Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Specific Families and Genera => Rhododendron and other Ericaceae => Topic started by: TC on April 13, 2008, 07:56:57 PM
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Ignoring the weather forecast, we went to Benmore last Thursday. When we got there, there was no wind and some sunshine breaking through. So much for the Met. Office ! The flowering season is at least three weeks behind last year. The Macabeanums were still in tight bud. Last year, the Hookeri was covered in bloom. This year, only one flower with no signs of any more. The Magnolias were spectacular. Last year the flowers were poor but they have made up for it this year. The Magnolia Sargentiana was covered in flowers.
The rh. Thomsonii's were coming out with one plant fully flowering. At two hundred yards, it looked as if the wood was on fire it was such an intense red colour. I have cut down on the pictures as there is no point in repeating what I took last year
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I have tried three times to send the pictures but I keep getting time-out messages. I think I will now give up and do something more interesting.
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Try again today.
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Something seems to be happening to the postings. Each time I have tried to upload 10 pictures of 1Mb. in total, I get a message telling me that my session has timed-out with no subject, no messaqe and no pictures uploaded. I tried sending two pictures which seems to have taken so I will have to follow this laborious procedure if I want to get the rest uploaded.
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Four more
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I have noticed this annoying trait in the past Tom.....so glad that you are persevering. Many thanks.
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After Benmore we went on to Glenbranter to see if we could see any of the 1920's plantings. On the way up to the waterfall we could see some red flowering Rhododendrons deep in the woods, seemingly randomly planted. On the hillside up from the bridge at the waterfall I saw one red flowering specimen. Neatly stacked in piles on the hillside were logs, which on closer inspection, appeared to be of rhododendron. When we were last there in October, I had the impression that there were many largish rhododendrons in a fairly densely planted wood. It now appears that there has been a clearance. I decided to climb up the slope to have a look at the one specimen I could see. Cindy decided that she was not in the mood for climbing and went back down. I took my picture and then made to come down. There is an old mountaineering adage which says, it is easier to go up than to get down. I proved that to my satisfaction. The ground was full of debris and the soil saturated, so the inevitable happened. I slipped and then fell backwards and came down faster than I went up ! Amazingly, nothing was hurt except my dignity. If you look closely at the Rh. picture, you will see a moss covered trunk from which the Rh. is growing. This was a branch from the main plant. I followed this back and came to a rotted trunk which was the original specimen. So the plant I photographed must have been a leaf bud on a branch when the parent plant fell over. In some fashion it must have developed roots over the years to become a self-contained plant. The next time we go there, I will have to go into the forestry office and ask for information on what and where any remaining rhododendrons are.
There is a small article on Glenbranter in "the Botanics" . The web reference is www.rbge.org.uk/assets/files/Publications
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Glad to hear you are okay, Tom! seems like this is the week for Forumists falling over.... as happened to both Alan and Sherba Grainger in Kentucky :o
Really enjoying your photos, though I am sorry for your troubles with the "time out" messages. Forum has been very slow at times and we are looking into the matter. Thanks for sticking with it to make your posts :-*
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On the mountaineering theme, we came back the long road visiting Ardkinglas nursery, next to the Loch Long Oysterbar. I mentally bought about 15 specimen Rhododendrons until Cindy pointed out that we have a small overfull suburban garden and not an Argyll hillside - spoilsport ! I had to stop and take a picture of the Cobbler, from Arrochar. In my youth, I used to climb the cliffs on this hill.
The last time was in 1963, when I went up it in ice and snow working on one lung. I had a collapsed lung which my doctor had diagnosed as indigestion so I thought maybe some strenuous excercise would help. A walk of 8 miles plus the climb left me rather exhausted, back to the doctor where his locum told me I had a spontaneous pneumothorax and I should be resting. !! I have never been up it since. The walk up the Benmore hillside looking at pretty plants does me now.
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Wonderful pictures Tom ! :)
They make me long for a holliday in Scotland soon - any idea what weather you'll have next "Summer" ? :P
Good to hear you got back down safe and sound !
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Wonderful pictures Tom ! :)
They make me long for a holliday in Scotland soon - any idea what weather you'll have next "Summer" ? :P
Good to hear you got back down safe and sound !
Luc,
If I knew I could make a fortune at my local betting shop. Historically, the driest weather should be in May and June with a further spell in September. The west coast rhododendron gardens are at their best at this time, but this year they seem to be 3 weeks later than last year. With global warming, who knows. We intend to go to Brodick Gardens tomorrow but will decide finally when we look out the window at 0800 in the morning.
