Rhododendron... every garden should have some

[glynnffc]

I've seen them in the RBG glasshouses,but not noticed them at Glendoick. I'll have to have a closer look.I'm sure my cool growing orchids wouldn't mind a bit of company.

[johnw]

I've seen them in the RBG glasshouses,but not noticed them at Glendoick. I'll have to have a closer look.I'm sure my cool growing orchids wouldn't mind a bit of company.

glynnffc - Glendoick may have a few up kicking around and not listed, likely in the g'house up at the main house.  If you ask the right person there I'd bet they'd accomodate you. 

johnw

[johnw]

Tom-  These saxifragoides hybrids seem to like cooler summers.  They have never looked better and this after a truly miserable summer.  I'd love to find saxifragoides itself.

Let's not discuss the cost of keeping a greenhouse just frost-free in this climate!  Just had a fill-up.

johnw

[Maggi Young]

http://www.glendoick.com/index.php?page=faq-indoors       ....... temptation aplenty, methinks!


http://www.vireya.net/

[TC]

As a change from the miserable weather, here are some shots taken in Crarae gardens on 1 May this year.  At the time, I couldn't be bothered downsizing them as I have no facility for batch processing.  After Crarae we went to Arduaine and then back to Lochgilphead for a look at the garden there. If I remember right, we had a chinese carry-out in the car park and then home for 2200.  A 200 mile drive with three gardens -I'm too old for this now!  We caught Crarae at the right time, all the paths had now been opened after years of closure for repair. I had not seen the Rh.Cinnabarinum grove in flower for years and was impressed with the size of the plants.  I can remember them in 1970 when they were about 4 feet high.  Now they must be about 10 feet.  Argyllshire, (my home county), is beautiful at this time of year-when the sun shines.

[Diane Whitehead]

How wonderful to still have cinnabarinums.  Most died from mildew here.

[johnw]

How wonderful to still have cinnabarinums.  Most died from mildew here.

Here the cinnabarinums get powdery mildew in pots but once they get into the ground it clears up.  I really don't understand this as these diseases have long since learned how to survive winters.

R. thomsonii in a tub was riddled with it and by spring it would be leafless. I bit the bullet and planted out what I considered to be only a tender breeding plant.  Here it is (the Ludlow & Sheriff form) some years later.

johnw

[TC]

I lost a heap of them about 30 years ago and then replanted small specimens obtained fairly locally from some of the Argyll gardens.  So far they appear healthy but a couple are rather shy in flowering.  My xanthocodon was planted about 5 years ago and produced its first trusses last Spring.  Now the plant is in full flower.  My Edgeworthii flowered well in the greenhouse. It was planted out 2 years ago and was cut to the ground by severe frosts.  I planted the roots in the glasshouse and amazingly it grew again so I re potted it, put it outside and brought it back in the unheated glasshouse last Autumn.  It survived the first frosts but the long spell in February did for it again.  I pruned it to the ground again and put it out in a sheltered shady spot.  It has grown again and will be brought into the house if the frosts hit us again.. It deserves better treatment than it has been given in the past.  The strange thing is that the Maddenii group seem hardier than this Edgeworthii.  In all the gardens I visited this year, the Edge. were the most damaged.   

[johnw]

Tom - The Maddennia certainly have some surprises.  A friend nearby cannot grow cinnabarinum and yet 'Lady Chamberlain' (a cinn x Madd x) sits in full sun in howling gales and even manages to open a few flowers most years.  it is indeed puzzling.  The cinns (at least the hardy ones that survive & tender ones in pots) need to reach 5 feet before any chance of a bud in these parts.

I'd bet your edgeworthii would settle in nicely once it gets to a certain size.  I think Glendoick sells a neat dwarfer one.

Thanks for the Crarae shots.

johnw - already -2c at 21:00.

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[ronm]

I have been given a pot of, quite mature, Rhododendron campylogynum myrtillioides. Not in my field at all, but as it was going to be thrown away, I accepted it gratefully. Any growing tips please?

[Maggi Young]

Thrown away? A dwarf rhodo? Threatened with the dump?   Utterly shocking... well done for rescuing it.  

This is a really super little rhodo. I'm supposing that since it is in a pot and was going to be thrown out, it may not be in the best of health right now.
It is a plant that can be grown in a pot and will make a stunning show plant in good order.

See this link to forumist Mike Ireland's picture of this plant at Calphotos to see just how floriferous this little charmer can be: http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0808+0296

 You don't get much better than that!

Diane Clement shows the plant in her Midland Gardener's blog too:
http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Midland/+May+/280/


Here in NE Scotland this plant would do in quite a sunny situation. I an area where the weather gets very hot and dry it might prefer a slightly shaded position. If the rescue plant is in poor condition, I'd keep it out of too much cold and bad weather meantime, protected under a hedge, perhaps?
 Plant it out (when the spring is truly springing)  enriched with good leaf mould and in a free draining spot.
Some bone meal amongst the leaf mould seems to be enjoyed by them here.
If the foliage is looking a bit yellow  and grotty (the leaves should in good health be mid to dark green, aromatic when crushed and generally shiny) give the plant a dose of MirAcid feed  or Vitax Q4 .

The little plummy pink thimble flowers have a dusky bloom on them and are just delightful.

The plant is slow growing, beautiful and pretty tough.... worthy of a place in your garden I am quite sure.  

[ronm]

Thats great Maggi. Thank you.
It is not in the best of health, but I will do as you say and hopefully it will become, if not a show stopper, another stray to find a place here. I'll show it the picture of Mike Irelands plant.

[ronm]

Maggi, I've never used Vitax Q4, but notice it isn't advertised as being for Ericaceous plants. Obviously it must be OK for Rhododendron, ( as you recommend it! ), but can it be used as a feed for non ericaceous plants also?

[Maggi Young]

We used to give all our shrubs and trees a treat of Vitax Q4 in the dim and distant past, Ron... when we could afford such things. The general border plants seemd to appreciate it also.  Allotment owning chums used it on their tomatoes, too, as I recall...  we weren't growing food crops when we used it  so I cannot speak for that personally.