Rhododendron 2015

[Steve Garvie]

Amazing rhodo's everybody ! 

I'm very excited with the first flowering of the very dwarf Rhododendron lowndesii on my little peatbed.

Superb and very well-grown Luc!!!

[Matt T]

What a gorgeous wee plant, just fantastic, Luc.

One new acquisition in flower here is Rhododendron keleticum, planted in an ericaceous trough. Amazed by the size of the flowers in relation to the plant/leaves. The flowers have good colour/markings - is it the Rock form perhaps?

[Corrado & Rina]

We have one here, but it has not flowered yet! Yours looks quite stunning ....

Corrado

[Roma]

Well done with Rhodo. lowndesii, Luc.

My Azaleas have flowered poorly this year apart from Rhododendron 'Rosebud'.  The big deciduous Azaleas flowered very well last year and did not have the energy to do it this year.  'Rosebud'  didn't used to flower well but was very good last year and even better this year.  I'm not sure if it was the the warmer summer last year and the previous year or more light with the removal of the big birch trees.
First picture was about 10.30am and the second about 9.40pm which may account for the colour difference.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thanks for the praise everybody ! 
I'm quite happy with it and I must admit I hadn't realized it has this "difficult" reputation...    I got it from Aberconwy a couple of years ago, have not seen it listed since.
I'll keep an eye open to see if it sets seeds, John !

[Gabriel B]

I've been working with Betty Ann Addison, a long-time rock gardener and landscaper who has been breeding Minnesota-hardy large-leaf rhododendrons over the last few years. In late May and early June, most of them were blooming. One of the stars was Rhododendron smirnowii. Betty Ann raised it from seed years ago, and it finally flowered this year. Its leaves look a little awkward, but the flowers are lovely with ruffly edges. I also love the white velvet on the new growth.

[johnw]

Gabriel - There are a number of super-hardy primary hybrids with smirnowii and the hardiest of all brachycarpum Tigerstedtii Group (-47c).  Using those species and a few others (how about fauriei?) you folks in Minnesota should get some very hardy hybrids in a relatively short time.

Here are a few I'd recommend and believe I've mentioned them to Betty.
 
1. Brueckner's brachycarpum Tigerstedtii x smirnowii
2. Sandra Hinton - brachycaprum Tigerstedtii x (smirnowii x yakushimanum)
3. Bellefontaine developed in interior Nova Scotia, likely not hardy for you but a source for fragrance and colour - fortunei x smirnowii
4. that fortunei x smirnowii grex at the Kentville Research Station.
5. Sandra Hinton again, like a smirnowii on steroids and likely hardier than smirnowii, this one is in PEI.

Keep up the good work out there.

johnw - a chilly 12c

[johnw]

After the past nasty winter it was a great surprise to see this orange Hachmann hybrid developed in Germany doing so well.  The cross is R. fauriei x 'Goldsworth Orange'.  Usually these oranges are tender or with a host of leaf maladies but not this one, a must.  It's very difficult to capture the true colour which just comes through in a few of those top trusses.

Rhododendron 'Flautando'

johnw

[Gabriel B]

Thank you for the recommendations and photos! Betty Ann actually has R. 'Bellefontaine', and it overwintered beautifully. She even had a R. fortunei 'Emmaline' from Western Nurseries that overwintered in a sheltered spot. Neither are blooming yet, but we're looking forward to when they bloom, so that we can get some fragrance into future hybrids.

She's got R. 'Sandra Hinton'. Those big flowers are beautiful, but sadly the plant covers them with its new growth.

R. 'Flautando' looks wonderful. Betty Ann is selecting for yellows and oranges right now, and we'd love some pollen. Would you send us some? She'd put it on the R. maximum that's blooming right now, and would save some for R. brachycarpum 'Green As Grass' when it blooms next year.


Here are four of Betty Ann's own selections. Numbers 1 and 2 are her lovely R. catawbiense × smirnowii hybrids: 'Candelabra' and 'Rice Creek Coral Dancer'.

Number 3 is R. catawbiense × yakushimanum 'Happy Hannah', named for her granddaughter, who's half Japanese (like yakushimanum) and half American. It has lovely lavender-pink tips to the flowers.

