x - Hawaii Chapter, American Rhododendron Society

Vireya of the Year 

Cyril 

VIVA VIREYA! 

HAWAI’I CHAPTER AMERICAN RHODODENDRON SOCIETY 

Volume 17 Issue 09 September 2012 

Hawai’i Chapter Website: http://www.hawaiivireyaars.org 

September President’s Message 

by Sherla Bertelmann 

A wonderful time was had at Julie & Bill Miller’s home where our last meeting 

was held. The “little red fire ant” representative, Michelle, from the Hawaii 

Department of Agriculture was full of information in how to detect and how to 

deal with the nasty critters. A big mahalo goes out to the Miller’s for their 

openness and hospitality and to Michelle for her great presentation. Speaking of 

the Miller’s, they will be leading our next meeting at the Kea’au Community 

Center while I am off island and I’m sure it will be one not to be missed. The 

October 21st zoo outreach day will be among the business to be planned. 

The last zoo work party was spent putting in 

many of the past “Vireya of the Year” into the new VOY bed. In order to do 

that, a few of the plants already there had to be removed including a huge 

‘Arthur’s Choice’ that had grown into a 3’ to 4’ piece of hapu’u that was 

laying along side of it in the bed. The entire plant and hapu’u came out as one 

piece that made it easy to transport out of the zoo and into a home garden. 

The bed looks great!!! Thank you, again, to our Zoo work party crew for 

doing another great, outstanding job. 

The last two photos I have for you is of the 

Vireya of the Year. 2013 and 2014. As our 

secretary, Richard Rhodes, noted in his report ‘Cephas’ was voted in as VOY for 

2013. It is a cross of (‘Dr. H. Sleumer’ X R. leucogigas) that was hybridized by 

Peter Sullivan and registered by Bill Moynier, both of California. It has large, 

fragrant flowers 5” to 7” across the face that are also long lasting. 

‘Haloed Gold’ was selected for VOY 

2014... It’s a cross of (R. christianae X 

‘Tropic Glow’) that was hybridized & 

registered by Oz Blumhardt of New 

Zealand. It has large flowers of 3”+ inches across the face. It’s a rich gold 

color with a vivid reddish orange halo along the edge and an excellent 

repeat bloomer. Thank you to all who participated by providing nominees 

and voting in the VOY selections. Both are excellent choices. 

It is that time again, membership renewal. The renewals will be going out 

this month. Please check over the information I have for you, make any 

corrections necessary, and mail it on back to me. Thank you, in advance, for your speedy returns. And lastly, a 

couple of “get well quickly wishes” go out to Lois Moyles, and Charles (Chuck) Martin. 

Viva Vireya & Happy Gardening! 

Officers of the Hawaii Chapter ARS 

President Sherla Bertelmann (808) 966-9225 sbertelmann@hawaii.rr.com 

Vice President Julie Miller (808) 557-7918 smile4bill@hotmail.com 

Secretary Richard Rhodes (808) 966-6801 ronnierichard@att.net 

Treasurer Richard Miller (808) 967-4371 richardandalison@hawaiiantel.net 

Newsletter Editor Jane Adams (808) 345-0959 jane@whitecloudnursery.com 

Directors: Joyce Gay, Bettye Wakabayashi, Jurahame Leyva, Kimberley Martin, Mitch Mitchell (Emeritus) 

Viva Vireya Page 1 September 2012

The Hawaii Chapter ARS meeting was held at Bill and Julie Millers tropical home and garden in Paradise Park on 

August 19th, 2012. It was amazing to see what two avid gardeners could do to reclaim a neglected garden and 

home and make it their own. Following a very abundant potluck our president Sherla Bertlemann brought the 

meeting to order around 1:00 pm. The members were asked to vote for Vireya of the Year for 2013 and 2014. 

After tallying the ballots ‘Cephas’ came in first and will be 2013 Vireya of the year. and ‘Haloed Gold’ came in 

second and will be 2014 Vireya of the year. 

Our speaker was Michelle Montgomery from the UH Hilo CTAHR Ant Lab. Her presentation renewed our fears 

that the current infestation of little red fire ants would continue to be an ongoing battle for the foreseeable 

future. After a tour of the impressive garden, members participated in our Vireya plant auction led by past 

President Joyce Gay and the ever popular truss exchange led by our President Sherla Bertlemann. Thanks to 

everyone who stayed over for the clean up, and an especial mahalo to Bill and Julie for opening their home and 

garden and being such wonderful hosts. 

