Rhododendrons 2014

[Robert]

John,

Thanks for the compliment. We also grow R. mucronulatum 'Mahogany Red'. For us it has an unruly growth habit and the color is "muddy". Maybe it is our climate or maybe the location of the plant.

I've used spiciferum in some hybrids. They will be blooming soon so hopefully I will be able to post photographs. They bloom heavily and are heat tolerant - too young to evaluate beyond this.

Good to hear that the Glendoick spiciferum hybrids do well for you. Very early flowering - do the flowers get frosted often? A problem with our early bloomers up the hill at the farm.

[johnw]

Robert - I agree Mahogany Red is a dog, rangy and the colour can be atrocious.  Of course the colour was marketed as if it would be like your semi.

The spicerum hybrids do flower perilously early with R. forestii Repens and things like 'Airy Fairy' and have seed them zapped in a late frost on a few ocassions.

I look forward to seeing your spiciferum hybrids.  I put spinuliferum pollen (a really good red form from Barry Starling) on mucronulatum v. taguetii (aka Cheju) and got very clear vibrant pinks but not the flower shape (at least so far) that I had hoped for.

johnw - beastly cold here today.

[Robert]

John,

Yea! The spinuliferum x Dwarf mucronulatum sounds good. Are the plants dwarf?

I've been used inbred lines of dwarf racemosum on spinuliferum. The dwarf racemosum is a poly-gene dwarf. Some of the inbred lines appear to behave like single gene dominate dwarfs (more testing is needed) and appear to pass the dwarf trait on to the progeny. This is from S1 (1 generation self) plants. I'm still progeny testing all the S1 lines and have started the S2 lines. I hope to have good photographs of these and some other interesting hybrids soon.

[Robert]

Rhododendron hemitrichotum is relatively new to us. We kept 3 plants from this seed accession; the first clone blooming now. It appear that this species will be extremely heat tolerant much as the other scabrifolia types are; the usual flush pink flowers, however the late blooming clone has the deepest pink coloration.

[Robert]

We have grown the Rhododendron spinuliferum hybrid for about 15 years now. Some years back in completely dried-out from drought and was thought to be dead. With water it came back to life and now stands about 75cm tall. It has good foliage, its very drought tolerant  , and takes the heat very well, however the flowers need improvement. It fertile both ways, a plus as a breeder.

'Lhotse' is a racemosum x polycladum hybrid. This was our first hybrid that got me thinking about dwarf, heat tolerant, easy-to-grow dwarf lepidotes for our climate. It will grow in ordinary garden soil without special effort, is dwarf (about 30cm tall), and very heat tolerant. We use it mainly as a breeder. We hope to have photographs of its offspring soon.

'Purple Cow' is another breeder, a racemosum x mucronulatum hybrid. It is very dwarf (about 30cm tall), compact, and produces masses of flowers. Like most F1 evergreen x deciduous hybrids it is semi-evergreen, not ideal at all, but a good breeder too. 'Purple Cow' has some good offspring too. They will be blooming soon too. 

[ian mcenery]

First of the season for me. R moupinense pink form

[Robert]

Ian,

Beautiful pink moupinense! We struggle with the whites from the RSF, but do get a few flowers. We have some seedlings coming on, maybe they will be happier.

First rhododendron to bloom for you this season? I look forward to more photographs as the season progresses.

[johnw]

John,
Yea! The spinuliferum x Dwarf mucronulatum sounds good. Are the plants dwarf?
I've been used inbred lines of dwarf racemosum on spinuliferum. The dwarf racemosum is a poly-gene dwarf. Some of the inbred lines appear to behave like single gene dominate dwarfs (more testing is needed) and appear to pass the dwarf trait on to the progeny. This is from S1 (1 generation self) plants. I'm still progeny testing all the S1 lines and have started the S2 lines. I hope to have good photographs of these and some other interesting hybrids soon.

Apparently a flowering Cheju x spin was found in the cold storage this afternoon.  I'll photograph it in the morning.

johnw

[Maggi Young]

Apparently a flowering Cheju x spin was found in the cold storage this afternoon.  I'll photograph it in the morning.

johnw

This sounds suspiciously like plant abuse, John......... ( not the photography part!)

[johnw]

This sounds suspiciously like plant abuse, John......... ( not the photography part!)

Abuse would be to have it outdoors this morning at -14c.....................I am no rush to out to photograph it.

johnw

[Robert]

Abuse would be to have it outdoors this morning at -14c.....................I am no rush to out to photograph it.

johnw

We could have used a little bit of that cold this winter. Not too much mind you. -14c would be abuse for us too. We wouldn't have anything to photograph at -14 except frozen plants and ice.

We are getting rain. 25cm in February and it is still raining. Maybe our drought will end.   

[Maggi Young]

 You may have a point there, John - I admit it.

Robert - I sincerely hope that your drought  will break.

[ian mcenery]

Ian,

Beautiful pink moupinense! We struggle with the whites from the RSF, but do get a few flowers. We have some seedlings coming on, maybe they will be happier.

First rhododendron to bloom for you this season? I look forward to more photographs as the season progresses.

Thank you Robert it's flowers last quite well most years as long as the frosts are mild

[Robert]

Ian,

Our location here in California is less than ideal for rhododendrons. 38C during the summer and our location, it is a frost pocket, makes it a challenge. I appreciate hearing the experiences of other gardeners and how there rhododendrons grow for them. Thank you for posting the photograph.

The maddenia type (johnstoneanum x moupinense) hybrid is flower bud tender, even at our Sacramento Valley home, where the winters are mild. The plant itself is cold hard for us, however we rarely get flowers in the open garden. I keep one in a container and enjoy the flowers every spring.

The last three photographs are a hybrid of a rhododendron we call 'Purple Cow' crossed with R. edgeworhtii. I made the cross thinking that it would be a breeder however it is looking pretty good to me. I've been waiting for the flower buds to open and it looks like it will be any day now. 

[Robert]

Robert - I sincerely hope that your drought  will break.

Maggi,

I know the UK has endured almost unending rain this winter with flooding, property damage, and too much suffering. It is such a blessing that we are getting raining now. We are at 40% of average now; we were at 10% at the end of January. Our rain totals now are at the levels of 1976 and 1977 the worst drought in our history. At the end of January the situation was extremely grim. I never thought that it could be a blessing to be at the 1976-1977 rainfall levels.