Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Specific Families and Genera => Rhododendron and other Ericaceae => Topic started by: Maggi Young on May 01, 2008, 06:13:25 PM
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This Saturday is the date of the SRGC Glasgow Show in Milngavie.
Because of the situation with the presence of confirmed cases of Sudden Oak Death in several west coast Rhododendron gardens, it has been decided to cancel the cut rhododendron classes from this year's show.
This is bad news for the show, of course, though not as bad as the diagnosis of the disease was to the affected gardens.
Shortly, of course, there is the Rhododendron Conference in Edinburgh.... I wonder how much of a damper the disease will put on the garden visiting that would otherwise be expected of the delegates?
Not good news, is it?
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I just got this Wren from our chapter advance sale. It is apparently a witch's broom, caused by tissue culture I presume. It will be interesting to see where this one goes.
The pictures are terrible as it is nasty outside and I'm not going out for better light. A penny for scale might give you an idea of how tiny the leaves are.
johnw
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I can highly recommend this Joe Brueckner hybrid which, I think may very well be his best. It has been in bloom for a week now and if the weather stays cool it will give a good show for another week or more. The name is 'Isola Bella' and some years there is a fair bit of salmon in the colouration, especially in bud.
The cross is fletcherianum Yellow Bunting X (dauricum album Arctic Pearl selfed) I-16
It blooms slightly before mucronulatum, dauricum (sometimes with) and moupinense so it is one of our earliest rhododendrons to flower. We need such hybrids as spring is very cool and slow to get going. As you can see, a nearby Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn' is just past peak, another plant that pays no attention to our cold springs and performs for a good 6 weeks.
johnw - 14c here on the coast but near 25c in the Annapolis Valley today, it was good to get back to the coast!
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And a close-up of Isola Bella.
johnw
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That is SO PRETTY John. Are the flowers frost hardy? Moupinense and x Cilpinense are sometimes badly frosted here because they're so early.
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Leslie - the flowers are not at all frost tolerant if grown in an open spot. However I've seen plants situated just right that have been unscathed - i.e. facing north or away from the rising sun or with a little overhead protection from trees.
Can send you cuttings anytime.
Glendoick sells it in the UK.
johnw
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a few things budding or opening....
Ledum... palustre?
Rhododendron tatsienense combining with the foliage of a red acer
Buds of R. hanceanum 'Canton Consul'
The glorious pink and white bud of the fabulously fragrant hybrid R. edgeworthii x lindleyi
Growth bud on R. elegantulum
fat R. racemosum flower head
Up to R h. rex ssp fictolacteaum buds
R. roxianum oreonastes bud
R. roxianum oreonastes... we call it "video nasty", which is a shame for such a little cutie :-[ :-X
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We have had three lovely days in a row...
R. 'Merganser'... the waxy bright yellow bells are a clearer yellow than they appear in this photo.
R. 'Egret' daintier bells than Merganser, whiteish and smaller
There is no doubt that many rhodos are flowering rather sparsely this year
Good to see someone isn't just lazing around taking pictures....
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Weeding after the washing ??? :o :D ;D
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John, that's a lovely thought and thanks, but no thanks. Our MAF would throw a fit, followed by throwing out the cuttings. There is a process to make it all possible but it involves paperwork to rival a govt. dept and literally thousands of dollars, for a quarantine facility which I don't have at present. So I'll just enjoy the pictures.
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Beautiful Rhoddies Maggi !
These species really are lovely !
Thanks for showing them :D
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A few shots from a friend's garden in Prospect Bay, about 20 minutes from Halifax toward the coast.
The Brodick form of praevernum was stealing the show this morning. What a great species, it has been in bloom since April 21 and still looking perky.
johnw
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Glorious! White flowers with blackcurrant markings... our favourite!