Mahalo nui loa, Richard 

Secretary’s Report 

by Richard Rhodes 

Treasurer’s Report 

by Richard Miller 

There is no Treasurer’s Report this month as Richard is traveling. In addition, due to his work load, he is 

resigning as Treasurer as of September 1. Please step forward to fill this urgently-needed vacancy! 

What’s in bloom! 

by Jane Adams 

On the left: Anacapa. This is one of our favorite red 

vireyas. It’s got a beautifully domed truss, and is very 

florific. From what we’ve read, it is much prized for 

hybridizing purposes, and one can easily see why that is 

so. Shrub is nice and bushy, and is about 3-4’ high in 5 

years. 

Above: St. Cecelia. Need I say more 

Always lovely, but this time I caught her 

with several trusses open at once. Short 

plant right now, but then I’ve been 

raiding it for cutting material. Destined to 

be a large one. 

Above: Borneo Bright. A new for this year. Extremely 

rich, deep red-orange flowers on an upright shrub. It’s 

had little difficulty adapting to a full sun location. 

What’s in bloom for you!!!! Send a list or photo to me, 

and I’ll gladly use them in the newsletter. 


Vireya and Red Leaves 

by Sherla Bertelmann 

We’ve all seen the “autumn” colored leaves on our vireya. These are usually the older leaves that turn color just 

before falling with hues of yellow, orange, and red. Here are photos of other varieties whose leaves show various 

other colors in their new growth or as “color breaks”. The color break does not seem to interfere in growth or in 

blooming and makes an interesting color splash on the leaves. The color break can appear in new growth but 

usually comes out later. 

The first two photos above are of ‘Ring of Fire’. The red color break can be seen on the lower leaves in the first 

photo and the second shows the whole plant and the new growth w/no color break. The third photo on the right is 

of a leaf on ‘John West’ showing the underside with the color break. 

New growth on many varieties may start off with fawn colored leaves that turn redder with age such as ‘Pink 

Jazz’. Even more dramatic in their red colored new growth are varieties such ‘Painted Lady’, ‘Richard Marques’, 

and ‘Margaret Lorraine’ shown above. 

Editor’s note: This email was received from Bill Moyles in response to the Get Well card sent to his wife, Lois by 

the chapter. Bill has been a long time Vireya hybridizer, and very much a supporter of our chapter since the very 

beginning. 

Received the "communal" card!!!! all those folks we just have never met.. Thank you much for the kind words. 

Pass along our appreciation: right word But you know what I mean. 

Lois is recovering from leg surgery now in the very fine Rehab Center near Kaiser (our provider) here in 

Oakland. Shell be coming home soon minus a left foot! Kaiser gives so much support .We’re amazed and 

grateful. We’re working through the recovery process. What to say It happens. I am hobbling about and my 

gardener is keeping the place intact. Vireya stuff not much, just keeping a small "collection", but no more big 

time gardening . 

Thank everyone again for the kind thoughts ..... Bill 

Note received from Bill Moyles 


Favorite Things -- Garden Related 

by Jane Adams 

We all have our favorites…especially when it comes to gardening! Tools, fertilizers, herbicides, weeders, pruners, 

loppers, mowers, weed whackers, chain saws, potting media, pots…you name it, we’ve all got an opinion on it. 

The true mark of something being a favorite is when you replace it when worn out with the identical item! 

This is the last of the “Favorite Things” columns on this topic. I’m sure another topic will crop up in the months 

to come, especially if I get some requests (hint….hint...hint…) This time I’m going to turn to “what’s on my 

potting bench that I can’t do without.” 

Pots: 

We use 3” square pots for rooting cuttings. They fit in trays of 18, making them easy to transport around 

the greenhouse. Normally, roots fill our 3” pots in 4-6 months. In some cases when the well-rooted cuttings 

are ready for our real media mix, but are naturally very small plants, we’ll repot into the 3” pots for another 

round before moving them up to the next size. You do not want to over-pot vireyas! We use 6” azalea pots 

for the next step after the cuttings are rooted. We like the round, short stature of the azalea pots, as we 

observed over the years that the roots rarely would go all the way down to fill a standard gallon container. 

