Author Topic: Rhododendron... every garden should have some (Read 143732 times)

TC · « **Reply #30 on:** March 12, 2007, 10:59:45 PM »

Last posting. The weather was so dull today that individual trusses were almost impossible to photograph.
However, here are two as an example. Colours at this time of year are not very vibrant, watch this space.
Most of the Rhodendrons and trees here are a good age and large to huge in size. Far too big for any modern house and garden,and, to me, that is their main attraction

Maggi Young · « **Reply #31 on:** March 12, 2007, 11:09:36 PM »

Quote

Cindy is approx. your height.

Aha! Cindy is thus about 5foot 4inches, around 163cms : small, and perfectly formed!
Just the very dab for showing the stature of the tree.

To my shame, most of the gardens of the West coast of Scotland are a complete mystery to me, so I would love to take a virtual tour with you and Cindy as you visit your way around the season.
Feel free to open a thread for each garden as you go, if you like, or we could have a Scottish West Coast Rhodo Garden thread....see how you go on!

Susan, I know there are some wonderful rhodo collections in NZ, too, so I'm not surprised by your interest. Bear in mind Anthony Darby's oft repeated claim that " all of Scotland is in shade" ......there are not too many things that cannot take full sun ,( or what passes for that here) either in the west or over here in the east! The west has the advantage of being a kinder climate for the large -leaved rhodos. Your montroseanum is too big to move, you say, but perhaps without sun it is not ripening its growth enough to mature sufficiently to make more than the occasional flower? I am beginning to wonder it that isthe problem with my R. auriculatum.... I have been waiting about twenty-two years now, and never a flower!

mark smyth · « **Reply #32 on:** March 12, 2007, 11:14:28 PM »

I really like these small tree-like Rhodos especially the scented ones. That has to include the lovely small
?Snow Queen shown at our show last Saturday

Maggi Young · « **Reply #33 on:** March 12, 2007, 11:18:59 PM »

Mark, might that not have been 'Snow Lady'? This is a sweet hybrid between R. leucapsis xR. ciliatum. Not too tender though the flowers, with super black anthers, can get frosted. It flowers her later in March or in to April. Looking for a pic but I might not have digital one.

ian mcenery · « **Reply #34 on:** March 12, 2007, 11:19:44 PM »

Tom nice to see such good plants in a nice part of the world. I have a Montroseanum but its a poor looking thing compared with the one you show. Nice to see how it should look.

Here is an interesting one it is a hybrid with Macabeanum as parent with the other being another large leaved species. Best to show this now as it usually gets frosted long befor it attains full beauty. I got this some years ago from Trewithen Gardens in Cornwall where their Macabeanum is perhaps the best form being a chrome yellow. I have another seedling which is yellow but not out yet

Susan · « **Reply #35 on:** March 12, 2007, 11:20:27 PM »

Maggi, part of my garden is in shade, in fact, large parts really! Problem is that large trees just seem to keep getting larger, and the larger they grow the more expensive they are to remove.

I grow a number of large leaf rhododendrons and our local Rhododendron group has had the advantage of having seed grown plants, grown by a wonderful grower, and supplied on the annual plant list. I have some plants that I bought somewhere around 1976 and they are all getting quite large now. Originally they were planted to give them shelter from strong winds, which tend to wrench the leaves off. Over the years they have become too sheltered maybe.

I would second having more photos of Scottish rhododendron gardens. We have had the good fortune over the years to have a number of speakers from Scotland out here to speak to the local groups. We could always do with more - any thoughts Maggi, on giving us one of your talks on small species?

?? Please.

Susan

TC · « **Reply #36 on:** March 12, 2007, 11:31:37 PM »

Susan

The expression, "in full sun" is not understood in the west of Scotland! The Montroseanum is in a sheltered
glade with other species such as falconeri and thomsoni. There are large conifers all around, all well over 100 feet. Sunlight comes in through the foliage or through a semi-open area facing aprox. south east. This protection is needed from the wind. Gales of 60/70 mph are common here and about every 15 years we get hit by hurricane force winds of over 110mph. This picture was taken at noon today in a brief period of hazy sunshine but I did not take a close up of the trusses as they did not look photogenic.
I first visited BENMORE gardens in my push chair in 1944 and I have been taking pictures here regularly since 1967. It holds a special place in my heart as do my favourite plants, rhododendrons and azaleas.
I can become an absolute bore on the subject so it is time to close and get to bed at 2330

