Rhododendrons 2014

[Steve Garvie]

Rhododendron sutchuenense




Unfortunately a sharp frost claimed the flowers the night after this image was taken! 

[johnw]

Steve  - That certainly is a sensational colour. Is it a named or numbered form?

johnw

[Steve Garvie]

Thanks John!
It was purchased from Glendoick as a young plant about 15 years ago -unfortunately the original label has long gone so I have no further details.

[Robert]

A good form of R. davidsonianum. It is almost 40 years old now - 3 meters tall x 2 meters wide. It puts on a good show every spring and is not bothered by the summer heat.

[Graham Catlow]

I don't have a name for this.
It has taken some 15 years waiting to get a display like this. It has had one or two flowers occasionally but has 16 this year.

[Robert]

I don't have a name for this.
It has taken some 15 years waiting to get a display like this. It has had one or two flowers occasionally but has 16 this year.

Graham,

Beautiful big leaf Rhododendron. I hope someone comes along who can ID it - not one of my strong points. 

Rhododendron luteum has started blooming at our farm. The first photo is a nice lemon yellow seedling growing near R. reticulatum - a great color combination.

R. luteum 'Golden Comet' is near by. All of our R. luteums also have great autumn foliage, a bonus. 

[Robert]

The Azaleas at our Sacramento Valley garden are now at their peak bloom.

'Tatiana' is one our 'Pearl Series' Deciduous Azaleas - dwarf (1M or less), early blooming, and fragrant is possible.

'Tatiana' was first named after a Siberian tiger at the San Francisco zoo. Now she is part of the Pearl Series named after Praskovia Ivanovna Kovalyova Zhemchugova and the other stars of the opera company, Tatyana (or Tatiana, The Garnet) being one of them.

R. occidentale 'Early Cream Pink' is one of a group of early blooming forms of R. occidentale found in the Feather River Canyon. We will post more on this group later. This season with the extremely warm temperatures she is very faded. She is generally very creamy yellow with much more pink.

R. austrinum x altanticum is one of the parents of 'Tatiana'.

Last, a very nice seedling from R. flammeum 'Hazel Hamilton'.

[Robert]

Two more:

R. austrinum x 'Gibraltar'

Azalea 'Sunrise' an Earl Sommerville hybrid.

[ian mcenery]

I don't have a name for this.
It has taken some 15 years waiting to get a display like this. It has had one or two flowers occasionally but has 16 this year.

Graham it looks a little like R montroseanum to me

[johnw]

A feather in your hat Ian.  Steve at the RSF agrees, montroseanum it is indeed.

johnw

[johnw]

Whoops, may need that feather back. I should have read the whole email from Steve at the RSF:

"Beautiful plant - and the rhody is not too shabby either! That is a dead-ringer for montroseanum other than it is growing in your climate (I am assuming) and the stigma is discoid vs. capitate. This last feature tells me that perhaps there is a bit of calophytum blood in this beast which would, of course, give it some hardiness. Remarkable resemblance to montroseanum however, both in flower color and foliage."

I have written to Steve to tell him the plant is growing not growing here in NS.  We'll see if the possible hybridity with calophytum still holds.

johnw  - Hurricane force winds on the way and 45cm of snow.  Winds at Wreckhouse over in Nfld. may hit 180km/hr.  The snow has just started.

[Robert]

Below is a sampling of the early blooming forms of R. occidentale we found in the Feather River Canyon more than 10 years ago. I was aware of this group of plants from fishing trips in this area, however it took about 30 years before I finally investigated this population. They are growing on a south facing cliff / slope with a spring / seep providing water during the dry season. Many of the plants grow in full sun. 40C+ temperatures during the summer are common. There is a range of blooming times in this population, the first blooming 1 1/2 months before most populations in this area.

The interior California populations of R. occidentale are very different from those found in Coastal California. I have never had much success growing the coastal forms in our garden. The interior forms thrive! Even in our Sacramento Valley garden. So far many of the selections also have excellent crimson-red fall foliage. Our interior plants do not have the color range one finds on the coast, but the heat washes-out the colors on the coastal forms when they do manage to bloom. 

[Robert]

An addition: This is the cliff face one has to traverse to visit the R. occidentale colony. A plant that I named 'Cliff White' grows at the top of this cliff growing out and over the edge. When it blooms it is very much like a beacon, and can be seen from quite a distance.

[Lesley Cox]

John (W) here is a picture for you and I'd like your thoughts please. These are three of the half a dozen seedlings from the seed you sent to me, as Rh. mucronulatum, dwarf form. They haven't flowered yet but are very small and compact with rounded leaves rather than the pointed leaves of the larger mucronulatum, and they are quite hairy while the larger one has just about glabrous foliage, so I wondered if there is a possibility they are something else, in which case, what?

[johnw]

Lesley - I think I had mentioned that there was a good possibility that the dwarf mucronulatum seed may have the larger muc. as father.  In that case you would have to selected out the dwarf ones.  However the seed must have been selfed as the three plants you show are pure dwarf mucronulatum v. taguetii.  It is a superb form of the species and if you can situate one up high in the garden to view the marvellous fat trunk you will be pleased.

Here are self-sown seedlings in troughs and about.  BTW the mother plant was received as R. mucronulatum 'Cheju' or Cheju but is now named mucronulatum v. taguetii 'Cheju' or simply mucronulatum v. taguetii; I must check which is correct.

johnw