Rhododendron... every garden should have some

[johnw]

R. auriculatum

They flowered a bit earlier than usual in southern Nova Scotia.  From July 31, 2012 the first and third shots are of a Peter Wharton collection made in Guizhou in 1994 with very big flowers.  Not quite 20 years old the plant is a monster, over 4 meters high and so one cannot poke one's head into that fragrant truss.  The bud just about to open was from UBC seed.

johnw

[Hoy]

The plants look very healthy and nice, John!

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hi,
I'm not a specialist but took this pic in LYON's BG. The plant is settled in a cool glass house along with CAMELLIAS.
Hope it'll be of interest.
JP

[SusanS]

Hi everyone,
I am looking for a recommendation for a rhododendron to include in a planting scheme for college and was wondering if you can help. 

Currently we are revamping the shade border, after some serious pruning of adjacent trees  the border is now partially shaded rather than deeply shaded.  We are looking to fill in the gaps within the existing border and plant up an extension to the border.  I would really like to put in Rhododendron 'Polar Bear' but at an eventual height of 5metres it is a little too large for the area I have been assigned.

Can anyone recommend a really good clean white Rhododendron which is evergreen, scented and preferably very free flowering over a long period but which will reach a maximum of 2.5 - 3.0metres in height?

Thanks in advance
Susan 
PS I am hoping to update the college thread some point this year but as you an tell by my absence college has really picked up the pace!  But I am still smiling and enjoying it.

[zvone]

Hi Susan!
   
My rhododendrom is something analogous...

Send for "sample"




More Pictures : http://zvonem.blogspot.si/

Best Regards!  zvone

[SusanS]

Thanks zvone , it is a lovely looking plant, but I think the pink blush will look wrong amongst the other planting. 

The border already contains several rhododendrons and camellias, all of which are deep pink, whilst the adjacent winter stem border has plants with vibrant stems.  So I think any additional plants introduced to the scheme will also need to be bold, white (and possibly yellow) flowers would blend best I think.

Has anyone grown Rhododendron 'Sappho' or 'Silver Sixpence'?  Not quite the clear whites I am after but the best I've managed to find upto now.

Susan 

[Maggi Young]

I  grew 'Sappho' for a few years - then gave it to a friend needing a good sized plant to furnish a new garden.   It flowered well from a young age and the flowers, white with a big "blackcurrant jam" blotch, are quite showy. The foliage is pretty standard, no excitment there, but that may not be a drawback in the position you have outlined.

It was the dark purple blotching in the flowers that attracted me in the first place.

[Diane Whitehead]

auriculatum

or how about Pieris - a shrub that does something interesting in all seasons.

[Lesley Cox]

Can anyone please identify this Rhodo for me? It is about 16 years old now and maybe 2.5 metres in height but has been forced up somewhat by its surroundings. The truss is roughly globular and is about 18cms from top to bottom and from side to side. There is very light spotting but not on every flower. Possible names might include 'Halfdan Lem,' 'Lem's Monarch' and 'Trude Webster' which I remember bringing with me to this garden but some have gone elsewhere in the meantime. It could be something else quite different as well. I plan to move it so would like a name. Thanks.

[johnw]

Lesley

Trude Webster it is for sure, pronounced Trood/Trewd.  Monstrously big.  Is it staying or going?

Halfdan Lem is a big rosy red with black green leaves and Lem's Monarch is a bicolour - see pix from a few years ago.

johnw

[SusanS]

auriculatum

or how about Pieris - a shrub that does something interesting in all seasons.

Thanks Diane, auriculatum looks spot on.  I am planning on putting some Pieris in elsewhere in the border, as you say it's a good all round plant.

Thanks for your help everyone.
Susan 

[Lesley Cox]

Thank you John. I though Trude was probably the most likely as I remember Lem's Monarch in particular as being taller than wide, in the truss, though I may be MIS-remembering. Anyway I'm very pleased to know thanks, and she will be going. I think 'Halfdan Lem' may already be in the garden we should be moving to. I say should be, because... I'll PM, it's rather complicated.

[johnw]

Can anyone recommend a really good clean white Rhododendron which is evergreen, scented and preferably very free flowering over a long period but which will reach a maximum of 2.5 - 3.0metres in height?

Susan  - See my posting (reply 510), our auriculatums from Peter Wharton's collection in Guizhou are already past your maximum required size.   I reckon they'll get another meter or two high; add a meter or two to the height to get the width.  In short they're monsters.  To quote Alleyne Cook who moved a giant auriculatum from the Royston Nursery on Vancouver Island to the Ted & Mary Greig Garden in Vancouver.  At Royston he noted: "The auriculatums were, in 1951, 26 feet high. That is about one foot a year. received a First Class Certificate (F.C.C.) in 1946 but no one ever knew which bush the truss came from."... "The big one, moved from the Royston Nursery on Vancouver Island, measured fifteen feet high and fifty feet in circumference, and carried 8,000 flowers."

Would hemsleyanum or diaprepes 'Gargantuan', both late ones, fill the bill?  Even one of the Royston hybrids might do and I think Glendoick might still have one or two of them.

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

'Polar Bear' is a fantastic rhodo but again, probably too tall ultimately. It flowers very late - Christmas time here and even January and is pure white and fragrant.

[SusanS]

Susan  - See my posting (reply 510), our auriculatums from Peter Wharton's collection in Guizhou are already past your maximum required size.   I reckon they'll get another meter or two high; add a meter or two to the height to get the width.  In short they're monsters.  To quote Alleyne Cook who moved a giant auriculatum from the Royston Nursery on Vancouver Island to the Ted & Mary Greig Garden in Vancouver.  At Royston he noted: "The auriculatums were, in 1951, 26 feet high. That is about one foot a year. received a First Class Certificate (F.C.C.) in 1946 but no one ever knew which bush the truss came from."... "The big one, moved from the Royston Nursery on Vancouver Island, measured fifteen feet high and fifty feet in circumference, and carried 8,000 flowers."

Would hemsleyanum or diaprepes 'Gargantuan', both late ones, fill the bill?  Even one of the Royston hybrids might do and I think Glendoick might still have one or two of them.

johnw

aahhhhh - so those helpful websites that told me it would get to 2m in 10 years - were technically telling the truth, they just omitted to say that after 10 years it would carry on getting bigger.  Sneaky 

The Yak x hemsleyanum cross 'Helen Everett' sounds good slightly smaller than I originally wanted but will fit in very nicely with the rest of the scheme.

Thanks for you advice
Susan