Rhododendron Page 2

The Seasonal Page:

SPRING...

and

RHODODENDRONS!

Page 2

The rhododendron page got so huge that I thought it best to break it up, at least once! Most of the added photos should be on this page, unless I get better shots to replace some of the previous ones on page one. As I write this, it's the first week of May and they are really coming out with great haste. We've had temperatures pushing 80 degrees in the past two days and it accelerates their blooming schedule. Hopefully, it will cool off enough to prolong bloom time and not cook the poor blossoms. There can be too much of a good thing!

Another beautiful offspring of 'Jean Marie de Montague' (crossed with 'Red Loderi'). This is Rh. 'Halfdan Lem,' hybridised by and named for the same. The florets on this truss are very large and they lighten toward the center the longer the flowers are open. I tried to make it as true to the real thing as I could, but had to take out some of the red color (film does crazy things with red!) The foliage is handsome with its dark green color and sheen. The plant habit tends to sprawl a bit like Jean Marie, but not in a gappy sort of way. I was told that the correct pronunciation of the name is, "hoff´-den."

This is probably a variety of Mollis Azalea. I don't know if it ever had a name or was grown from seed, since it was already in place when my parents bought our family home when I was 1 1/2 years old. When they moved about fourteen years later, my mother brought a few of her beloved azaleas with her and eventually I ended up with this one (I think she was anxious to make a spot for something newer and more unusual). It has a wonderful fragrance and the foliage in the fall is colorful, as are most deciduous azaleas.

This is a Dexter hybrid named 'Scintillation' and it is a top quality performer. I recently saw one of these being dropped into the landscape in front of the Amtrak terminal in Vancouver, B.C. It holds up well even in full exposure, has beautiful flowers and foliage. The leaves are rather distinctive with the bit of ribbing and curl they have and after awhile you can spot this plant even without flowers (there are other hybrids like that, such as 'Jean Marie de Montague,' 'Unique' and 'Dora Amateis,' among others).

'Jenny Dosser' is another plant purchased at Betts old nursery and was a cross made by someone they knew. He crossed two red varieties and got this one "blue" seedling out of a batch of red ones. The flowers are much like 'Blue Pacific' but the plant habit a bit different. As they fade, there is more of a bluish cast toward the edges of the florets. The color is hard to describe.

Here's a photo of R. 'Scintillation' and 'Jenny Dosser' as they grow together in the back flowerbed. The Olympic Mountains are peeking out of the clouds just a bit in the background. This was one of our typical overcast days.

'Mrs. Tom Lowinsky' was a plant I purchased based on its heat tolerance. I've come to appreciate it more since buying it. There's a breath of orchid to its pale flowers and that blotch is really something! The top lobe on the flowers recurves, giving it a very distinctive shape. The flowers on the right belong to Centranthus ruber 'Alba'.

This is shown on the garden tour page and is a seed grown R. decorum. It was open pollinated so I don't know what the other parent was but probably it was self pollinated. Its flowers aren't particularly large, but it is a prolific bloomer and the color is soft and blends with anything around it. The big and blowsy flowers to the left belong to a tree peony.

A closeup view of the Rh. decorum florets. There's a hint of bronze deep in the throat that adds warmth to the flowers.

This is Azalea 'Pima' in full bloom. The flowers are shaped a lot like 'Homebush' but are larger and more coral. It was propagated by the Betts at their nursery in Rochester, WA and hybridized by a friend of theirs who asked them to be sure to propagate and market the plant upon his death. It is really striking!

Another hybrid by Halfdan Lem called 'Point Defiance.' It is similar to the Walloper group and named after the park in Tacoma, Washington. I know this plant will outgrow the place where I put it but will deal with that later! (Like Scarlett O' Hara!)

While the truss is a bit loose and informal, no one can deny the flamboyance of 'Cotton Candy.' Each floret has a touch of red in the throat, little reddish sprinkles on the upper lobe and a sweet scent. The buds are Nature's flypaper and dozens of little gnats can be found stuck to them each spring! They are equally as sticky when human fingers try to pick off the deadheads at the end of the bloom cycle. 'Virginia Richards' and 'C.I.S.' also have this trait. If you do the task barehanded, expect to spend some time with "DeSolve It" or some other spot remover to get the goo off. Soap alone will work if you are patient, but is not nearly as effective.

This is a better picture of 'Cynthia' (you can see it in the background of the 'Pink Pearl' picture, but the color is not right on that one). 'Cynthia' doesn't get used as much now as it did a couple of decades ago. It gets really HUGE, for one thing! You're more likely to see very large specimens around older houses and buildings, since it did used to be a popular choice of landscapers before the newer smaller hybrids were developed. It really is a handsome plant, however, and is quite impressive in full bloom. The deep rose flowers are a very clear shade and the leaves are a nice dark green to provide contrast.

My modest specimen of 'Purple Splendour.' Its popularity is due to the unusual deep color, but the plant can leave a bit to be desired. It doesn't hold foliage for very many years so tends to be a bit sparse. Its consititution is more puny than many also, and the root ball tends not to get very big for as old as the plant is. Still, it's pretty and different. Did you notice the imposter who is resting on one of the flowers? It's a crab spider waiting for some unsuspecting bee to come along and provide him with a meal. When there's nothing better to do, I sometimes tease them into action with a tiny piece of grass. If he's trying to be inconspicuous, he certainly picked the wrong flower for his dirty work!

