New Chinese Rhododendrons

New Chinese Rhododendrons - These are not yet much known in our gardens, and yet a few kinds have already shown their value. On the whole they approach the Rhododendrons of N. India—in fact, several species in the one region have an almost exact counterpart in the other. On the other hand, not a few are quite unlike any other known kinds, such as the charming R. racemosum, in which we have a distinct new type of Rhododendron. We may hope, too, from the latitude and elevation at which many of them grow, that they will prove hardier than the Himalayan species.

R. aucubaefolia is a fine species with white flowers and bold leaves 6 or 8 inches long. R. Augustinii has large white, pink, or mauve colored flowers, finely waved around the edges of the petals. R. auriculatum, a fine low tree of 10 to 30 feet, with beautiful white or rosy flowers, perhaps finer than in any other Chinese kind. They are funnel-shaped, 3 inches deep and 4 1/2 inches across the mouth; the leaves leathery and 4 to 9 inches long. R. ciliicalyx is another charming plant with even larger white flowers flushed with rose, but it is untried as to hardiness. R. Delavayi, with dark red flowers, comes very near the Himalayan R. arboreum. R. Fortunei, though an old kind, is still rare, and one of the best. It is the most fragrant of true Rhododendrons, the flowers composed of finely crisped petals, and clear pale rose fading to white. Some garden crosses have lately come from this kind, which promises to give us a very useful early-flowering group for gardens. R. lacteum, grown already to a fine size at Kilmacurragh, Ireland, comes near the Indian R. Falconeri, with trusses of white bell-shaped flowers 2 inches across. Its leaves are a foot long, covered beneath with a beautiful felt, silvery-white at first, turning brown with exposure. R. racemosum is the most useful and distinct of these new kinds, growing without any trouble, and readily increased. It makes a low shrub, well adapted to the rock garden, growing slowly, needing little root room, and flowering freely from a height of only a few inches. The white or pale rosy flowers are not large, but instead of confined as in other Rhododendrons to a rounded truss at the tips of the shoots, here they also appear all along the shoots as clusters from the leaf-axils, so that in April each branch is transformed into a raceme of flowers. R. rubiginosum, a scarce kind which has proved fully hardy at Kew, its flowers bright rose spotted with crimson. It flowers in late April or May, and is easily increased from home-saved seeds. R. scabrifolium is a pretty little plant, never growing high, with rosy flowers and hairy leaves and stems. R. vunnanense, one of the best, is a beautiful hardy kind of slender open growth, doing best in a sheltered spot, where it blooms in May. The trusses are small but exceedingly graceful, composed of flowers 2 inches or so across, white or rosy-lilac, freely spotted with dark red on the upper petals.

• Winter Squash Plants Photos
• Sugar Maple Tree Picture
• What Plants Grow in Winter

• Gardenia Plant Care
• Jasmine
• How to Build an Outdoor Fireplace
• Honeysuckle
• Maple Tree Diseases

• Actinidia
• Abelia
• Flowers by Month
• Category:Shrubs
• Chinese Pink