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Rhododendron oreodoxa in bloom in the south of Nova Scotia last Monday.
johnw
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One of the few dependable early yellow elepidotes is Bayport 80-5, a cross of aureum x Prelude. This one is a hybrid done by our local guru Cpt. Richard Steele, in bloom in the south Monday past. A glimpse of Magnolia sprengeri Diva in the rear.
johnw
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Finally the dauricums are just at peak on the coast just 30 minutes from Halifax near Peggy's Cove. Spring is just a bit later than here in the city as you can see.
johnw
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Maggi - Thanks for all the marvellous rhododendron pictures, I'm drooling over the ones you can grow so well.
How long have you had elegantulum? A lovely species.
johnw
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Insert Quote
Maggi - Thanks for all the marvellous rhododendron pictures, I'm drooling over the ones you can grow so well.
How long have you had elegantulum? A lovely species.
johnw
Thank you, John. I am besotted by the Ericaeae and Rhododendrons in particular. :)
Now then how long has R. elegantulum been here? Good question :-\ Well, it has been moved once and has been in its present spot for around twenty years, so, I suppose about twenty two or 23 yrs. It is about six foot high and about the same across the top growth. A very manageable size for even a smallish garden at that scale, I think. I love it because it is so oblignig about giving out of season flowers, and, of course, the foliage is good.
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A couple of updates on the plants shown earlier this month......
'Cowslip' is now fully open
As is 'Dora Amateis'
Here's a view across Dora Amateis in the back garden
Dora is so reliable I have her in the front garden too! Here she is with 'Karin' with large soft pink flowers
I think this is Patty Bee, or Ginny Gee or Wee Bee... they are all the same to me, I'm afraid! :-[
This is a good bright pink hybrid which we've had for a LONG time! It is 'Osmar' -- old German breeding, williamsianum blood
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Back to the back garden now.....
R. glaucophyllum Glenarn form....or is it the Branklyn form ::) :-X :-\ :-\
and closer....
This is another of Ian's seed raised plants, not sure what it is...mind you, I can say that of half the plants I did once know the names of, too.....three pix of shoots and the very sweet flowers
A view across from the glaucophyllum...
Across R. makinoi etc
Mixed leaves! From foreground...A yak hybrid 'Grumpy', a very motheaten hybrid which is about to get the chop and R. catawbiense, mostly!
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Here is a raised bed.....
and here is a little saluense type rhodo, whose name I cannot remember!
a closer pic of its flower
The Ledum I showed last week is more fully out now..
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Since muddled is my middle name these days, these plants may not be correctly named!
R. decorum shoots
R. fortunei discolor
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Maggi, is your little saluense rhodo calostrotum? My calostrotum 'Gigha' is looking good today. It always peaks about a week before the Aberdeen show. I notice from last year's photos that Princess Anne was at her best on April 24 last year but is about the same stage today this year.
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Yes, Roma, I think that it is calostrotum.... I have it, and a 'Gigha'..... do you think this is the Gigha form?
The other one is very overgrown and isn't flowering at the moment, I thought it might be Gigha, now I think about it.
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Roma, I do hope that you will have some other plants which will be peaking next week ... in perfect time for the Aberdeen show on the 17th May! We ( whisper this so no-one hears) have got nothing :-[ Unless you count a Cyclamen that is well past its best, a Ramonda which isn't out and a Syringa palbiniana in tight bud in a glazed decorative pot :P And I don't think anyone would count those :'(
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Maggi - looks like Gigha to me. Have lost it many times, someone said lime it. What do you do?
re: your Pattee Bee may bee Wee Bee. Here's a wee picture of Wee Bee from Jens.
Love your makinoi and I should have gotten one at the big rhodo sale today, they were gorgeous big plants grown by Briggs Nursery from the Species Foundation seed.
Ian's seedling may bee R. carolinianum, now R. minus var. minus, argh.
johnw
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Does Gigha have more blue to the leaves, than the type, then? I cannot think :(
We never add lime anywhere, John... I think that is why we have so much bother with the little daphnes outside, and some iris, and ,and, and ! :-X
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Now I think about it, Patty Bee is yellow, and I don't have it! I think it is Ginny Gee... she looks awful because she is overgrown. Wee Bee or To Bee or Not Too Bee (... is there a difference?) is squashed under a dwarf lilac.... its a bit pinker all over the flower than Ginny Gee, I think.
