’Gudrun’ in flower is superb. The blooms are white with a touch of pink at the edges and a dark blotch on the upper petal, from a distance resembling ’P. M. A. Tigerstedt’. ‘Gudrun’ is one of the German T. J. R. Seidel’s hybrids from the early 1900s, putting pollen from ‘Madame Linden’ onto ‘Eggebrechtii’. The antecedents of these parent hybrids are unknown. ‘Gudrun’ grows to about 1.5m in 10 years.
’Gudrun’ may have arrived at Mustila with other hardy Seidler hybrids in the early 1930s. No trace of it can now be found, unless ‘Gudrun’ is the source of the handsome red spot on the locally bred ‘P. M. A. Tigerstedt’. Because of its beauty and interesting history, a new ‘Gudrun’ was planted in Alppiruusulaakso (Rhododendron Valley) in 2009, when this now rare hybrid was re-introduced by the Hachmann Nursery in Germany. To date, this new plant has thrived at Mustila.