Rhododendrons 2016

[johnw]

Just back from a trip out to balmy Vancouver, BC.  Two related new rhododendrons that caught my attention and demolished my wallet were R. yuefengense and its larger more Northerly and likely more tender cousin R. platypodum. My it rains alot out there; in every instance the downpours stopped just in time for garden and nursery visits.

johnw  - +7c & overcast

[Roma]

Lovely shiny leaves on the R.yuefengense, John.

[johnw]

Lovely shiny leaves on the R.yuefengense, John.

Roma  - 130" of shine a year in Deep Cove, BC where that yuefengense grows compared to 62" where the playpodum grows in N. Vancouver.

john

[johnw]

Some day I will record the month or months that Rhododendron 'Tropic Glow' x saxifragoides best and its sibling are not in flower.  Being an alpine vireya hybrid (saxifragoides) and not at all frost hardy it is likely not one for areas with warm humid summers. Why has saxifragoides not been crossed with the many other colourful but unruly vireyas.  After all these years this one still measures no more than 12cm x 12cm (5" x 5").

john

[Maggi Young]

Small but perfectly formed little Rhodo.

[Robert]

A few Rhododendrons from our Sacramento, California garden.



The last of the flowers on Rhododendron dauricum 'Midwinter'. It did indeed bloom during the winter this year. The species has a tendency to bloom in the autumn in our Sacramento garden. The autumn blooming flowers never last long and the plant does not look "right" when blooming in the autumn. This year it held out until winter and looked great for 5 weeks!



A seedling Rhododendron mucronulatum. In our Sacramento garden, this species has a tendency to bloom in the autumn too. I selected it because it holds its flower buds until February before opening. Other named varieties in this area through flowers in the autumn, so I am pleased with this seedling.

[Thorkild Godsk]

Rhododendron.
Rh. It is a taliense, but I am unsure of the name. Does anyone know the name of this Rhododendron? it blooms in April, about 3 m high
Thorkild. DK

[Robert]

A few more Rhododendrons from our Sacramento home.



Another Rhododendron mucronulatum seedling in full bloom and looking great.



R. mucronulatum 'Cornell Pink'. Our 'Cornell Pink' up at the farm is also in full bloom. Most years the plant at the farm blooms about 2-3 weeks later than the one in Sacramento.

[Robert]

Rhododendron mucronulatum 'Berg's Best' blooming in our Sacramento, California garden, Tuesday, 16 February. The flower color and the compact plant habit of this variety is excellent, however in our gardening climate it needs to be placed correctly to avoid blooming in the autumn. On this plant most of the flowers opened in the autumn leaving very few to open this spring. Siting this variety so that it is shaded in the autumn from the hot late summer/autumn sun helps ameliorate this situation

[johnw]

I must say that 'Berg's Best' is an extraordinary colour.  Could it be the very early flowering combined with that California sunshine that gives it such intensity?  Meanwhile I have to ask is it a dwarf or a regular mucronulatum?

Glorious spring day at 12c, snow gone, grass green but winter shall return. Boy were we lucky to have missed the worst of that nasty arctic blast the rest of eastern North America got, record lows were shattered all through Ontario, Québec and New England.

john 

[Robert]

I must say that 'Berg's Best' is an extraordinary colour.  Could it be the early flowering combined with the California sunshine that gives it such intensity?  Meanwhile I have to askis it a dwarf or a regular mucrionulatum?

Glorious spring day at 12c, snow gone, grass green but winter shall return. Boy were we lucky to have missed the worst of that nasty arctic blast the rest of eastern North America got, record lows were shattered.

john 

John,

'Berg's Best' is not a dwarf like variety taquetii. It certainly is a compact grower compared to most other "regular" forms of R. mucronulatum, maybe 2/3 the size. It clearly has a tighter inter-node space, but nothing like var. tequetii.

I wish that I could keep var. tequetii going here in our hot part of California. I have used it as a parent for some hybrids, however care-giving my elderly parents has turned that into a disaster.    I can grow seedlings to blooming age but they seem to give up shortly afterwards.

A good question regarding color intensity! Generally our hot sun causes the flowers to fade and are they are much less intense. I do not have an answers - I just do not know why they look so good this year. Maybe they want me to keep them around in the garden. 

What good fortune that you missed the worst of the cold weather.

[Thorkild Godsk]

Rhododendron.
I have no answers received on the Rhododendron. It would be great if Birck might have an answer.
Thorkild. DK.

[TC]

Benmore gardens
That time of year already for the member's meeting and an update of what has happened in the gardens and future plans.  The weather was not too bad with occasional rain showers.  Peter Baxter took us round and outlined future plans.  The main one being a complete renewal of the 4 acre walled garden.  The main feature being a large pool in the middle with most of the small trees being removed and being replaced with new plantings.  Some of the Chilean pines near the house had to be felled as they were near the end of their natural lifespan...being well over 100 years old.  The plan is to replace them with Redwoods which are being grown-on in the garden.
He also mentioned that a few of the Redwoods were being damaged by people "punching" the spongy bark !  Why would anyone do this ?
Also there are plans to remove some of the Rhododendrons from the top area of the hill to more accessible sites lower down.  I would certainly approve of this as my knees complain at the 500 foot ascent over some very rough and steep tracks and even more so on the descent !
We had not time to explore for flowering but a couple had started already.  Provided there are no frosts the garden should start flowering in mid March.
Some pictures of the day's outing.

[TC]

Some more pictures.  This is the first time I have seen the pond being cleaned although it must have been as it has a butyl lining.

[David Nicholson]

Thanks for the pictures and the report on the "state of play". It's always nice to hear and see and maybe one of these days I shall visit Bemore myself.