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Great pics Tom. So very different to our autumn colour here at the moment!! ;D
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These should have been posted for the 7 May but the computer was away getting XP installed along with Vista. All my pictures were wiped and it took me ages to back-up from discs.
Not a brilliant flowering year so I have just put some in for general interest - again nameless as these were lost from the originals.
We have been back since for the next flowering
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There should have been pictures with the last posting but the system refuses to upload them. I have spent 30 minutes trying to get the first 5 uploaded but nothing happens !!!
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Trying again at 2110
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Seems to be working now
Magnolia Kobus
Pond at Benmore.
Rh. yedoense var poukhanense
Rh.Albrechtii
Trillium Chloropetalum
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We are now at 1 June
Fortuneaplant should be next to the label
Arisaema consanguineum
Arisaema Taiwanense
Benmore fortunea Label
Benmore Magnolia winelight
Benmore copy
Benmore Crinodendron.
Rhododendron and Primulas
Rh.fortunea flowers
Rh. fortunea new planting
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Continued from last night. 018 is either prunifolium or glaucifolium
Benmore 018
Benmore 019
Benmore 066
Benmore 067
Benmore 069
Benmore 086
Benmore Rh. pruniflorum yellow
Benmore Glaucophyllum pink
Benmore rh.pruniflorum.
Benmore Magnolia Obovata
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Some more
Rh.oreotrophes
Magnolia Sieboldii
Benmore pond and meconopsis
Red Rhodo
Rh. x CHLOROPS
Davidia involucrata
Magnolia wieseneri
Prim. pulvurentula
Rh. dicroanthum apodectum
Rh.dicroanthum apodectum flowers
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Stunning pictures, thanks for taking the time to post these!
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Continuing on the theme
Japanese azalea walk
large leaved Rh. glade.
Rh. Wardii
Rh. wardii flowers
Continuing through Large leaved rh. glade
Japanes azalea walk continued.
Rh. Amerlandense grex
Rh. Cerasinum
Benmore Cerasinum pink edged
Cinnabarinum roylii
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All finished at last !!
It has been a peculiar season. It started 3 weeks late. The sun came out for about a month and flowering accelerated. The down side of this was that the flowers did not last nearly as long, so it was almost impossible to predict what would still be in flower when we went.
Rh. Cinnabarinum Tamaense.
Rh. Cinnabarinum Tamaense a.
Rh.Cerasinum edged pink
rh.orbiculaire x dichroanthum
Self seeded Rh. on tree stump
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Great stuff Tom !
Thanks very much for this extensive report !
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Thank you Maggi for making the lists. I haven't the patience for this. I feel I have been chained to Photoshop and the computer for days
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Tom, I like to help! The search engine only picks up names that are in the text, not the photo file names.
Tried to post this before going out for a quick walk with Lily, but the Forum was too slow again! :(
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Lovely pictures Tom, thanks for persevering at a time when the slow working of the Forum is an absolute pain.
Edit : from Maggi... Yes, indeed, I second all that!
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Tom - A marvellous follow-up at Benmore. I particularly enjoyed that selection of oreotrephes and the yellow pruniflorum. I find it amazing that some of the species you shot are or have been in bloom here already. Even poukhanense is only a few days away here and that's a few days late for it here.
johnw
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Thank you for such wonderful photos and your patience in putting them on.
Susan
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For those interested, I have lots more to put on from Arduaine, Kilmory gardens, Logan gardens and Logan house and even from my nearest large garden at Culzean Country Park. As it promises a good sunny day, I am swithering whether to go to Dawyck to catch the azaleas and meconopsis.
The Oreotrephes I saw at Arduaine was 9 feet tall, which is alarming as I bought one 6 years ago thinking it was a dwarf species.
The pruniflorums are about 6ft x 6ft and in a group of about 10 plants.
We have looked at two " new" gardens this spring. Kilmory castle which was started by Hooker in about 1820. The size of the plants in here is impressive .
The real eye opener was at Logan House. There is a stand of Sino Grandes which must be the the biggest in captivity. The leaves were almost 3 feet long! It felt like being in a primeval forest. I had a long talk with the gardener who looks after 27 acres on his own and propogates various Rhododendrons and trees. His nursery include S.Grandes and Rh.Crassum. We also saw a Rh. Maddenii about 10 feet tall in full flower. I thought that 6 feet was big for these species outdoors but this garden got the first introductions from the plant hunters in the 1800's so the plants are really mature.