Maggi Young · « **Reply #37 on:** March 12, 2007, 11:32:16 PM »

Ian, what a yummy flower, and great leaves. Large leaves don't do so well here at all. The leaves on R. rex fictolacteum are getting smaller every year as it gets higher above the shelter of the hedge and the aforementioned R. auriculatum's leaves are shrinking, too. Not saying there are not some very handsome large leaved rhodos in the east, even in and around Aberdeen, just that those doing well are in very sheltered spots. You can't fault us for the littler leaved guys, though, and the dwarf forms love life on the east!Susan, if you could hear the state of my throat at the moment, you wouldn't be asking that!
Besides, like the most expensive wine, I don't travel well!

Maggi Young · « **Reply #38 on:** March 12, 2007, 11:37:57 PM »

A delight to have these photos of Benmore, Tom. We'll lap up all you want to show, I promise you.
These are some of the most varied and attractive plants in the world in my opinion, too, and it is your duty to show the world their myriad charms!! May we have some indumentum shots, please, for the leaf collectors among us?

Susan · « **Reply #39 on:** March 13, 2007, 04:55:43 AM »

Maggi,
I'm sure your throat will be better by January! We are lucky that we can grow nearly everything here, which is why Dunedin boasts of being the Rhododendron Capital of New Zealand. I also grow a number of dwarf rhododendrons and at the moment there are even some flowers on Curlew, and R pachysanthum is looking particularly stunning at present.

Tom,
You will never bore us. Just keep those photos coming. How lucky you are to have been able to watch a garden mature.

Susan

TC · « **Reply #40 on:** March 13, 2007, 11:34:59 AM »

Susan
Cindy and I were in Dunedin in February 2005 and stayed in a motel directly opposite the Botanic gardens.
We had a walk round but we were there at the wrong time of year for Rhododendrons. However, we were impressed at the size and quality of the plants on show.
What is different in the west of Scotland gardens is that they were not specifically laid out as botanic gardens. Most of them were estates where forestry or farming had been carried on for hundreds of years.
The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh acquired the gardens from large estate owners and used the different climatic locations to outhouse suitable plants and trees.
Benmore on the west coast is very wet but has a mild maritime climate - ideal for large leaf Himalayan Rhododendrons and trees from the west coast of the USA
Dawyck has an almost continental climate, with colder but drier winters. Excellent for trees and Rhododendrons which do not like being drowned and can stand frost and snow.
Logan is extremely mild and specialises in the tenderer varieties of rhododendrons. It is also used for the planting of Southern Hemisphere varieties of plants. At present they are trying to transform it into Tasmania with tree ferns everywhere.
Arduaine, in season, is rhododendron heaven. It is not a large garden, but it is wall to wall rhododendrons
with glades of the scented varieties jammed together. The added bonus is the seascape around the gardens.
Glenarn and Crarae are laid out following the contours of natural glens coming down hillsides.
Brodick is a large estate garden owned by the National Trust for Scotland and has a collection of large leafed Rhododendrons and also holds the Horlicks collection which were moved here from the Island of Gigha. So, as you can see from this, I have a bit of travelling to do when the season starts. Luckily for me, they can all be done within a days travel still giving plenty of time to look and photograph.
Time to close as I have got carried away again

Tom

David Nicholson · « **Reply #41 on:** March 13, 2007, 07:06:23 PM »

Tom, I am really enjoying your pictures, thanks for sharing them. Thanks also for your notes on the various gardens which I shall file away ready for my next visit to Scotland.

TC · « **Reply #42 on:** March 14, 2007, 06:24:28 PM »

David,

I just came up with an idea. Rather than describe where Benmore is, here is a low resolution picture from Google Earth. The "i" on the picture is the car park and entrance, and the woodland to the left is the actual gardens. They go up the hill for 450 feet, luckily there is a covered, seated viewpoint at the top.
In the good old days you could see the American polaris submarine base from here !

Tom Cameron, Ayr

Anthony Darby · « **Reply #43 on:** March 14, 2007, 10:53:27 PM »

Here is a rhododendron growing in a neighbour's garden, photographed today. No idea what it is. [You can see my garden fence in the background.]

Maggi Young · « **Reply #44 on:** March 14, 2007, 11:02:42 PM »

Looks like Rhododendron praecox, Anthony. One of the earliest small flowered rhodos to flower. Often seen in gardens with no other rhodos, obviously chosen for its early flowers... funny how some plants get around to odd places!

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