Interesting point about Carolianum/ minus..... we used to grow that, though it was given away to a friend making a new garden many years ago....I remember the growth habit as being much more compact... this is a tall, leggy creature!
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That's a great relief to me. Didn't want to have to say my `Patty Bee' is yellow :)
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Sorry, Lesley, glad we got that sorted out. It's all these ruddy Bees and Gees and Bee Gees... no, they're the band, aren't they? I CAN recognise them...and that is also worrying.... :-\
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I grow a few but there isnt much to show as all the flowers are hanging limp on the stems. They are not over just no water to keep them plump.
I have a question regarding 'Lady Alice'. Mine usually performs fantastically but for obvious reasons it's flowers are poor this year. The scent is still good.
I was in a brillant woodland garden yesterday, hello the lurking Ledshams!, where I saw a stunning 'Lady Alice' that was a rooted cutting from the parent plant. My plant has flowers that never open wide but this plant has wide open flowers. Is it possible one plant is wrong?
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Maggi - R. minus (as opposed to the former carolinianum) can indeed be a tall, very lanky beast.
I think the ee in question is one of the three you mention: Wee Bee, Too Bee or Not Too Bee. I lost track when there were only two of those.
Here are two shots of Ginny Gee, one when first planting rhododendrons in the south and a close up from Jens Birck.
Also a shot of the Rock form of calostrotum (Jens Birck photo - with disgustingly perfect foliage - oh, had to modify this post as I see a big bite out of one leaf!) with bluer leaves than I recall on my Gigha, but Gigha never really lived long enough here to display its potential and probably had it in some shade if I recall.
johnw - beastly cold wind blowing with drizzle and around 5c.
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Maggie, I think Ledum palustre nowadays is classified as a Rhododendron with the name R tomentosum. (At least her in Sweden, where it is one of our two wild growing Rhododendrons)
Here is a picture from today of my 'Ginny Gee' It is very light pink, almost white.
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John, I have calostrotum Rock form ,too... I know where it is :-\..... not good light for pic tonight.
Kenneth, yes, I know the Ledum is now a Rhodo, but I know Ledum better! :-[
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R. calostrotum ssp. ripariodes Rock's Form........
[attach=1] Ian has been "snapping" , it seems! See the Dianthus scrambling up through the rhodo!
[attach=2] closer to the flowers and foliage
Also its little "brother", R. calostrotum keleticum Rock 58
[attach=3]
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A question to the Rhodo-Specialists:
Is Rhododendron cinnabarinum ssp. xanthocodon easy to grow?
I found a picture of these superb yellow flowering species in a German garden magazine.
Thank you in advance.
Gerd
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Might I ask you rhododendron enthusiasts for your recommendations for, say, your top three rhododendrons for growing in a trough. Obviously, what I am looking for are very, very small rhododendrons, small foliage, small form, stay small etc.
Paddy
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'Wren' to train and prune to hang over a corner. Margaret Glynn has some tiny Rhodos in troughs
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A question to the Rhodo-Specialists:
Is Rhododendron cinnabarinum ssp. xanthocodon easy to grow?
I found a picture of these superb yellow flowering species in a German garden magazine.
Thank you in advance.
Gerd
Gerd - I haven't been able to buy one on the west coast that hasn't been infected with powdery mildew. Subsequently they die before I can get them planted. It is supposed to be hardier than cinnabarinum itself.
johnw
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Might I ask you rhododendron enthusiasts for your recommendations for, say, your top three rhododendrons for growing in a trough. Obviously, what I am looking for are very, very small rhododendrons, small foliage, small form, stay small etc.
