RHODODENDRONS
(Last updated 7/2/03)

Rhodies and azaleas bloom in my neighborhood from early March into June. Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, bordering Reed College in the Eastmoreland area in southeast Portland, contains more than 600 varieties

Started in 1950 by the Portland chapter of the American Rhododendron Society, the original garden was located on an island - called "The Island" - in a spring-fed lake; a new portion known as "The Peninsula" was dedicated in 1977.

The Garden provides a frequent backdrop for calendars and weddings; here a pair of models pose for a Japanese photography shoot (right)

Rhododendron is derived from the Greek: "rhodon" - rose, and "dendron" - tree.

The genus (belonging to the heath family) is one of the largest and most diverse in the plant kingdom, consisting of over 900 species distributed from Siberia to Australia

The greatest concentration of both species and individuals occurs in southeast Asia and the Himalayas; North America has about 28 native species, Europe 4, South America and Africa none

Some Himalayan species reach 100 ft. or more in height, with leaves up to 3 ft. long; dwarf species like the diminutive 'Alpine Rose' from Switzerland are only a few inches tall, with leaves just over 1/3 inch long

R. hirsutum, from the European Alps, was the first cultivated species (1656). In 1800 there were still only twelve species from Europe and North America under cultivation

But that picture changed in 1809 when R. catawbiense (below), the Mountain Rosebay, a wild rhodie from North Carolina, was used by European hybridizers to introduce hardiness into garden varieties

Over the next fifty years the tree species R. arboreum, with blood-red flowers, was introduced from India (1811), R. molle (1823) and the even hardier R. fortunei (1856) arrived from China, R. zeylanicum was brought from Ceylon (1832), and almost 50 species were introduced from the Himalayas. Today the most widely available rhododendrons - propagated from cuttings or tissue culture - are still hybrids of the above

Azaleas, which also belong to the genus Rhododendron, are native to North America and Asia; they can usually be distinguished from rhodies by their leaves, which are more pointed and visibly hairy underneath, and by the number of stamens in their flowers - usually five, compared with the ten or more found in rhodies. There are two distinctly different types. Evergreens flower in white, pink, red, and purple, and are generally easy to propagate

Deciduous azaleas, often called Exburys as a result of the popularity of the hybrids developed at the UK gardens of the same name by Lionel de Rothschild starting in 1934, flower in these same colors plus yellow and orange, and are much more cold hardy, but are generally harder to propagate

Interesting links: The Rhododendron Page | American Rhododendron Society

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