Rhododendron... every garden should have some

[ian mcenery]

Hi Maggi and Martin Not a very good picture but here is my Polar Bear had it for about 20years and now now like a small tree. While its great to get a rhodo fix in August usually it coincides (except this year) with a hot spell which ruins the flowers but this year it has been great and yes the scent is wonderful. It is though a wonderful foliage plant and has a tree like shape making it worth all the effort

[Martin Baxendale]

Hi Maggi and Martin Not a very good picture but here is my Polar Bear

Ian, a better pic than my truss close-up for showing the elegance of the tree-like mature plant. I agree it has nice foliage and looks very architectural as a small tree. In fact I took off the multiple lower branches about 5 years ago to turn mine into a proper little tree with a clean 6ft trunk, and it looks really nice like that - a very neat little tree not spreading too widely and with quite open, widely spaced foliage that doesn't cut out too much light.

[ian mcenery]

Hi Martin funny you should trim the tree I myself did that after seeing it at Burncoose garden. Thoughto be truthful I think it was pretty much going to do that itself. When I planted it it had plenty of space but it R Loderi, R macabeanum and Hydrangea villosa not far away so something will have to give.

[Martin Baxendale]

I forgot to mention that my Rhodo. 'Polar Bear' is growing in a large tub, so is staying particularly neat (though still tall). I know, I know. It sounds like madness to grow big rhodos in containers but on my limestone soil I have little choice.

Surprisingly the big rhodos like Polar Bear, fortunei and the Loderi forms survive reasonably well root-bound in large tubs. It seems to have a slight bonsai effect on them, stopping them getting too huge, but they still flower well and need surprisingly little watering to keep them alive. I just wait till the leaves droop in hot weather then give them a watering can and they pick right up again.

The one problem is that the foliage never looks quite as dark and healthy as it should. But then it'd probably look a lot worse if they were in the open garden where their roots would soon spread out of any special lime-free compost pockets.

By the way, am I mis-remembering or is Polar Bear a grex, just the name for any seedlings between the two species? And if so, do Glendoick (where I got mine) therefore hand-pollinate and raise Polar Bear from seed? In which case all seedlings will be a little bit different. Or maybe I am remembering wrong. Better check the books!

[ian mcenery]

Martin in a pot?    That's very cruel keeping it in captivity perhaps you should release it into the wild. 

[Martin Baxendale]

Glendoick's latest rhodo catalogue just arrived. No. No. I...must...not...buy...more...rhodos...for...small...limestone...soil...garden...I...must...not........just one or two couldn't hurt.   

[Joakim B]

Dear Rhodo lovers
I am thinking on giving my mother in law a rhododendron or two but know the soil is not that great and now I wonder about if it i possible to use dried pine needels of different kind as well as some bags of "soil for acid lovers" from the garden center. The soil is most likely lime since it is clay and the color of terra cotta if You know what I mean. I have the idea that neeles are slightly acid even as dry and hence would try to help against the more limey soil.The pine needles would atleast make the soil a bit more "airy" and mabe make the dranage better. I have 50 liter of needles and can sweep up more if needed.
I am also wondering if the Rhodos can stand the full sun or if they want to have shade. Here the azaleas are getting full sun and seem to love it. They are in pots/planters.
I have based the idea that the soil is limey sice all Hortensias are pink. Still bearded garden iris thrive here. Planted in better soil and not directly in the "terra cotta clay".
For 5€ a pice I would love to get a read one and a white one. There are a rhod ain the garden only 3 times bigger than the ones I am hoping to buy but it has been like that for 30 years and only with adding some "acid soil" it now started to flower.

Is there anything I should think of when chosing the plant? They are garden center hybrids but might be slightly different.

Happy for advice and suggestions.

BTW the azaleas are doing a usuall second flowering and it is starting to be very nice pics to come.