Paddy
Paddy - there are so many possibilites in your climate. I would recommend lapponicum (the Japanese form is said to be easier, radicans (which has a horrible new name), camtschaticum in various colour forms, there is a very dwarf form of kiusianum and keiskei Yaku Fairy. I photographed this North Tisbury evergreen azalea hybrid at a friend's on Friday, it is the prostrate Alexander and it blooms in very late July here with salmon flowers - I guess it would be suitable for a larger trough; one of it's parent's is nakaharai and I have a witch's broom of it if you ever want a few cuttings sent.
Rhodothamnus chamaecistus is a very delectable thing that works well here - desparately slow though. there's a superb photo of it on Christie's website.
johnw
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Rhodothamnus chamaecistus is a very delectable thing that works well here - desparately slow though. there's a superb photo of it on Christie's website.
John, have you seen this one elsewhere on the Forum...?
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1741.msg44506;topicseen#msg44506
A wonderful Rhodothamnus shown growing in a Bavarian Garden.... like the proverbial weed! 8)
Is Rhododendron cinnabarinum ssp. xanthocodon easy to grow?
I found a picture of these superb yellow flowering species in a German garden magazine.
Gerd, as John says, this and cinnabarinum are very prone to powdery mildew. They do not do well here in north eastern Scotland..... I would look out for the wonderful hybrid made by Jens Birck, see his thread.... the plant called 'What a Dane'........ it seems much more robust.
Might I ask you rhododendron enthusiasts for your recommendations for, say, your top three rhododendrons for growing in a trough. Obviously, what I am looking for are very, very small rhododendrons, small foliage, small form, stay small etc.
Paddy, three little pink charmers.... R. pumilum.....R. cephalanthum crebreflorum .....R. dendrocharis 8)
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Rhododendron radicans is a perfect trough species, quite prostrate and just a very few centimetres high, maybe 5cms, in flower. The flowers are very like those of R. keleticum, above. Then there's R. keiskii ssp cordifolia. `Yaku Fairy is a selection of this but is (here) a much bigger plant than the parent which after 20 years is just 15 cms across and about 12cms high. The flowers are lemon yellow and in the winter the foliage goes a deep mahogany red, which beautifully sets off the apricot-coloured buds.
I think R. camstchaticum would also be very good in a trough though as yet I don't know how wide mine will be. The white form would be beautiful. Also RR. sargentianaum, trichostomum ledoides, hypenanthum..... and 'Oban,' 'Sarled,' 'Blue Cushion, 'Blue Steel'' etc. No end to them really.
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John, have you seen this one elsewhere on the Forum...?
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1741.msg44506;topicseen#msg44506
A wonderful Rhodothamnus shown growing in a Bavarian Garden.... like the proverbial weed! 8)
Oh my! That's the best I've seen. Barry Starling has done some wonderful intergeneric crosses with this and others ... Kalmiothamnus x ornithoma comes to mind, a multitude of Phylliopsis and Phyllothamnus etc etc
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Paddy, three little pink charmers.... R. pumilum.....R. cephalanthum crebreflorum .....R. dendrocharis 8)
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Superb and impeccable recommendations Maggi. The Glendoick selections of R. dendrocharis are hard to top - Glendoick Gem and G. Jewel and there may be one more. the Stones had a super dwarf, prostrate one as well. Perhaps it has made it across the Irish Sea.
johnw
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[iThen there's R. keiskii ssp cordifolia. `Yaku Fairy is a selection of this but is (here) a much bigger plant than the parent which after 20 years is just 15 cms across and about 12cms high. The flowers are lemon yellow and in the winter the foliage goes a deep mahogany red, which beautifully sets off the apricot-coloured buds.
Leslie - Tell us more, your source?
Sounds great, I would opve to get my hands on one so dwarf.
A fried had Yaku Fairy and lifted it every year by a few cms. until it became a little cascading mound. Might be worth a try.