Larger Pots: We would next step up to an 8” azalea pot, chose for the same reason expressed above. This 

gives about an inch around for the plant to grow into new media. 

Media: 

Being a certified nursery, we cannot use any true soil. All the media in our pots on the benches must be of 

non-soil content. We use a mix of coconut chips, perlite with a small amount of vermiculite added for 

better fertilizer/mineral retention. There are provisions for using specially treated cinder, but that way is 

fraught with danger. A year or two ago the entire dracena foliage group of nurseries on the Big Island were 

shut down because burrowing nematodes had been found in a shipment in California. The local purveyor of 

cinder had switched their storage area, which was not as pristine as the previous one. Now, cinder must be 

steam-treated to very high temperatures to be used. I am glad we went the route we did with nothing that 

had been in the ground! 

Miscellaneous tools on the bench: 

Fertilizer -- a tub of fertilizer to give each newly-potted plant a nice dose. 

Knives -- No, we haven’t gone all violent on you! They are used to scrape the stem of the cuttings so that 

the rooting hormone gets to the cambium layer and provides a good point for rooting to start. 

Plant stick tags -- Seems obvious, but then again we’d be lost without them. We get them in several colors 

to mark plants for various purposes. Our local source is Nursery Things where we buy them in quantity. 

Stakes -- everything from bamboo shish-kabob sticks for very small plants to larger bamboo ones for more 

mature plants. Oh, and of course the plastic tying tape to connect the plant to the stake. 

Database List -- This may seem extreme to many of you, but we’d be lost without it. If I’m going to toss a 

plant out, I can check to see whether I need to shift it to stock for planting out, take cuttings, or simply toss 

it. We also make notations on the list and do data entry from those notes. 

And all the stuff that needs to be close by: 

Bin of mixed up media 

Open sack of perlite for cuttings 

Water in hoses (up off the ground to keep nematodes away!) 

Brush to clean off the bench 

Buckets for prunings and weeds pulled from pots 

WD-40 to keep those pruners working properly 

Pens, pencils and sharpies 

Spray container for bleach solution (in case a tool falls to the ground, and things need cleaning). 

Finally, I do want you to know that there is never ONE way or ONE product that is better than any other. A 

lot of this discussion has been about what works for us. If something is working well for you, keep at it, or 

try something new. Variety and experimentation is the spice of the gardening life! 


Interesting communicatons from last month’s What’s in bloom! 

What’s in bloom! 

by Jane Adams 

When in the course of a grower’s life, something new blooms, 

we get a little crazy. In our case, if I spot something blooming 

that we are excited to see, we station it right at the front of the 

greenhouse so that we can watch it like a hawk. That tactic 

worked with the species R. wentianum. It erupted with several 

trusses all at once. The flowers glowed with a soft, deep orange, 

with a bright yellow throat. Related to R. christi, the leaves are 

slightly twisted at the end, and deep glossy green. This is 

definitely one species that should be considered for every 

garden. 

Mahalo to Mitch Mitchell for providing the original cutting. 

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When I published the above photo and description last month, little did I expect that I would end up with nearly 

the whole tale of how it got here! Here’s one of the benefits of being part of an international community of vireyaholics! 

Below is an exchange of email between Neil Puddey, Australian vireya grower, and Lyn Craven, Research 

Botanist in the Australian National Herbarium. For those of you on email delivery, you will get Lyn’s document 

as a last page. The first email below from Neil. 

Hi Lyn, 

You may have seen this article yourself but just in 

case I have copied to send to you as this species came 

to me from you. I grew on small plants you sent 

maybe 8 years ago () and I supplied from my plant, 

rooted cuttings to Mitch Mitchell of Hawaii. ( father 

of Vireya in Hawaii ) It has never flowered for me 

and has been very slow growing but then I did work 

it for cuttings, Hawaii has had much more success, it 

is an interesting example of people and plants. 

