Rhododendron 2015

[Maggi Young]

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

johnw

  Yes,  May just be the colour in the photo but I think of the Rock58 form as being more purple than pink. Matt's plants is very nice.

[Matt T]

Thanks, John / Maggi. The photo is a close rendering of the actually colour. I'm pleased with it and hope it will do well here.

[Roma]

Rhododendron 'Lava Flow' on July 5th
The last flowers are fading now and here is Rhododendron ochroleucum just starting.  It seems to produce flowers almost all year.

[johnw]

I'm sure Roma meant to say orthocladum v. microleucum for the white rhodo.  It just keeps on flowering here....

john 

[Roma]

Thanks for the correction, John.  I've been thinking that was its name for years.  No wonder I could not find it when I tried to check.  I must write down the correct name and try to remember it.  Getting harder all the time

[Gabriel B]

Roma, that white one is very cute. It's wonderful that it blooms almost all year. I haven't heard of a rhododendron that does that.

John, do you grow it too? Is it fully hardy in Nova Scotia? Maybe we could try it in Minnesota.

[Maggi Young]

We've grown Rhododendron orthocladum  v. microleucum in the garden here in Aberdeen for about forty years -
 ( which rather gives the lie to my firm belief  that I'm only 27 years old ) it often throws "extra" flowers here too and has survived horrible  years when we had  a low of minus 21 degrees C and we had minus 12 degrees C for several weeks at a time. It's a tough little plant !

[johnw]

Roma, that white one is very cute. It's wonderful that it blooms almost all year. I haven't heard of a rhododendron that does that.
John, do you grow it too? Is it fully hardy in Nova Scotia? Maybe we could try it in Minnesota.

It's fully hardy here on the coast and in many places in the colder interior.  Hardiness is not an issue but with these Lapponica spp. the issue is heat and especially hot to warm summer nights will knock them flat.  They are essentially high alpine plants.

john - +18c and the sun trying to come out but not.  Sending more wet weather eastward I'm afraid folks.

[Corrado & Rina]

Sending more wet weather eastward I'm afraid folks.

Nooooooooo! I had frogs complaining that my garden was too wet!

PS: 1 Cyp and one Rosa foetida are going under because of rot and black spot .... we must have 120% humidity in the last few weeks ....

[johnw]

Still flowering away, 'St. Valentine'.

johnw - +18c @ 08:30

[johnw]

Now this is late for a hardy rhododendron in these parts.  R. brachycarpum Roseum Group x sanguineum ssp. didymum, it's siblings flowered a month ago.

john - Sunny, +24c w. 59% humidity making it somewhat bearable today.

[Gabriel B]

John, Betty Ann grows one from lapponicum group, I think: Rhododendron 'Karin Seleger'? It doesn't love our hot summers, but survives. It likes a bit of shade in summer, or at least cool soil.

26 C, about 40% humidity. For us, this is perfect summer weather. Above 30 C is a little hot.


The seed pods on Betty Ann's R. brachycarpum 'Green As Grass', the sun-tolerant one. These, I believe, were pollinated with R. 'White Peter', which has nicer white flowers with spots. Hoping to get a fine white sun-tolerant rhodie.

[johnw]

Betty Ann grows one from lapponicum group, I think: Rhododendron 'Karin Seleger'? It doesn't love our hot summers, but survives. It likes a bit of shade in summer, or at least cool soil.

That is a 1971 Brueckner hybrid done in New Brunswick where it is cool and foggy, weather much like here but much colder in winter.  Brueckner took it with him when he moved to hot, hot Toronto in the late 70's and it's still on the go there.  Also does ok in Boston, Niagara and NJ.  It's impeditum (Cox f.) x dauricum (ex V. Vasak, likely the extremely hardy tall Lake Baikal form).

Here's a pic of it in cool Bath, Maine where it looks better than ones in Mass.

john  - +22c, 93% humidity.  Extremely heavy rain last night with huge thunder crashes.

[Maggi Young]

Ernst Stöckmann Baumschulen's photo.

Great montage showing the variety to be found in Rhododendron foliage and illustrating their year- round interest just for leaves, without any flowers!

[ashley]

Wonderful