Might add repens to the list too..........as you say the sky's the limit.
johnw
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and...... R. megeratum ........'Pipit'..... there are a few little lepidotum colour forms... awfully cute :D
Some of the smaller campylogynums.........R. complexum...........R. shweliense, even, for a few years, anyway...
then, if you fancy small plants but bigger flowers, R. pemakoense....R. pemakaoense patulum..... R. imperator ( we're back in the pinks again!)
I wouldn't be that keen on the R. keiskei and/or forms of it in a trough because here the foliage is never that good... you can overlook that in a garden setting but in a trough I think it would not look good enough here. Perhaps R. aureum, though the leaves are a little bigger...it would need a bigger trough to look in scale......I'm getting into my stride here.... how long a list would you like? ::)
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What do you mean Maggi, by "the foliage is never that good?" It's always fine here, neat and compact, well coloured in the cold, though all my dwarfs can be attacked by leaf roller if I don't keep a close eye. 'Oban' is particularly vulnerable.
John, my original keiskii ssp. cordifolia came to me in 1970, in the pocket of a Japanese gentleman called Kazuo Mori, when he visited NZ. We had corresponded for a few years and he brought a very nice selection with him, including Dicentra peregrina et al. He brought 3 tiny seedlings (of the rhodo), less than 1cm high and gave two to me and one to Byllee Hannan, long time secretary of what is now NZ Alpine Garden Soc. Byllee died later and I don't know what happened to her plants or garden.
My tiny two grew quite quickly to start with then very slowly for about 15 years before I had any seed though they flowered at about 5 years old if I remember rightly. I was able to give seeds to a couple of friends but never grew any myself for a long time. During all that time I moved house 5 times and always took the rhodo with me. It always took a couple of years to recover and start to flower again and a couple of times I came very close to losing it altogether from too dry summers. More than once it has spent a week sitting in a bucket of water.
It's doing well now though does need careful watering through the dry times and is going to flower well this year following a relatively poor year in 2007. In 2005 I had good seed from it and sowed some and sent the rest to Otto Fauser in Australia and some to SRGS. I'm hoping for more this year and will send some if you'd like it. Hand pollinating may help. The seedlings are growing on well and will be usable by the spring I think. Would you like to try a couple? Or even now while they could get going before your own winter?
According to Kazuo Mori when he gave me the seedlings, he said that they were from a single very compact plant that grows at the summit of Yakushima (Yaku Island) in Japan, and is valued for its very tight and compact habit. My present plant is a 20 yr old sdlg from the original.
Here it is today, just beginning to take on winter colour, and with about 25 trusses.
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Then one of the current seedlings (about 2 years old)
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And in flower, 2006
[attachthumb=3]
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Lesley, that is a very nice form you have there 8)
Here in North Eastern Scotland I find that all the keiskei, keiskei form rhodos tend to have poorly coloured foliage, they are very prone to being eaten by EVERYTHING..... and the leaf shape is often squinny... perhaps I just have poor forms, but I see this problem in other gardens, too.
I have R. keiskei...... keiskei cordifolia....... Yaku Fairy...... keiskei Ebino form...... a keiskei x Yaku Fairy back cross......
a larger hybrid called Yaku Princess, which I think was a Yaky Fairy x carolianum hybrid..... not great!
None do well enough for my liking here!
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Maggi - Are your keiskeis in full sun? That seems to cure the pest problem.
johnw
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The seedlings are growing on well and will be usable by the spring I think. Would you like to try a couple? Or even now while they could get going before your own winter?
Leslie - Selfed seed or even one seedling would be fantastic. I'll contact you directly.
With thanks for the pictures and history.
johnw
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Maggi, John,
Thank you both. Sensitive to mildew! This will be a reason for me not to plant the pure species.
Gerd
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Maggi - Are your keiskeis in full sun? That seems to cure the pest problem.
johnw
They were once, John! Doesn't seem to make much difference. :(
as to FULL SUN..... Bear in mind that this is Scotland ;) and most are now a bit overgrown :-[
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1 and 2 Here is keiskei cordifiolia... it is the best of those I have...the plant and a closer shot..
a few more from today...