At Logan Botanical gardens I talked to the curator about Rh. ROYALMADD. This is a cross between cinnabarinum Roylei and maddenii which was made here. It combines the waxy flower of cin. with the perfume of the maddenii - to me perfection. It is unobtainable as they have not tried to propogate any. I told him that it was time they did and I was first in the queue.
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'swithering'- what a magnificant word!
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David
I hadn't thought of swithering as an unusual word. I thought of it as in common parlance or maybe that is because of my advanced years. Anyway, I unswithered and went to Dawyck in time to catch the azaleas, meconopsis and the fag-end of the Rhododendrons. For a botanic garden it is rather short of labels on the mature specimens of Rhod. I seem to spend more of my time deep under the branches looking for the names only to find that labels are non-existant or coded with letters and numbers that mean nothing to me.
It's about time I paid a visit to my sister in Plymouth and visited some of the Devon and Cornwall gardens. The Garden House is one of my favourites and should be looking good just now. The 530 mile drive down the M6/M5 is not a pleasant experience and the cost of fuel is an added thought to take into consideration.
I think todays jaunt will be to Greenbank Garden on the outskirts of Glasgow and possibly to Pollok Park for a look at the Burrel Collection.
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This weekend, Cindy was attending a botanical art illustration course at Benmore, so we stayed locally rather than travel daily. I was free to roam the gardens for two days photographing what was in flower. That was the idea but two days of rain and rampant midges curtailed my plans. However, in between downpours and getting eaten alive, I managed a few pictures. My favourite Rhododendron was Sirius. This is a cross between Crassum and Cinnabarinum Roylei. The flower is a cinnabarinum at the top opening to a Crassum. The scent was wonderful. I noticed that the label dated it as at 1956. There is a similar cross at Logan called Roylmadd, which looks fairly similar. I wish they would propagate these two and make them available to the general public.
The one advantage of the recent rains is how lush the plants were looking. It was green everywhere.
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There has been a special regatta on the Clyde to celebrate the "Fife" series yachts which were designed and built at Fairlie, on the Clyde. These craft, some more than 100 years old are regarded by the Yachting fraternity as the "Stradivarius" of yachts. They do look beautiful under full sail. No modern materials here, but quality timber crafted by the best shipwrights in the trade. We caught up with one earlier in the week accompanied by a "sailing barge".
I had hoped to see the end of the final days racing on our way to Benmore, but thanks to a force 7 wind, they went round the course about an hour quicker than expected so I arrived at Largs marina in time to see them mooring. Even without sails they are pretty impressive.
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Beautiful pictures Tom!
Can you imagine that with ships like the Volharding in the old days
the cow manure was brought from Friesland in N. E. Netherlands, sailing
over the IJsselmeer via Amsterdam to the bulbfields in our area.
Every year there is still such a "race" in autumn with these ships to keep these
facts in memory.
Nice to see they show their yachts so far away from here!
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Luit,
Is the Volhardinga a scow -( schoewe) ? It was not the fastest or most elegant vessel in the races but she got there just the same. I am glad to say that there was no smell of cow manure from her !!
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Tom the Volharding is a so called Frysk Skūtsje, which will be about the same as a scow.
It's a typical ship for low waters, so they could load freight on many places in Holland.
Skūtsje = a Frisian word. Friesland is a province in Holland where is spoken an own
language which sounds a bit between English and Nordisk.
The name Volharding means Perseverance.
I found for you a website where you see more details after I wrote the above.
Here it is:
www.embercombe.co.uk/place/volharding.html (http://www.embercombe.co.uk/place/volharding.html)
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We have had a couple of visits to Benmore on 3 and 22 October trying to see the Autumn colour. Our Indian summer finally arrived in the form of a monsoon ! We have had about 7 inches (17 cms.) of rain in 3 days. Yesterday we were lucky and managed to get round the garden before the rain started. The seasons are a bit haywire with Spring Rhododendrons flowering as the Autumn colour is finishing with the wind shredding the foliage off the trees. Our plan was to visit Crarae gardens after Benmore but the rain and mist was so bad that we gave up and went home. What surprised me was the amount of snow on the hills with the temperature at sea level a chilly 5c in a near gale. Much to our surprise, when we got to Glasgow, it was sunny and dry. What a difference 30 miles can make in this country.
Benmore seems to be undergoing a makeover with the renovation of an old Victorian Fernery and clearance of old commercial trees to be replanted with Rhododendrons and Sorbus varieties. Here are a few colorful pictures of what it looked like yesterday.
Caption should read Rh. Thomsonii not Thonsonii