CVRS October Meeting
Wednesday, October 7, 2026 7:00pm
at THE HUB, Cowichan Station
Lloyd Gilmore
of the Victoria Rhododendron Society
Presents
An Introduction to Hybridizing and Propagating Rhododendrons
Lloyd describes his presentation:
Rhododendron 'Curlew' is a dwarf rhododendron featuring soft yellow bell-like flowers
I will explain my reasons for selecting rhododendrons for my crosses; seed production; and sowing techniques.
I recently built a propagator to grow cuttings of my better crosses and will touch on that.
Following this, I will demonstrate seed sowing and culture. I will also describe the ‘demonstration’ rhododendrons that I will bring with me.
For the raffle, I will provide some R.’Curlew’ and R. ‘Orange Prelude’ cuttings.
Lloyd Gilmore has been hybridizing for about forty years in total. He began with Polyanthus and a few years later, moved on to orchids, particularly Paphiopedilums (Ladyslippers).The genetics of species papiopedilum is complex and the 2N chromosome numbers vary. “My scientific knowledge ramped up” while researching this genus.
He came to Victoria in 1994, where his latent interest in rhododendrons came to the forefront. He visited Jack Lofthouse, a rhododendron hybridizer living in Vancouver, British Columbia, about four times in the mid 1990’s. He selected Rhododendron ‘Jeda’ as a cornerstone of his rhododendron breeding program.
Rhododendron ‘Jeda’ was hybridized by John Lofthouse by crossing Rhododendrons ‘Butter Brickle’ x (‘Sunup-Sundown’ x unnamed hybrid)
“I wanted floriferous hose-in-hose flowers on a smaller growing plant. Rhododendron ‘Jeda’ has indumented foliage plants in its ancestry.” Lloyd believed that if he crossed R. ‘Jeda’ with indumented plants like the species Rhododendron pachysanthum, the offspring would also have beautiful indumentum. Bringing in scent and various foliage plants to the hybridizing process provided a wider spectrum to future offspring.
In 1998, Lloyd joined the Victoria Chapter of the ARS, and since then has made presentations on hybridizing to the other Rhododendron chapters on Vancouver Island.