3 and 4 R. bureauvii flowers above my head... not many flowers on this plant this year
5 This may be a faded Ginny Gee!!
6 A fuzzy pic of Axel Olsen... see chewed leaves >:(
7 The deep pink bud of R. glaucopyhllum Branklyn form
8 'Vintage Rose' a very nice Yakushimanum hybrid, has these super pink flowers
9 and 10 'Dusty Miller' one of my favourite Yak. hybrids.....great colour and habit, but also because Dusty was my spaniel :-*
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1 and 2 Some flowers and new growth.... such pretty combinations of bloom and leaf.....
3 The tall white shoot is gorgeous... it's on a plant with bullate leaves... pity is is being chewed by caterpillers :o
4 Lovely 'Maricee' is coming out
5 Another I cannot think of the name :-[
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as the rhodos grow together and through eachother, a wonderful patchwork emerges
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Your keiskii ssp. cordifolia seems to be ENORMOUS compared to mine Maggi.
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Your keiskii ssp. cordifolia seems to be ENORMOUS compared to mine Maggi.
Yours does look very neat, Lesley.
You can see the scale of this one by the Leucogynes leontopodium shoots in the foreground.....I suppose it is about 40cms by 45cms wide in the wider shot... it is only about 12-15cms tall though... it is growing on a mounded bed, so it appears taller than it really is because the ground is rising away from the eye.....front to back the plant is about 45 cms total and it spreads wider to each side to a total of about 68 cms.
That plant has been in that positon for 23 years.
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That should be "normal" then because I always understood that `Yaku Fairy' was a selected DWARF form (it's not a hybrid) whereas my `Yaku Fairy' is about 10 times as big as the other. Literally. I must be very fortunate to have this tiny form and must make a better effort to spread it around.
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Leslie - Somewhere here I have a slide of the original Yaku Fairy at Barry Starling's in Devon. 10 years ago it was about 1m across and very low, maybe 25cm. It would have been about 25-30 years old then.
Problem is Warren Berg grew the same seed and called one of his Yaku Fairy after the AM was presented to Barry as Warren reckoned they were the same! At the Rhododendron Species Foundation you will see the two side by side with the same name but a different accession number and source. No question Barry's true YF is the best. The only way to check yours is by the RSF acc. number. I hope the RSF gets this straightened out.
johnw
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And somewhere here, I have a short article in an old AGS Bulletin which tells about the origins and selection of `Yaku Fairy.' Of course I can't find it. My indices only go as far as Vol 30 so it must be after that. I seem to recall it was selected in the States, and it was maybe Tom Stuart who wrote about it, but the memory isn't 100 % reliable about such things. I'll try to fish it out sometime when I have nothing else to do. ;D (That isn't a grin actually, it's derisive, bordering on maniacal laughter.)
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Two eastern North American hybrids at a friend's garden this morning, both well worth growing. In Scotland I'm told these can be cantankerous, might suggest a very dry sunny area or maybe a scree even.
April Gem - the white, April Mist - the bi-colour. Both tend to be rangy it pots which make them a hard sell, very sad but they do fill out slowly with age.
I was tempted to yank those daffodils.
johnw
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And somewhere here, I have a short article in an old AGS Bulletin which tells about the origins and selection of `Yaku Fairy.' Of course I can't find it. My indices only go as far as Vol 30 so it must be after that. I seem to recall it was selected in the States, and it was maybe Tom Stuart who wrote about it, but the memory isn't 100 % reliable about such things. I'll try to fish it out sometime when I have nothing else to do. ;D (That isn't a grin actually, it's derisive, bordering on maniacal laughter.)
