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Maurice Mason was a farmer from Norfolk who specialised in growing greenhouse plants but had wide horticultural interests.
I remember seeing his exhibit at the Chelsea show on the Memorial stand, sometime at the end of the 1970's though I never
met the man himself. Maurice Mason gave a plant of R.pinnata to Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter and it was distinct
enough to be named. I was given a plant in a pot that had seen better days but I was delighted to have it as a reminder of a person I didn't meet. Writing in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, Christopher Lloyd says: "In the case of rodgersias, such a gradual change takes place in the flowers that the transition to seeding is imperceptible. My favourite is a clone of Rodgersia pinnata given to me by Maurice Mason, some 30 years ago. It is not as deeply pigmented as 'Superba' but is a much more robust plant, free flowering and a definate shade of pink as it begins to flower in June. From then on, the colouring deepens and intensifies to ruby in October, its shape still being retained when the leaves finally drop and the inflorescence turns to brown. This is a far more sustained display than any put on by astilbes. Neither is the foliage decinated by slugs and snails, as with hostas, which enjoy the same damp cultural conditions." Award of Garden Merit, 2014. |
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| 29th June 2013 | ||