Rhodos, Feeling the chill...

[Maggi Young]

Arthur, it's Iris histrioides and histriodes 'Major' ... can't recall which is which, though... only slight differences 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Your Rhodo's look very promising Maggi - don't forget to show them when they're at their best ! 

[art600]

Maggi

It might have been the light, but they looked a better blue than I have seen previously.

[Maggi Young]

It might have been the light, but they looked a better blue than I have seen previously.   

That is just the effect of the wonderful eastern scottish light, Arthur  It's why we have so many good artists up here, the light is great..... just not an awful lot of it if you're growing in a glasshouse!!

[Lvandelft]

These are the young bullate leaved rhodo, R. yakushimanum x tsariense and R. elegantulum as they appear today... these are the ones that Luit thought looked in a really bad way!
Wonderful how they can react and adapt to the changes, isn't it?

Thank you Maggi!
seems you had a busy day.
I'm glad I was wrong in thinking your Rhodo's were dying off in February.
(I'm just a Newbie  )

[Maggi Young]

There is a good deal of resurrection going on, thank goodness. It is amazing how they respond to stress.... they can droop and curl when too dry in the summer too, though somehow it is not quite the same... I think there are subtle differences between their look depending on the cause of the stress.... they are very sensitive souls these rhododendrons

[ashley]

No resurrection needed here in the south of Ireland because 'winter' has been unusually mild again this year.  Rhodos in the garden look very different to Maggi's austere beauties.

This I assume to be arboreum or a hybrid thereof (pictures 1-4).  Plants are 4-5 m high and wide, about 60 years old and spread gently by self-layering.  Leaves on old, less-vigorous branches tend to carry a fine coating of algae.

Could this one be 'Christmas Cheer' or something like it (pictures 5 & 6)?  It flowers sporadically from about November onwards but usually peaks in early March.  These plants are also about 60 years old, 2-2.5 m high and 4-5m wide.
 
I'd appreciate confirmation or correction of ids by the experts 

[Maggi Young]

Ashley, what a treat to see these big beauties in flower when mine are still so cold!

I don't think your second one is 'Christmas Cheer'... looks too good, for that, frankly! Just not sure what it IS.... now we have John Weagle around, he will be able to remember more names than I can muster, I'm sure.

[ashley]

Thanks Maggi.  Although these were both widely planted at the time I'm not sure what they are.

[ian mcenery]

Had missed this thread (not enough Rhodo in the title). Great to see your collection Maggi are you the Rhodo nut or is it Ian. You have more than me and some nice plants  . Can't wait to see them in flower and in many cases in new growth. We didn't go much below -9 last week and there wasn't that much affect on mine but it always worries me when they start to protect themselves in this way. Some years ago we had a late cold snap which coincided with the sap rising. This caused bark split and I lost some nice plants though some re grew from soil level they were never the same again. Our climate can be tricky can't it? 

[Maggi Young]

I'm the one obsessed by rhodos (and other ericaeous) ... at one point we had several hundred.... no mean feat in a town garden... though many have moved on now as I found new homes for them in new gardens....just as well or we wouldn't be able to get outside. Ian is fond of them but I suspect it is mostly because they make nice protection and companions to his bulbs... that being said, he has grown those we have raised from seed, which is why so many are un-named !