Rhododendron... every garden should have some

[TC]

 I am in the same boat.  Last weeks warm weather has accelerated the flowers on the Rhoddies.  The buds on many of them are just about to burst open.  This year my Johnstonianum has set masses of buds and it promises to look good.  However, the temp. is set to drop drastically and we are on the cusp of the snow line over the next few days. I think that the main problem will be a searing cold wind from the North.  This trashes the flowers even more than frost.  I have moved Lady Alice Fitzwilliam into the greenhouse as I am determined to have one scented variety to sniff.  If the weather does manage to see-off some of my choicer specimens, it means more trade for Glendoick !

[Diane Whitehead]

There are perfect rhodies for anyone who worries about frost damaging
flowers.

 A 20 year old R. boothii  hadn't flowered yet for a friend, so he gave it
to me to see if it would like my garden better.  It didn't, and when a Douglas
fir fell on it after I had had it for twenty years, I was not upset.

This is aureum, which I bought as a seedling in 1974.  It has not flowered
yet, but I'm not giving up yet.  It doesn't take much room, and the leaves
are pleasing.

[Hoy]

We escaped damage last night.... only rain. what a relief. Visitors coming today, Pam Eveleigh,(PrimulaWorld) currently the SRGC Travelling Speaker, and President Liz Mills.... at least they'll see flowers not 'teabags'.

We did not! I am not at home though but I know there was frost the two last nights and some of my bigger rhodos are in full flower. I am anxious to what I'll find when I come home

Here's a truss (or two) of sutchuenense (or a hybrid) taken some days ago.

[johnw]

Diane  - I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but your aureum must be mis-labelled.  However it is one very smart looking rhododendron.

Here R. aureum grows very slowly but it sets buds as very young plants - even as rooted cuttings -  and is one of the first to flower.  The leaves are unmistakeble.

Here is a pic of it here in Nova Scotia (this one ankle high) plus an unbelievably spectacular one at the Milde Arboretum in Bergen complete with Jens Birck. The latter was planted on a mound.

johnw - 0c and sunny

[johnw]

Diane - I cannot get your plant out of my head.   I see something in it that is very familiar, something I had or something I recognize.  So much for gestalt if it can't produce a name.  Perhaps a sane person will come to the rescue.   

johnw

[birck j c]

At the present I don't think that I am a "sane" person
as everything here has turned into thebags, they promised -5C
we got -3C but that was enough to ruin it all.

The plant.
At first I thourght of aureun var. hypopithys as it look like this
when I grow it 25 years ago, but no.
So my guess would be something like 50% aureum in there, it does look
like some hybrids I grow in the garden. Bare leg'ed and only this years foliage on top.
birck

[Diane Whitehead]

Bare leg'ed and only this years foliage on top.

I'm the one that removes the old foliage as it always looks awful.

Edit on May 11:  yes, I've remembered the wrong name.  My aureum died, and the one in the picture
is clementinae.  Not quite as old - it was a seedling in 1980, but still no flowers.  Now I must put a
label on it.

[birck j c]

Bare leg'ed and only this years foliage on top.

I'm the one that removes the old foliage as it always looks awful.

This just confirm my guess of 50% aureum.
birck

[Roma]

Rhododendrons on Sunday before the snow

Rhododendron trichostomum
Rhododendron hippophaeoides 'Haba Shan'
Rhododendron hippophaeoides Yu
Rhododendron 'Phalarope', 'Princess Anne' in bud and a purple whose name I've forgotten

[johnw]

Bare leg'ed and only this years foliage on top.

I'm the one that removes the old foliage as it always looks awful.

This just confirm my guess of 50% aureum.
birck

This is indeed a puzzling one. In 50% aureum hybrids  - at least here - one can see aureum in the leaf but not in this one.  The only sign I see of aureum is the dormant growth bud on the shoot at the centre of the photo.  Would you agree Jens?   What would you think of aureum x thomsonii?  Trying to think of a species in flower at the same time as aureum.  Of course no reason it couldn't be aureum x a hybrid.  

The leaves seem fairly big for an aureum hybrid. Remember Jens we saw aureum x rex at Borje's and the leaves we not very large.

It will be interesting to see the flowers whenever they apear Diane.

johnw

[Diane Whitehead]

It will be interesting to see the flowers whenever they apear Diane.

johnw

Yes.  Most of my family made it into their 90s, so I might still be around.

[birck j c]

The most "look alike" I can come up with is this Nikomontanum
(aureum x brachycarpum) almost same spoon shaped foliage as i the photo
from Diane.(801)

And for foliage size (805)
1 + 2   aureum cw from Wada 30+years ago
3 + 4   aureum cw from Doi
5         brachycarpum v. roseum , very spoon shaped foliage.

Last photo of (aureun x rex)  the flowers was a disapointment
as they were easyly brown spotted by raindrops.
The size of the foliage was   very varied in this cross I did 30 years ago.

birck   

[johnw]

Thanks Jens. Do you think this foliage is noy too big for xnikkomontanum?  Somewhere I have the Kernehuset form of xnikko so I will have to take a look at it.  I suppose being aureum x brachycarpum it could vary greatly and so this sounds like a reasonable assumption but something does not look quite right.

Jens - your pic of xnikkomontanum. Might be Kernehuset's.

Diane  - we look forward to photo of this in flower.  You may have to send it down to me though.

aureum x rex  - Pretty good for an F1, just needs another dab of rex pollen!

johnw

[Maggi Young]

Just a note that there are rhodos in this Bulb Log thread.....http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8819.0

enjoy!

[birck j c]

Size- I think its very difficult to get acurate info from a picture.
Second who is the father if  it is a hybrid.
So we just have wait for the flower to come, and yes we might both be down
there waiting for a photo to pop up.

Here a photo of my nikko foliage together with a brachycarpum v. roseum( the smaller one)

birck