Charles Owen Dexter in the gardens  Rhododendrons are ubiquitous at Heritage Museums & Gardens. They have a long history on the property dating back to 1921 when Charles Owen Dexter bought the property as a weekend home. That purchase, and the work Dexter did over the subsequent years, changed the world of rhododendrons in the U.S. forever. Before Dexter became enamored with the genus rhododendron, the plants in New England were generally not very hardy and not particularly showy. All that changed, thanks to Charles Dexter.

Charles Dexter started collecting plants, many from areas where rhododendrons were quite showy, but generally not hardy on the Cape. He crossed (bred) these plants with other, more hardy species to try to breed-in cold hardiness while also developing more attractive plants. Dexter spent the remaining 22 years of his life devoted to this hobby, turned obsession. Because of his work so many years ago, Heritage, the property that was once the home of Charles Dexter, is now the home of the largest collection of plants collectively known as Dexter Rhododendrons.

Dexter was prolific in his work. He made countless crosses of rhododendrons over his lifetime and planted the majority of his plants throughout his almost 100 acres. Interestingly, Dexter did not realize the importance of what he was doing at the time and he only named six cultivars. The remainder of the 175(+-) named ‘Dexter hybrids’ have been named since after his death, mostly by a ‘study group’ formed to evaluate the plants that were produced by Dexter, choose, and name those worthy of being recognized.

Today the 100 acres of Heritage Museums & Gardens are filled with rhododendrons. The vast majority were once seedlings that Dexter planted and allowed to grow and flower. Most are run-of-the-mill and probably not anything special. However, those that are special have been named. These plants were chosen because they meet certain criteria. Large flowers, brilliant colors, unusual color combinations, fragrance, etc., are all requisites for being singled-out and named. They can be large, deep-pink flowers atop beautiful richly colored green foliage, such as ‘Scintillation’. Or peppermint white flower trusses as large as a dinner plate and richly fragrant like ‘Dexter’s Spice’ or ‘Dexter’s Honeydew’. The fragrance of these two cultivars is as enchanting as the flowers are beautiful. And these are just a few of the plants that Dexter produced during his lifetime. There are many, many more spread throughout the 100 acres of Heritage.

During his lifetime, Dexter bred, grew and either planted-out or gave away tens of thousands of plants. Many ended up at friends or relatives’ homes scattered from New England to South Carolina. There are collections of ‘Dexter’s’ at gardens such as Winterthur in Wilmington, DE, Swarthmore College on the Main Line in Philadelphia, Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA, and The New York Botanical Garden in NYC. But the real home of this amazing group of plants is Heritage Museums & Gardens, Sandwich, MA, Cape Cod.