Leslie - I think Barry wrote a short article in the RHS (The Garden or RCM Group??????????) about 10 years ago clarifying the history of Yaku Fairy. Maybe because it was listed in the Cox catalogue or book without the introducer's name or as an American selection. He got the AM in 1970 ex cw seed from Kuromi Peak, YI.
johnw
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I've found an article by Barry Starling in an AGS Bulletin of June 1972, in which he describes (his) 'Yaku Fairy' and its origins. He describes it as being infertile but that the plants sent to America proved to set fertile seed (as mine does, both the very dwarf, and 'YF.') While I have every respect for BS and his great skills with Ericaceae and other plants, I don't think the "non fertile" tag is of much significance in distinguishing the UK and USA plants, as many plants grown under alpine house conditions (as his was) don't set seed while the same plant does, outdoors. Likewise, some quite difficult plants grown in the UK don't set seed while the same plants do here or, say, in America or Australia.
In view of the timing (mine was a good year old when I received it in 1970) it is likely that we all have the same plant. Although Barry Starling says plants were sent from Japan to both the UK and western USA, my own contact Kazuo Mori said that there was A SINGLE PLANT of this exceptionally small form with absolutely no variation in size, or colour, which tends to endorse the single plant comment. If so, the plants sent to both UK and USA would have to have been seedlings from plants raised in cultivation, or seedlings raised from collected seed of the one YI plant or cutting grown, in which latter case they were the same clone. The seedlings he brought to NZ were from his own plant which was cutting grown from the Yaku Island plant. (BS Describes this plant as occupying several square metres). But BS's 'YF' (in the illustration in the AGS Bulletin) looks identical to my 'YF' though of a much younger plant, whereas my very dwarf form is twice as old as my 'YF' and only a fraction of the size. As a seedling of my original from KZ, it has grown absolutely true to size, shape and flower and foliage colour.
[attachthumb=1]
This is my `Yaku Fairy' and its dimensions at the moment are 60cms in diameter and 15cms high. It is worth noting that while my 'YF' is less than 15 years old, it continues to grow a little each year - perhaps 2 or 3 cms across - while the smaller plant apparently stopped putting on extra size maybe 5 years ago. Also, that many species grow smaller in the UK than they do here. probably because of our milder climate. Narcissus species as an example, grow to around 20% taller here than in England, an annoying trait when their smallness is a good part of the attraction.
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Which is 'Lady Alice'? The last photo is mine. Unbelievable scent from mine and the other plant
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Great stuff everyone ! :o
What a wonderfully interesting thread this has turned out to be.
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Leslie - I think you have an important plant there in your super dwarf keiskei v. cordifolia. My point was mainly about 2 different plants from two different source getting the same name at the RSF. I hope they get it straightened out as YF should apply to only Barry's plant even though the WB plant is a fine one, Warren's crosses should never have been registered as YF crosses. I guess I'm a stickler.
I notice many rhodos do not produce good pollen in the alpine house and refuse to set seed. Interesting about BS' comments on the lack of seed on YF. That may have changed since he wrote the AGS article. My young YF from BS produces no seed and has never taken a cross, that I assume will change. PJM when it first came out was deemed sterile, after 10-15 years it started producing seed and a friend even got its pollen to take on keleticum.
Off to Prince Edward Island with a load of durian fruit in the car for a friend who has a Thai restaurant. I guess I will not be complaining about the Davidia smell by the time I get a few kms. out of the city. I hope it doesn't linger in clothes.
johnw
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Yeah, I did take your point John and by the time I'd finished my own post, realized the whole thing was so involved that it didn't mean much anyway. I should have deleted the lot.
Talking about being a stickler (me too, which is why I'd like to clear up the origin of my 'YF' but probably can't ever, the importer being long dead), would you care to notice on the left hand side of the page, how I spell my name? ;)
And tell me about the durians because I thought these are a tropical fruit which, with respect, may not fit Nova Scotia. I understand the durian has a superb flavour if you can get past the obscene smell?
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Lesley - Well the durians had just ripened on the tree in the yard so I took some to my friend.