Kind regards from a sunny and hot Portugal
Joakim

[Maggi Young]

Rhododendrons in clay soil in sun in Portugal is not what I would think of as ideal, Joakim.However, if there are already Azaleas doing well in pots then why not? Certainly an ericaceous compost for acid lovers bought from the garden centre will help. Pine needles are not usually very acid when they are newly fallen, though the acidity rises as they compost.  It is possible to grow pretty large rhodos in containers... see Martin's comments about his 'Polar Bear' ... if they can be fed with rain water that is not limey then that is a great help..and rhodos like lots of water, especially when they are making new flower buds and growth. I would be prepared to give them some shade in portugal, this is not something we need to worry about here in Aberdeen, or anywhere else in Scotland, for that matter!
When you are buying them at this time of year, you will need to rely on the labels to see the flower colour but I recommend that you make a choice as much for the foliage as the flowers... after all, you look atthe leaves for all the year, so a little excitment from them is good.... a very plain, green leaved rhodo is fine when you have hundreds of different ones, but when there are only one or two, more "fancy" leaves are a great bonus. Also, some of the smaller, dwarf rhodos... smaller in overall stature and with tiny leaves, can be very attractive in pots because they can acheive a sort of 'bonsai' look, that is, they can look like a very handsome, mature plant when not very old.
Hope this helps,
Maggi

[ashley]

Joakim, as Rhododendron ponticum baeticum is a wild plant in parts of Portugal it must certainly be possible to grow others. 
Just take care they don't behave as ponticum does here (and in western Scotland), and good luck!

[mark smyth]

and all of Ireland too! In the south west of Ireland acreas and acres of R. ponticum are being removed. It's a curse on the land of private land owners also

[Joakim B]

Thanks for the respone and answer Maggi
I did not see much variation of the foliage where I bought mine but some there is. I will come back with pics and also names of the plants.
I have thought hard and long and realized it would be better to grow in pots so I wonder what substrate to use.
I only have a little of pre-made acid substrate but I have more gardensoil with pH5.5-6.5 so sligtly acid as well as pine needles and peat and coarse seasand (will be washed salt free) and expanded burnt claypebbles (Lecca type). Would a combination af the garden soil with a bit of peat and needels be a good substrate? the neeles is to make the substrate more freedraining to compenste for the peat.
I also have styrofoam to add as an inert part of the compost if needed.
Any suggestions are happily recieved as I think I need to plant them to night.

If there is only the option of getting more pre-made stuff (acid soil) that can also be arranged but not that happily.  Scientist wants to make own soil and also cheap (worse than any Yorkshire man) but I try not to "save a peny lose a pound" even if that happens .

Ashley and Mark thanks for the comments of the pomticum.
I have seen it from roadside and it can be thik layers of it here so I presume that with a bit more moistre it will be even happier. I liked it it was a nice pink or lavender colour if I recollect correctly.

Kind regards
Joakim from a cloudy Portugal

[Maggi Young]

Joakim, your rhodos should be fine in such a substrate as you describe. Water  with rainwater if you can and make sure that they do get plenty water. You are correct, fre-draining compost is very important. Good luck!
 Maggi

[Joakim B]

I have now planted my Rhododendrons.
I hope it is free-draining. I watered it last evening so it was soaking and now it is humid not really wet so I presume that is free-draining. I also planted some tulips Queen of the night that I got from my sister-in- law that was in Holland.
The rhododendrons are one white Cheer from the caucasicum group and one more reddish John Walter (I always think of it as Johnny Walker so I have to look twice to wrire correctly the name). The read that was there had lost most of its buds so I passed on that one.
Here are the pics on how it looks.

PS they has seed heads so I wonder if they flowered again in early Autumn or it takes a looong time to develop seeds on rhods so that it is the narmal spring flowes that now set the seeds?

Kind regards
Joakim

[Maggi Young]

The seedheads will be from spring time. They take a long time to develop. These are rhodos that I would suggest you dead-head in future to keep them neat and promote quick regrowth after flowering.
Is the one you call white Cheer, perhaps Christmas Cheer? This is a pale pink flower which fades white... it does not flower at Christmas, though it can be as early as late January, February. 'John Walter' is a good old red variety which will flower in late April/ May. They should both be happy in their pots, they will need plenty water. It looks like there are quite a few flower buds there waiting for next year, you Mother-in -law will be delighted with them, I am sure.

[Joakim B]

Thanks for that information Maggi
Here is the name tag of Cheer.
I will take away the seed heads.
I had the feeling that it is white with pink "outside" but maybe slight pinkish.
The mother-in-law was happy.

Kind regards
Joakim