Lawrence Pierce, 104; His Rhododendrons Had Vast Appeal

Lawrence Pierce, 104, a rhododendron cultivator with an international reputation, died Nov. 14 in Seattle after breaking his spine in a recent fall.

A native of Massachusetts, Pierce served in World War I and graduated from Middlebury College in 1921. He was a teacher and principal in his home state but moved west after marrying Isabel Colman, whose family owned a West Seattle homestead. The couple started a rhododendron garden covering four acres on those grounds.

The garden, now tended by their son, John Pierce, has more than 1,000 varieties of rhododendrons and has drawn gardening enthusiasts from around the world.

Pierce was a founding member of the nonprofit Rhododendron Species Foundation and Botanical Garden. In 1982, Pierce received a gold medal for excellence from the American Rhododendron Society.

A rhododendron species, piercei, was named for him by the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh, Scotland. A registered rhododendron hybrid, Isabel Pierce, is named for his wife, who died in 1982.