Truemors
Rhododendron arboreum - Tree Rhododendron
Family : Ericaceae
ID Confirmation Appreciated
I read somewhere that this garden was rated by somebody official in the mid 1980's as the 8th best in the world and the best in Australia.Not sure that it would be up that high now but it is certainly a fantastic spring cold climate garden without doubt.I will be keen to get back again in autumn one year though.Formerly owned and garden designed and created by Mary Hordern wife of Anthony Hordern of retailing fame.
wildeel.com/rhodotree.html"All the so-called 'tree' rhododendrons are forest dwellers growing at altitudes of between 2,500 and 3,000 m or more. Some species grow in dense, tangled forests where they are virtually the sole species. Others dominate the understorey beneath a canopy of taller evergreen or deciduous trees, through which frosts rarely penetrate." ............
"Many will take quite a few years to reach flowering, at least twenty or more, while at least fifty years is needed for a tree rhododendron to reach its optimum form." .........
"Easily the best known of the tree rhododendrons is the obviously named R. arboreum, which is distributed widely across the Himalayas, China, Thailand, India, Myanmar and even as far south as the highlands of Sri Lanka. It has been recorded as reaching heights of up to 20 m, although it is more usually half that height or less, with glossy, deep green leaves bearing a white or fawn indumentum underneath.
The best known form of R. arboreum has tight, globular trusses of around twenty blood red flowers, borne from July to October, although other forms are various shades of white, pink or red. The red forms tend to be more tender. A number of local variations which were formerly classified as distinct species are now regarded as subspecies of R. arboreum, including R. delavayi (Abbé Delavay, West Yunnan, 1883) and R. zeylanicum."
coolexotics.com/plant-450.html"It was discovered by Captain Hardwick in Kashmir in 1796, and was first introduced in UK in 1811, where the plant flowered for the first time in 1825. The red flowers were appreciated, but R. arboreum did not prove really frost hardy. The tree was thus crossed with hardier species, such as R. caucasicum and R. ponticum (Asia), R. Catawbiense and R. maximum (America) to produce hybrids such as 'Nobleanum', 'Altaclarense', 'Boddaertianum' and Broughtonii'."
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