Lou Searle collecting in Indonesia -West New 

Guinea in 1974, Bob Withers of Melbourne growing 

this material on, Lyn Craven of Canberra correctly 

identifying, growing and distributing, Neil Puddey of 

Woolgoolga propagating and exporting, Mitch 

Mitchell of Hawaii importing and growing (it flowers regularly for Mitch), then generously distributing to 

commercial nurseries in Hawaii. Great to see photos of this species growing vigorously and flowering freely after 

such an adventure. George Argent reports in ‘Rhododendrons of Sub Genus Vireya’ that it has been growing in 

Edinburgh since 1995, did this material also come from your collection Cheers Neil Puddey 

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To which Lyn replied: 

Hi Neil. Thanks for forwarding Jane’s email text & photo. R.wentianum is certainly a lovely plant. As it is a 

montane species, it may not be expected to do well at low altitudes in the subtropics although I would have 

thought it should flower well enough at Woolgoolga. There were certain inaccuracies in your origin information , 

and I have attached the text of an article I wrote that was published in ‘The Rhododendron’ with a colour photo. I 

do not have a pdf of the published article but the reference is: Craven, L. 2002. Rhododendron wentianum - 

from low altitude to high flyer. The Rhododendron 42: 64-65, fig. inside rear cover. 

The text of the Word document should be able to stand as a surrogate for the published article as far as 

information content is concerned. Best wishes, Lyn 


Next Chapter Meeting: 

When: Sunday, September 16, Regular monthly 

meeting at the Kau’au Community Center. Potluck 

will be at 12:00pm, and meeting will start at 1:00pm. 

Where: Kea’au Community Center 

Program: Bill Miller will present a program on the 

Seymour Conservatory in Tacoma, WA. Having had a 

sneak preview, you’ve got to see this! 

There will also be a “garden problems” open Q & 

A session following that. Please, if you bring 

diseased plant material or critters, place it in a 

zip-lock baggie for transportation to and from 

your house. We do not want to infest anyone’s 

plants or the Senior Center with undesireables! 

Calendar of Coming Events: 

Sunday, September 16: Monthly meeting (left 

column). 

Sunday, September 23: Regular Zoo work party! 

1:00pm - 3:00pm. Still lots to be done before the 

Vireya Outreach day next month. Note 1:00pm 

starting time. 

Sunday, October 21: Vireya Day at the Zoo! Can’t 

miss this one! More information will be in next 

months newsletter after the planning at the September 

meeting. In the meantime, talk it up to your friends 

and neighbors. It’s such a great event, and everyone 

goes away with a free plant. Speaking of which, how 

are your cuttings doing that you stuck last spring 

Clean-up Crew: Marijean Horton. She’ll need help! 

Please stay and assist if you can! 

(Apologies to our print edition recipients: the month 

in the listings above was mistakenly listed as August, 

not September.) 

Viva Vireya! 

Hawaii Chapter – ARS 

P.O. Box 1963 

Kea’au, HI 96749 


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Editor’s Note: Following is a re-print of the document mentioned in Lyn Craven’s email about R. wentianum. This 

is being provided to our email newsletter recipients as a positive benefit for subscribing in that manner. We are 

able to add content without increasing costs, which is a necessity. The article reference is: Craven, L. 2002. 

Rhododendron wentianum - from low altitude to high flyer. The Rhododendron 42: 64-65. (The Rhododendron is 

the publication of the Australian Rhododendron Society, Inc., www.ausrhodo.asn.au, and is available by print and 

email subscription.) 

Rhododendron wentianum: from low altitude to high flyer 

by Lyn Craven 

One of the more enigmatic plants that the late Lou Searle discovered in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and 

introduced to horticulture is the so-called “low altitude christi”. From memory, my first plant of this came from 

Bob Withers. For many years my plant grew quite well but never showed the slightest sign of producing flowers. 

Bob flowered it and discussed it within an article on R. christi (Withers 1986). In his article, Bob records the plant 

as having been found by Lou at an altitude of c. 2150 m “in a tribal area known as Sina Sina” and sent to 

Melbourne in 1974. The flower and leaf form is quite well shown in the photograph on the front cover of The 

Rhododendron 25(3) but the colour reproduction either was not good or the dyes have faded. Bob noted some of 

the differences between the low altitude plant and R. christi and ended his article questioning as to whether the 

former was a variety of R. christi, a natural hybrid of R. christi, or a new species. 

