3. The historic corner
Rhododendron cultivars of the 19th Century, Part 1
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Rhododendron breeding started in the British Isles during the 1820s, as did so many other developments in modern horticulture. The basis for these efforts were three closely related species, the American Rhododendron catawbiense and R. maximum, and the European R. ponticum. These gave rise to several very similar, hardy, rather leggy plants, producing pale pink to violet flowers. The earliest one shown here is ‘Roseum Elegans’.
Forms with double flowers, such as ‘Fastuosum Flore Pleno’, or with unusual foliage, such as ‘Daphnoides’ or ‘Variegatum’, were produced, but the variation on offer was still rather limited. The introduction of the handsome, red-flowered R. arboreum from the Himalayas widened the range of flower form and colour in the assortment, and denser more rounded inflorescences became available. ‘Lee’s Dark Purple’ came as a result of such an improvement. Others were the old and light pink ‘Jacksonii’ and ‘Nobleanum’ that emerged around 1840.
Also in the collection: Rhododendron catawbiense 'Album', R. catawbiense 'Grandiflorum', R. ponticum 'Roseum', 'Catawbiense Boursault', 'Cunningham's White', 'Cunningham's Dwarf White', 'Madame Carvalho', 'Nobleanum Venustum', 'Purple Splendour', 'Rosamundi'.
- And the story continues across the road...