Meanwhile re: YF. Kenneth Cox told me several years ago to let sleeping dogs rest on this one as the two will never be sorted out. I was doubly confused (I think) as I thought you were asking about the identity of your Yaku Fairy (WB or BS), I now realize you are talking about your cordifolia! I must have been suffering from pre-durian asphyxiation.
I said my young Yaku Fairy (BS) had never set seed here and that is true but as I was driving down the road I realized that I have a keiskei 'Fairy's Fairy' that was selected by Joe Brueckner for heat tolerance in Toronto, Ontario. It is no match for YF but has managed to survive there for 30 years and is almost as large now as the original Starling plant. It is Yaku Fairy (Starling) selfed, so it does self! Dogs may now snooze for a very long time.
And to be truthful the durians are flown in weekly from Vietnam or Thailand to grocers here. They even fly in Thai basil from Vietnam every Thursday morning - can you imagine! - and it is cheaper than regular basil grown locally. By the way the durians cost $30 each and my friend's wife who is pregnant has a craving for them; friend just rolled his eyes as I came through the door with them. I thought he might be serving them. Not a chance a durian would even come through our summers.
johnw
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The poor dog, while trying to snooze, must feel it's getting a daily kick in the ribs. I WAS talking about my ssp. cordifolia but was also wondering about my 'YF's origin so I too, was thoroughly confused - and confusing, without a doubt. I suspect my 'YF' came from Cox's because Jim Lecomte who supplied it here, imported regularly from Peter. So probably, whatever clone Cox has, I have.
If the durians wouldn't come through even your summers, how come they've ripened on a tree in your yard? Sorry. I'm not really trying to be nit-picking, just curious.
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The poor dog and durians............
If the durians wouldn't come through even your summers, how come they've ripened on a tree in your yard? Sorry. I'm not really trying to be nit-picking, just curious.
Lesley - I'm afraid I was pulling your leg in the opening sentence about the Nova Scotia durian crop. I recanted in the final paragraph - bought them locally at great expense.
I suspect Cox was selling the true Yaku Fairy way back in the 1970's. I doubt he ever had Berg's imposter.
Now I shall decant. And dogs may need one too.
johnw
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Oh dear, I must be losing it when I can't se when my leg's being pulled. Not as if I didn't have plenty of practice either, on this Forum!
Decanting's much more fun than recanting. ;D
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A shot of roxeianum Globigerum Group from earlier in the week. We cannot recall so many buds on this one ever.
The weather has been quite cool with little rain but just enough warm weather earlier in April to jump start the flowering of rhodos.
Heavy rain is predicted for Monday so perhaps it will make it across the pond to Mark and others suffering in a drought.
johnw
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Stunning roxieanum. It must be a fair age John?
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Stunning roxieanum. It must be a fair age John?
Lesley:
It must be about 20 years old now. I guess that puts my rooted cutting of it in a different light, I may have to give it to a teenager.
A good long show from this seedling dwarf dauricum ex selected pink. Have waited years to get a dwarf pink dauricum. From the leaves you would guess it to be a white.
johnw
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Here are two looking pretty today......
'Albert Schweitzer' is a robust hybrid, always giving a good show of large pink flowers
R. fortunei discolor is a spectacular plant... the foliage is good, new shoots eyecatching with their red bracts and the creamy flowers are large, glamorous and heavily scented......bliss!
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I love this thread it compensates a little for not having the space to grow some myself.
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R. fortunei discolor is a spectacular plant... the foliage is good, new shoots eyecatching with their red bracts and the creamy flowers are large, glamorous and heavily scented......bliss!
What a very beautiful Rhodo Maggi - I can almost enjoy the fragrance from here !
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Rhododendron {nuttallii x <[(dalhousiae x taggianum) x (dalhousiae x nuttallii)] x lindleyi>} in bloom in the greenhouse here. Very large flowers and a fragrance to match. Luc I wonder can you enjoy the fragrance from Nova Scotia?
johnw
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Wish I could John... wish I could ... but I have a bit of a cold at the moment... ;D