Here's a shot of the whole plant. I had called it puny when I first wrote about it, but it actually made an impact when all the flowers opened. The froth of green to the left is Euphorbia robbiae, which is evergreen and has leaves that somewhat resemble rhododendron foliage. When I was making adjustments to this photo for accurate color, I brought in one floret to compare and by itself it is rather unimpressive. When you put them all together, they are somewhat frilly and dramatic! It reminds me of a choir that is made up of many voices, which on their own might not be up to the task of solo work, but all together, capable of a glorious blend of sound!

Tucked under the boughs of a Cedrus deodara in the front yard is R. 'Anah Kruschke.' It shines like a beacon when in bloom and the trusses appear to be standing at attention. There aren't as many large purple varieties, to my mind, and this one is easy to identify if you've ever gotten acquainted with one.

Whenever I see 'Johnny Bender' the phrase that comes to mind is, "Ooh-la-la!" That's because the first time I read about it was in Harold Greer's catalog of rhododendrons and that was one of his favorite phrases. He saw this in a growing field twice and noticed the wonderful heavy foliage (it does have nice foliage). I was convinced I had to have one. It blooms later than its parent, 'Jean Marie de Montague' and the foliage is a bit heavier and larger. Overall, however, I don't think it surpasses its mother for being showy while in flower and since it is a bit larger in its parts, it sprawls a bit wider because of inheriting her growth habit. It's a great plant, but if I had to choose between this and 'Jean Marie,' the latter would be the winner.

I crawled around under R. 'Grosclaude' to try to capture the indumentum on the leaf undersides, as well as its hot flowers. I don't think I quite succeeded, but the indumentum on this plant is a rich cinnamon color. It's a slow grower but quite a sight in full bloom and the red color borders a bit on orange, which gives it that "glowing ember" quality. I'm not sure how easy it is to locate this plant, but probably any good rhododendron grower might have it. I doubt you'll see it at your local nursery because they tend to carry more of the newer hybrids.

Featured here is another of the blended warm colors. This is 'C.I.S.' It is one of my favorites for color, but the plant habit could be better. It doesn't hold foliage for very many years so is a bit sparse and tends to get straggly. Periodic trimming helps to keep it in good shape. It is forgiven at bloom time however. The contrasting calyxes at the back of the florets are very showy and echo the color deep in the throats. It's hard to describe the flower color, but I haven't seen another quite like it (they could be out there though!). The brighter pinky/orange flower behind belongs to 'Kubla Khan'...beautiful flower, terrible foliage!

'Buttermint' is a charming little plant, but mine seems to attract some sort of critter that eats the undersides of the leaves (maybe mites). Might be the location and some years are worse than others. Can you tell that I had a soft spot for blended oranges and yellows when I was planting the garden 20 years ago?

This is the 'Nancy Evans' I was given as a present from Marilyn and Vern. If you've ever seen 'Lem's Cameo' you can see its influence in this offspring. The leaves also have a bronze tinge when they are new like Cameo. The other parent is 'Hotei' which is pictured above. 'Nancy Evans' has a color that is a bit harsh and nonblending, but it is a prolific bloomer!

I wish I had a better photo, but this is a truss of R. 'Leo' (red). The florets almost look like wax and they are a deep rich color. The flowers in the background belong to a fading R. 'Virginia Richards' and the yellow at top are Scotch Broom (that lovely weed of a shrub that blooms all over Western Washington during the month of May!).

During my "rhododendron stage" I was interested in collector plants, and at the time this was one of them. It's probably been named since then, but at the time it was just tagged as R. 'Fabia' X bureavii (species). It has wonderful indumentum on the leaves and the the flowers have an almost hose-in-hose form because of the huge calyxes. This is close to the right color, but a bit oversaturated in places. It opens rather dark and fades out eventually to a soft color with little freckles.

Looks like these guys are having a little party. The truss on the bottom left belongs to R. 'Kubla Khan.' It has awful foliage, but was a big deal at the time of its introduction because of the hose-in-hose flowers. See how much larger the calyxes are at the back of the bloom compared to those on R. 'C.I.S.' in the center? (The calyx is that little cup around and behind the floret. Most of the old-fashioned large trussed varieties don't have any.) The blur of yellow to the right is R. 'Hotei.'

This is a very fragrant deciduous azalea that I bought for 'Appleblossom Pink.' When it finally bloomed, it was something else and I think it resembles pictures I've seen of 'Sylphides.' The deciduous azaleas sometimes get overlooked for their evergreen cousins, but the flowers are showier, often fragrant, and the foliage usually turns bright colors in the fall. They will tolerate more winter cold than the evergreens also.

We believe this to be 'Tortoiseshell Wonder.' It was purchased with an 'Autumn Gold' tag on it but it was soon obvious that it didn't look like the pictures, even though it was in the same color family. This variety is one of the last to open in the yard toward the first week of June. The foliage is dark green and shiny and the leaf petioles have a burgundy red tint to them, which contrasts nicely with the green of the leaves. The flowers are a bit thin, but prolific!

Here's another plant that was mislabeled, but I got over it. What was supposed to be 'Maryke' turned out to be 'Autumn Gold.' Since the 'Autumn Gold' I had previously purchased actually turned out to be 'Tortoiseshell Wonder' I was grateful to have the real thing. Do you get the idea that there are a lot of mistakes made at nurseries in labeling their stock?! This plant blooms at the end of May and carries into early June. It is quite tall and gorgeous! Notice there are seven lobes on the flowers instead of the usual five.

This page last updated on June 7, 1998.