ALL RHODODENDRONS

This species forms a compact rounded shrub with distinctive, elliptic and glossy, deep green leaves. The stunning and waxy, bell-shaped flowers (late spring to early summer) of this species range from picotee type – white tubes with a reddish edge and dark purple nectaries to the more common solid, deep red with darker nectaries. A beautiful flowering plant that always attracts attention. The flowers of this selected form are solid cherry red highlighted by dark purple nectaries. Nice large plants this year.

A dwarf mounding shrub with small, rounded, dark shiny green leaves and scarlet bell-shaped flowers in mid-spring. Forms a beautiful mounding shrublet, perfect for a rock garden. Requires excellent drainage and bright light. This form, with large red flowers, is the winner of a prestigious First Class Certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society.

A very recently introduced species. This is a relatively hardy and dwarf Maddenia with yellow flowers and beautiful foliage. It is a close relative of the more familiar R. valentinianum and the also recently introduced R. valentinioides but from a completely different region and with a very distinct appearance. As seen in the wild, this is a fairly compact shrub with smooth and peeling reddish-brown bark and smooth and glossy leaves to about 1.5 inches in length. These have a prominent ciliate margin and are quite attractive. The funnel-shaped flowers appear in clusters of three to four and range from a pale to deep yellow. Found growing with the rhododendrons platypodum, ochraceum and longipes and so should be relatively hardy.

This is a dwarf and mounding shrub with glossy dark green leaves covered with a white coating of wax beneath. Smooth and peeling, red-brown bark and delicate purplish flowers in mid-spring. Best in light shade, a choice dwarf shrub with beautiful flowers, foliage and bark. These are grown from seed collected wild in the eastern Himalaya. Best in sun or light shade with good drainage.

Dwarf and mounding shrubs with glossy dark green leaves covered with a white coating of wax beneath. Smooth and peeling, red-brown bark and delicate purplish flowers in mid-spring. Best in light shade, a choice dwarf shrub with beautiful flowers, foliage and bark.

Upright but compact-growing evergreen shrubs with beautiful smooth and peeling, deep red-brown bark. The rather stiff and thick foliage is quite attractive, glossy green on the upper surface with golden scales on the lower. The flowers (late winter indoors, early spring outdoors) are bright to deep yellow and bell-shaped with flaring lobes. It is a very distinct and, in my opinion, a rather stunning species. Native to W Yunnan, China and adjacent N Myanmar where it grows as an epiphyte or in other exceptionally well-drained areas such as on rocks and cliffs. These are grown from a hand-pollination using plants resulting from the only re-collection of this very rare species since it was originally collected by Kingdon Ward in the “Triangle” of N Myanmar in 1953.

Upright growing evergreen shrubs with lovely long tubular bell-shaped flowers in mid- to late spring. Bright blue-green fragrant foliage. One of the most unusual and beautiful flowers in the genus. Grown from seed collected wild at 12,250 ft. Plants in this area were mostly orange flowered. Nice large plants this year. Very glaucous foliage.

Large upright-growing evergreen shrubs with superb pendulous flowers in late spring. These are tubular in shape and quite variable in color, ranging from red, plum-crimson, salmon-pink, pink, yellow-orange and apricot to various bicolor and even tricolor combinations. This selected clone from Warren Berg has large, glaucous red flowers and bright blue-green foliage.