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Charles Lamont was the Assistant Curator at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. In 1933 he was the first to make the hybrid
between V.farreri and V.grandiflorum. He raised four seedlings, and wasn't especially impressed. In the
following year the hybrid was repeated at Bodnant and the merits of the hybrid were recognised. This is one of Lamont's original seedlings and it has only recently become more common in cultivation. It is a good plant, more vigorous than V.farreri and growing taller. It becomes rather angular and strange in maturity but is very free flowering from mid-winter until the end of March. I planted it because it is a delight on a sunny winter day and a few flowering twigs in a vase are very cheering. It grows quite large but occupies space that would only be taken over by brambles so it is a good thing to have. Trees and Shrubs online says: "The late Rowland Jackman considered it to be finer than ‘Dawn’, with brighter pink flowers, more freely borne (Journ. R.H.S., Vol. 93 (1968), p. 419). It is still scarce in the trade." |
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| 6th February 2011 | ||