Subsequently my own plant flowered and I wrote to Lou Searle to ask for additional information about it. In his 

reply in May 1992, Lou quoted from the notes under his collecting number 89 “found on native land, in forest 

litter on No. 2 Dom. Similar to christi but lacks the red-flushed new growth”. The plant was not in flower when 

Lou found it and to the best of my knowledge he never saw it flowering in cultivation. 

Graham Snell grew some seedlings of the plant and gave me a few of them to grow onto flowering as I was 

interested in seeing if they came true from seed. If so, this would be an additional point in favour of the plant 

being a species and not a hybrid. The seedlings flowered some years ago and were sufficiently uniform 

vegetatively and florally to indicate that there was no segregation and therefore I concluded the plant was not a 

hybrid. 

Clearly the plant has very little relationship with R. christi, differing greatly, inter alia, in the corolla shape, lack of 

hairs on the corolla, corolla colour and stamen disposition. Using the keys in Sleumer (1966) I had not been able 

to identify the low altitude plant with a known species and I had put the matter aside until I had more time to dig 

deeper. Around two years ago, when curating some Vireya specimens in the Australian National Herbarium, 

Canberra, I had occasion to look at specimens of R. wentianum and realised that I had found the identity of Lou’s 

plant. We had specimens of R. wentianum from two localities: 1500 m, Mt Antares, Star Mountains, Papua 

(formerly Irian Jaya), Indonesia, common small epiphytic shrub; and 1300 m, Erave, Southern Highlands 

Province, Papua New Guinea, solitary terrestrial shrub on limestone ridge. It became apparent that the herbarium 

material I had collected from my glasshouse could not be identified using Sleumer’s keys because it has broader 

leaves than are recorded by Sleumer for R. wentianum. 

Rhododendron wentianum was described by the Dutch botanist S.H.. Koorders in 1909 (Koorders 1909) based 

upon material collected in Papua (then called Dutch New Guinea) by a Dutch physician, G.M. Versteeg, who 

participated as physician-botanist in the 1907 leg of the Dutch New Guinea Expedition led by H.A. Lorentz 

(Steenis-Kruseman 1950). Koorders named the new species for F.A.F.C. Went, who had spent several years 

working in Java (as Director of a sugar cane experiment station) and later became Professor of Botany at Utrecht 

University (Steenis-Kruseman 1950). Sleumer (1966) records the species as occurring in the Main Range of 

Papua from Mt Carstensz to the Star Mts, and in the upper Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea. The 

Southern Highlands Province record mentioned above extends the range of the species in PNG further south than 

was previously known and Lou’s collection extends its range further east. A more full locality for Lou’s collection 

is: Eastern Highlands Province, Kundiawa subdistrict, No. 2 Dom, Sina Sina. 


The species is well worth growing. Not only does it have very attractive foliage and a pleasing spreading habit 

but it has extremely beautiful flowers (Figs 1 and 2). In my view the species is one of the few Vireyas to which 

the word ‘exotic’ can be applied; many other species are more showy but this does not equate to their being exotic 

per se. The orange-red to coral corollas, aptly described by one collector as ‘tangerine’, with the bright yellow 

patch basally on each of the lobes are eye catching. The flower form also contributes to the appeal as the corolla 

is short-tubed and relatively broad across the limb, presenting quite a strong effect. The foliage is a good foil for 

the flowers as well, being smooth and glossy. The spreading habit is pleasing too. Definitely, this is a high flyer 

among the Vireya species. 

I do not know if R. wentianum is available commercially in Australia but should any Australian reader like to add 

this species to their collection I will be pleased to send cuttings or propagate tubestock for them. 

References 

Koorders, S.H. 1909. Ericaceae. Nova Guinea 8: 183-191. 

Sleumer, H. 1966. Rhododendron. Flora Malesiana ser. I, 6: 474-668. (Noordhoff: 

Groningen). 

Steenis-Kruseman, M.J. van. 1950. Malaysian plant collectors and collections. Flora 

Malesiana ser. I, 1. (Noordhoff: Groningen). 

Withers, R.M. 1986. Rhododendron christi. The Rhododendron 25(3): 43-44, photo 

on front cover. 

Lyn Craven 

Melba, Canberra, ACT Australia 

Email: Lyn.Craven@csiro.au

x - Hawaii Chapter, American Rhododendron Society

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