Rhododendron is magnificent (Rhododendron decorum var. decorum)
Homeland - Southwest China. Evergreen shrubs up to 6 m or trees up to 18 m tall. We are now about 1 m tall. The flowers are large, fragrant, white, with a 7-lobed corolla.
5 samples were tested in the open field. All froze out before reaching the age of flowering.
Now 1 specimen is growing and blooming in the greenhouse. The seeds are not tied. Received by annual seedlings from Moscow (BS MSU) in 2006
RhododendronDegrona (Rhododendron degronianum)
Homeland - Japan. Evergreen shrub about 1 (2) m tall (we have 1.3 m). Young shoots are fluffy-tomentose. Leaves are elliptical, the largest width in the middle - 2–4 cm, length 7–15 cm, rounded or pointed at the apex, dark green above, shiny, below with light yellow or brown tomentose pubescence, pubescent petioles, 2–4 cm long. Flowers for 10-12. Corolla broadly funnel-shaped or bell-shaped, pale pink with specks and dark pink lines on the petals, 4–5 cm in diameter. The calyx is shorter than the ovary, pubescent, the ovary is white-pubescent. Blooms in June. The seeds ripen. Winter-hardy, flower buds are damaged in severe winters.
The collection contains 1 sample, obtained in 1979 from Riga (Latvia).
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Rhododendron Degron Yakushiman (Rhododendron degronianum ssp. yakushimanum)
Homeland - Japan, Yakushima Island, in the mountains at an altitude of 1900-2000 m above sea level. Low (0.6 m), evergreen shrub with a dense crown, leaves are dark green, glabrous above and with brown pubescence below; flowers are white or pink, in inflorescences of 5-10. In the open field it freezes over, does not bloom.
We now have 1 sample in the greenhouse, obtained from Kaunas (Lithuania) in 2000. In 2013, the first flowering was noted, in the open field all the seedlings were frozen. Now 2 samples are growing in the open field, obtained by seeds in 20001 from Harrogate (Great Britain) and Steborice (Czech Republic).
Western rhododendron (Rhododendron occidentale)
Homeland - the west of North America, in the mountains up to 1500-1750 m above sea level. Deciduous shrub up to 3 m high. Young shoots are softly pubescent or glabrous. Leaves from elliptical to oblong-lanceolate, 3–10 cm long, 2–4 cm wide, sharp or obtuse, ciliate at the edges, finely pubescent or glabrous. Flowers 6-12, almost odorless, bloom with leaves or after them. The calyx is small, the corolla is white or pinkish with a large yellow spot, up to 5 cm in diameter, funnel-shaped, glandularly pubescent outside with a cylindrical tube 2 cm long, gradually expanding upward, equal to the limb, 5 stamens, longer than the corolla. Blooms in May – June. The seeds do not ripen every year.
Little winter-hardy, the ends of shoots and flower buds freeze, perennial wood suffers in severe winters. Tested 6 samples, now in collection 2, received in 1987 and 1989. from Kiev.
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Caucasian rhododendron (Rhododendron caucasicum)
Homeland - the mountains of the Caucasus. Height up to 1 m. Creeping evergreen shrub with erect shoots, young shoots are pubescent. Leaves are oblong-elliptical, 4-12 cm long, dark green, glabrous above, rusty-pubescent below. The flowers are broadly bell-shaped, about 5 cm in diameter, collected 7-10 in dense inflorescences, the corolla is white or cream with green blotches in the throat.
It blooms with us in June.
Most of the obtained samples (6) are identified as other species. Only 2 samples obtained from the arboretum of Mlynyany (Slepchany, Slovakia) and from St. Petersburg turned out to be true.
This species, like the golden rhododendron, is considered difficult to cultivate. Now in the collection there is 1 sample obtained from St. Petersburg by seeds in 2001. In 2013, it marked its first flowering and fruiting.
Rhododendron racemose (Rhododendron racemosum)
Homeland - China. A low evergreen shrub with a rounded crown, leaves from obovate to oblong-elliptic, up to 5 cm long, green above, gray-gray below with scales, flowers are small., Broad-funnel-shaped, collected in sotsveia in 2-5.
It blooms and bears fruit only after warm, snowy winters.
6 samples tested, all died.
Rhododendron largest f. White (Rhododendronmaximum‘Album’)
Homeland - the east of North America.In nature, an evergreen tree is up to 9–12 m tall, in culture it is a shrub 1–4 m tall (we have 0.6 m, the crown is creeping). Young shoots are covered with glandular-bristly hairs, later glabrous. Leaves ovate-lanceolate or oblong obovate, 10–25 (30) cm long and 3.5–7 cm wide, acute or pointed with a wedge-shaped base, young with dense reddish pubescence below, adults below dark green with thin pubescence or almost naked. Flowers 16–24 in dense inflorescences Corolla 3.5–4 cm in diameter, bell-shaped, with ovoid lobes, white (in the original species, light or purple-pink, with yellow-green or orange specks). The calyx is glandular, equal in length to the ovary. Blooms in June – July. The seeds ripen. Winter-hardy, in severe winters the ends of shoots and flower buds freeze slightly.
