Than you, mainegrower, for your two postings re Purple Passion rhododendron. I live in New Brunswick, have about 500 rhodos and azaleas, but just added two Purple Passions in the spring of 2011. As a result of your experience I am going to protect both plants well for at least two or three winters.

Good luck, kamies. I hope protection helps although it did not for me.

I would also be interested, and I'm sure others would be as well, in hearing from you about the varieties you're successfully growing in a difficult Z5a climate.

BTW, two other rhododendrons which struggle here despite being rated as hardy to -15 are 'Minnetonka' and 'Holden'
Both set lots of big fat buds and look fine in the spring, but the majority of buds suffer from 70-80% winter kill despite deep snow cover and/or mild temperatures. Other growers nearby find the same thing. I'd be very interested in your experience with these two if you grow them.

Hi Mainegrower,

I have no personal experience with Purple Passion. We are in zone 6 and it seems to perform OK here for others.

Here is what Rarefind Nursery in New Jersey says about it:

'Purple Splendour' X 'Catalgla'

Description: A newer introduction from cold Johnstown, PA, where winter temperatures regularly reach �20�F. This outstanding variety has trusses with a white flare on the upper lobe. Leaves are deep green. The habit is vase-shaped.

rhodyman:

Even after Z6 winters here with temperatures staying above 0 or only very slightly below, Purple Passion has looked awful in the spring despite protection. My experience and that of other people.

I believe this variety was an intoduction of the Conrad Pyle company, now, I believe out of business. It is possible that defective tissue cultured plants of this variety flooded the market while the real thing is a quite different plant, but PP has certainly been a failure in northern New England even though several nurseries still seem to carry it.

Some further information about Purple Passion:

There seems to at least three different rhododendrons with this name.

The one referred to in the Rarefind description is a Blough hybrid patented by the Conrad Pyle company. Of it, Peter Cox says it does not do well in the Northeast.

Cox also goes on to mention a hybrid by the same name created by Weldon Delp which he says is hardier.

Briggs Nursery lists 'Purple Passion' as a seedling of 'Purple Splendour". Seedlings cannot be patented, sothis pp is clearly not the same as the first one.

I know of 2 Purple Passions:

1) Robert L. Blough and Margaret A. Blough patented a Purple Passion in 1997 and assigned the patent to The Conard-Pyle Company. The Bloughs are from Johnstown, PA, and their plant is a seedling of Purple Splendour. This is the plant that Rarefind has. Since this is a patented plant, its distribution is rather limited. It is said to be hardy to Zone 5. Ten-year-old plants withstood winter temperatures of -23F. This plant is one registered as "Purple Passion".
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2) "Delp's Purple Passion" is from Weldon E. Delp in Harrisville, PA. It is the result of selfing Rcv. Evesterianum and then selfing that result.
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A very confusing state of affairs. Rarefind, Briggs and Greer all last Purple Passion with the same patent number. Briggs, however, assigns it Z6 hardiness and says it's a Purple Splendour seedling. Rarefind says it's Purple Splendour x Catalga hybrid hardy to -20. Greer says the parentage is unknown and it's hardy to -25.

It would be very unlikely that a Purple Splendour seedling would be hardy even in Z6 and -25 would be a huge stretch even with Catalga as a parent.

Whatever the case it has not proved to be adapted to New England. They look great in the pots - and the big box stores were full of them 2 or 3 years ago - but come spring they look terrible although technically still alive.They then struggle all summer to replace the leaves they lost in the previous winter and do not set buds. I think it is possible that many (all?) of the PP's sold around here were the result of tissue culture problems and that the real PP is a much better plant, but the Purple Splendour parentage suggests that the quotes of below zero hardiness are just plain wrong.