Rhododendron sp.

[WimB]

Here's a pic of a Rhodo which is flowering now in my garden, it grows very slowly and is only 10 cm in height. Anyone knows which species this might be?

[Maggi Young]

Hi Wim, your wee azalea is perhaps a R. kiusianum or  maybe one of the hybrid Kurume types (R. obtusum and R. kiusianum) though they tend to be larger.

[WimB]

Thanks again, Maggi. Now I remember buying R. kiusianum.

[Maggi Young]

I see in another thread John W is suggesting R. nakaharai as a possibility, too... yes, it could well be that! Especially since yours is so short.

[WimB]

Yes, I bought both of them so I'll have a look which one it could be.

[Lesley Cox]

I was thinking along the lines of R. hakaharai too. The flower shape is a little different from kiusianum. It's for little plants like this that we badly miss the late Jim Lecomte. He introduced many such, but where are they now? Certainly not in any nursery I know of and I can't think of a single garden where I've seen this one lately.

[johnw]

Wim - This may help. Here is a North Tisbury nakaharai hybrid called 'Late Love' in flower here now. It's about a week to ten days earlier than normal, the colour is a bit more reddish than shown.  It stands only 30cm high x 1 meter wide after 25 years.  Also the foliage of another NT hybrid called 'Michael Hill'; it flowered 2 weeks early and is completely prostrate.  The latter's foliage is typical of nakaharai.

A few of my own nakaharai hybrids are still to flower and nakaharai itself will be the last.

johnw

[WimB]

Thanks everyone, it is a nakaharai hybrid.