Haaga Rhododendron Park

This guide to Haaga Rhododendron Park in Helsinki follows botanist Peter Tigerstedt, who in 1975 packed three thousand rhododendron seedlings into a drained bog barely fifty centimeters apart and hoped for hard frosts. It explains the cross he was testing, hardy varieties from Korea and central Europe bred with showier southern relatives, and treats each cold winter through the 1980s as a judge in the contest. You'll hear from breeder Anu Vainola, who still tends the plots today, about why she calls it unlike anywhere else. Stand among the boardwalks in June to see the survivors bloom together in pink, white and violet.