Number 4 is R. 'Peace Dove', an F2 hybrid of R. 'Rice Creek Coral Dancer' (selfed).


I just love 'Candelabra' because of its thick flowerheads with 20 flowers each. When the buds begin breaking, they look like big candles resting on the bouquets of leaves. It's completely hardy, and the mother plant (from which this plant was a cutting) has survived 30 years in Minnesota. But it's so special that it might even be worth growing in the big rhododendron hotspots on the West Coast and elsewhere.

[johnw]

Gabriel

Now you've got me wondering if I sent cuttings of 'Bellefontaine' to Van Veen to root and had them send one to Betty, my mind is gone and she's not on my spreadsheet as slated for one.  Well seems like you have a good start already with your rhodos.  I think you'd best cross that fortunei - which I'd protect as it's only hardy to about -5F - onto brachycarpum.

The 'Flautando' is out at a friend's on the coast so it likely will be over by the time I get out there again. I emailed another friend who also has it and asked if she'd mail Betty pollen.  No we had about 2" of heavy rain last night so there might not be much left. We'll see.

john

[Gabriel B]

John,

Betty Ann says she got 'Bellefontaine' from Greer or Whitney. Here's a picture of it, and of the fortunei 'Emmeline' (I got one letter wrong, according to the original tag on the plant). They both made it through the winter beautifully, as you can see.

Betty Ann says the temperature got down to -27 F (-33 C), with an early heavy freeze in November. The fortune was on the north side of a house, with winter shade. Betty Ann doesn't usually give plants winter protection, aside from giving them winter shade, so we'll just hope that the fortunei survives another winter. We'll be moving it to a new bed, also with winter shade from a house. The plants might be extra hardy because of the abundant fertilization they get every spring.

She'll certainly cross fortunei with brachycarpum 'Green As Grass'. With luck, we'll get a winter sun-hardy rhodie with fragrance.


A little bonus: a lovely rhododendron with shiny ripply leaves like gardenias — similar to 'Haaga', but even nicer. We don't know what it is exactly (some people say brachycarpum), but we'll find out next year when it blooms. At the moment, its tag says Rice Creek seedling #4. Hopefully its flowers are as beautiful as its leaves!

[johnw]

Likely it was Whitney Gardens out on the Olympic Peninsula as in 2004 I sent Ellie cuttings of 'Bellefontaine' and quite a number of other Nova Scotian hybrids.

One hybrid you might use in hybridizing is a Kentville hybrid that is no longer grown here but survives & flowers in cold places like Fredericton, New Brunswick.  You might like the name - it's 'Gabriel' (smirnowii x 'Dr. Dresselhuys'), the French Gabriel (Gah-bree-ell').

Anitra will send pollen of 'Flautando' to Betty Ann in the next day or so if all was not washed away.

johnw

[Gabriel B]

John,

Thanks for the recommendation. Funny that it has my name. Betty Ann hasn't heard of it, and she'd love to try it. Greer's Guidebook says it's got big tresses of pink with olive-brown spots. That sounds appealing. Where can we get it from? (And do you have any pictures of it lying around?)

Thanks as well for helping us get pollen. We'll just hope and pray that some new anthers opened after the rain.


On the topic of spots (I like to include a photo with each post), here's Betty Ann's selection 'Little Pete'. She was crossing a previous hybrid, 'White Peter', with brachycarpum roseum to try to get a pink blush with brown spots. She didn't get any pink, but just a more dwarf white. It's a beauty, though the flower stems can be too long. Now I think she's crossing the parent, 'White Peter', with 'Candelabra', to hopefully get a white with large tight flower clusters.

[johnw]

At Rockburn Rhododendron elegantulum, one of those "WHAT"S THAT?" rhodos.  And a selected form of R. calendulaceum at Donna's.

johnw

[johnw]

One new acquisition in flower here is Rhododendron keleticum, planted in an ericaceous trough. Amazed by the size of the flowers in relation to the plant/leaves. The flowers have good colour/markings - is it the Rock form perhaps?

Hmm, I don't recall R.#58 as being a lovely clear pink like that.  Maggi?  That's quite a beauty Matt.

johnw