed with the knowledge of the right growing conditions for a particular species or hybrid, members say. With more than 850 species and more than 10,000 named hybrids, talking to an experienced rhodie gardener in the club has definite advantages.
"It's an information place," Pannell says of the society.
Gardeners share practical advice at the monthly meetings. They'll discuss such things as soil fungus that can kill rhodies, and the fact that rhodies prefer an acidic soil, morning sun and afternoon shade. Guest speakers are often included in the meetings where they will share photos of their own gardens or of recent trips taken where they have explored rhododendrons in other lands.
Members also exchange cuttings and seeds from their own plants.
"It's a real hoot," Pannell says of the exchanges.
Tom Wynn, a Sunnyvale resident who co-founded the DeAnza chapter with Pannell's parents, says in Cupertino and Sunnyvale the plants do well planted on a north facing wall in the adobe soil.
Most cultivated rhododendrons and azaleas--a related plant and member of the rhododendron family--are derived from Asian species that grow in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, western China, northern India, Burma and Assam. Japan, Europe, and eastern and western North America provide others derived from species native to those areas.
Locally, the Rhododendron macrophyllum is one that grows wild in the Santa Cruz mountains and along the California coast, Wynn says.
"It has lavender or pink flowers. It grows in the redwood forests," he says.
Over the years he has belonged to other garden clubs, such as one for irises and one for lilies; as a child he never imagined himself a member of a rhododendron club.
"I grew up in San Francisco, and my mother would take us to Golden Gate Park to see the rhododendrons. It was the worst thing to think of doing as a kid," he says.
But now, retired from his job as an engineer with NASA, he has the time to garden, pore through plant catalogs and admire one of his favorite plants--the rhododendron.
One of Wynn's favorite rhodies, a tropical native, is the vireya species.
"They grow in the Bay Area with no problem. I grow them in containers and then bring them in the house," he says.
The blooming season came a little early this year and his vireyas bloomed in February.
Rhodies can't bloom fast enough for Pannell and though some of her favorites were either on schedule or a little late, she could hardly wait, saying, "The most challenging thing about it is just waiting for them to bloom."