7 specimens tested, now in collection 1, 1992 reproduction of a specimen obtained from New York (USA).
Small rhododendron (Rhododendron minus)
Homeland - the east of North America. Evergreen shrub 1-3 m high. Leaves up to 10 cm long and 5 cm wide., Glabrous from above, from below with scale-like glands. Flowers 6-10, corolla up to 3 s in diameter, usually pink with small specks.
8 samples from different botanical gardens have been tested, regular frosting is observed, plants die in unfavorable winters. Flowering is single, rarely observed. Now in the collection there is 1 copy of our 2006 reproduction, the maternal copies died, they were obtained from Rogov (Poland).
Pukhan rhododendron, or Pukhan (Rhododendron poukhanense)
Homeland - Korean Peninsula, Japan, grassy mountain slopes, sparse pine forests, in an open area. Semi-evergreen densely branched shrub up to 1-1.5 m tall. Corolla up to 5 cm in diameter, broad-funnel-shaped, lilac-purple, with purple-brown specks.
Strong frosting and death of plants is observed in the years of planting. In the open field, flowering was noted once. The fruits were not set. 10 samples tested. Now in the greenhouse of the garden there is a vegetative reproduction from Minsk (Belarus), obtained in 1970, and in the open ground a sample from Vladivostok (2004 sowing).
Rhododendron Purdom (Rhododendronpurdomii)
Homeland - China. An evergreen densely branched shrub with a dense crown up to 1 m in height. Leaves (5) 6.5–8.5 cm long, 3–3.5 cm wide, elliptical, ciliate along the edge, underneath with brown bristly hairs along the midrib, the tip with a cartilaginous point, the edge is slightly curled. Petioles and shoots are covered with bristly hairs, white when blooming, then turn brown. Kidney scales do not fall off after bud break. The flowers are white, blooms in May (so far singularly). The fruits were not set. Winter-hardy.
The collection contains 1 sample, obtained in 1994 from Rogov (Poland).
Rhododendron is equidistant (Rhododendron fastigiatum)
Homeland - Western China. Erect dwarf evergreen shrub with a dense crown. It differs from dense rhododendron in bluish leaves and white scales on them. Flowers 4-5, blue or purple.
Blossoms in May-June, bears fruit. Winters well under the snow.
3 samples tested. The collection now contains 1 sample obtained by seeds in 2010 from Tallinn (Estonia).
Rhododendron rusty (Rhododendron ferrugineum)
Homeland - Western Europe (Alps). In morphology, it is close to the stiff-haired rhododendron. Differs in the absence of cilia along the edge of the leaves. The corolla is bell-shaped, bright pink, rarely white.
We have tested 6 samples. Now there are 2 samples in the collection, from Reykjavik (Iceland) and Tarandt (Germany), obtained by seeds in 2005-2006.
They successfully winter under the snow. Blossoms in June, bears fruit. Seed reproduction is obtained.
Rhododendron dubious (Rhododendronambiguum)
Homeland - China. Evergreen, strongly branched shrub 1–1.8 m high (we have 0.4 m, with a creeping crown). Shoots are hard, straight, densely glandular. The leaves are fragrant, longitudinal-ovate, pointed, 6–9 cm long and 2–4 cm wide, with scaly hairs, slightly wavy edges. Flowers 2-4 at the ends of the shoots, corolla about 5 cm in diameter, varying in color, usually yellow with greenish specks, sometimes purple, hairy outside.
It should bloom in April-May, but even in ordinary winters, flower buds are damaged, therefore it does not bloom, it freezes very much in severe winters. Tested 3 samples, now in collection 1, received in 1993 from Kalmthaut (Belgium).
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Rhododendronthick-haired (Rhododendron pachytrichum)
Homeland - Western China.
Evergreen shrub up to 2 m high (we have 1.3 m). Shoots covered with brown bristly hairs.
The leaves are narrowly oblong to oblong-ovate, 8–15 cm long, with a pointed apex, rustyly pubescent underneath along the midrib; the petioles are also pubescent. Corolla pale pink to white, 3-4 cm in diameter, bell-shaped. The calyx is small, with triangular lobes, the pedicels are tomentose.
Blooms in May, not abundantly.
Fruiting irregularly. Winter-hardy.
There is 1 sample in the collection, obtained in 1988 from Kurnik (Poland).
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Ungern's rhododendron (Rhododendron ungernii)
Homeland - the mountains of the Caucasus. A shrub or small tree 1-7 m tall, we still have 0.6 m. It looks like Smirnov's rhododendron, but the pubescence on the upper side of the leaf disappears over time, turns yellow on the lower side. Blooms in June. The buds are pink, after blooming, the flowers turn pale. The main ornamental value of the shrub is half-day flowering and almost 20-centimeter leaves.
In 2013, the first flowering and fruiting were noted. Tested 2 samples obtained from seeds in 1998 and 2002. from Bayreuth (Germany) and Kalsnava arboretum (Latvia).
Read also:
- Evergreen rhododendrons
- Deciduous rhododendrons
- Hybrid rhododendrons
Photo by the author
