Rhododendron 2018

[David Nicholson]

My first of the year Rhododendron praecox, a couple of weeks earlier than last year.

[ArdfearnAli]

Hello David,
                 always nice to see Praecox start flowering. Its one of my favourites although I normally get one day and then it gets frosted! At least its a sign that spring might be on its way. Mine have no signs of growth or flower this year yet due to the spell of cold weather we are having. Last year they flowered in early February and still had there leaves although we didn't have a winter as such with quite a few other Rhododendrons having a go at flowering in Nov/Dec. This year my Praecox dropped there leaves and are completely dormant. Looks by the weather forecast I may have to wait a good bit longer. Its beautiful and sunny here but very cold wind with touch of frost every morning.
Another of my early favourites is the Hybrid, Snow Lady which alas is also prone to late frosts. I tend to grow the early ones on North West or North facing aspects to escape the early morning sun. It works most years but if we get a really hard frost they tend to get a bit of damage.

Alasdair

[David Nicholson]

Hi Ali,

I have Snow Lady too. This one is in an ericaceous raised bed which faces South-West but is shaded by a tall fence a couple of yards in front of the bed. It's well in bud.

[TC]

My Cilpinense is full of buds ready to flower, just in time for the hardest frosts for years.  I am hoping that the west coast escapes the worst but it is still worrying.  In the last few years I have planted tender varieties..Edgeworthii and hybrids.  These have flowered successfully but I don't know how much frost they can stand.  Two large pots of fragrantissimum hybrids have been brought indoors....we now can't use the dining room table !  They are supposed to be hardy to -9°C BUT I don't want to test this.  I have found that it is the continual cold winds that do more damage than actual low temperatures.

[ArdfearnAli]

I agree with the cold winds doing more damage than frost. When the ground is frozen then there is no moisture take up from roots and the cold winds tend to desiccate evergreens. You could try wrapping in fleece which allows a little air to circulate. Problem can be removing it without damaging buds etc. I use a heavier duty fleece called UV30 as the light weight fleece (UV18) tends to catch on everything. Another thing I have done in the past is place a large cardboard box over the plant if the frost is not forecast to last for days. Hope the forecasters are exaggerating it a bit as I don't want a prolonged cold frosty spell just at the start of the season. Wont be too bad if we get some snow but at the moment its blue skies and just above freezing with no snow forecast for the next few days. At least we have very little signs of growth in Inverness. There are a few crocus out and that's about it. Last year at this time we were a lot further ahead due to the mild winter.

Alasdair

[Graham Catlow]

My R. praecox are a month behind last year





But R. irroratum which is only a couple of meters away from the praecox is blooming at the same time as last year.

[Graham Catlow]

R. montroseanum is blooming better than it has ever done before. Some of the blooms were damaged by the frosts that we had a couple of weeks ago.





R. hookerii 'Tigh na rudh

[Gail]

R. montroseanum is blooming better than it has ever done before.

Wow, never seen that before and it is amazing!

[GordonT]

Graham, I am envious of your montroseanum! I absolutely love the foliage... sadly our winters would see it grow itself back below ground.

[Maggi Young]

I gave up on Rh. Praecox years ago, it was always getting frosted.  At the minute I have  R. Cilpinense and  R. thomsonii McBeath's form.  R. elegantulum and  R. uvarifolium are showing colour from their buds.  The elegantulum has only been without flower for a couple or three  of months all year.

Your plants are looking good, Graham - especially that  sumptuous  R. montroseanum  !!

[Graham Catlow]

Thanks Gail, Gordon, and Maggi.
R. montroseanum is one of those that has amazing leaves that make it stand out all year and well worth having just for those. The bonus is when it flowers as well as it is this year.

[Yann]

just the leaves is a reason to grow it, a shame my soil is so alkaline.

[Tomasz Cyba]

Both montroseanum and hookeri are great material for hybridising. It's weird that no one is using montroseanum, while it is quite apparent that this is a great parent for foliage plants. Nice unexplored path for future hybridisers.

[johnralphcarpenter]

Rhododendron racemosum.

[David Nicholson]

Rhododendron 'Snow Lady', a couple of weeks later than last year and a little weather beaten.