200 THE GARDENER. [May 



NOTES ON RHODODENDRONS. 



NO. V. 

 GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATIVE SORTS. 



Among the many novelties which, during the last quarter of a cen- 

 tury, have been introduced into British gardens, none have attracted 

 greater attention, or obtained a higher place in popular favour, than 

 the magnificent species of Rhododendrons sent home in the spring of 

 1850 by Dr Hooker from the Sikkim Himalayas, and a few years 

 later by Thomas J. Booth, Esq., from Assam and Bhotan. 



The high expectations created by the glowing descriptions given by 

 these gentlemen, on their introduction, of their beauty in their native 

 habitats, the great diversity among the individuals in habit of growth 

 from the tiny Heath-like shrub up to the stately broad-leaved Ever- 

 green tree — the variety among them in foliage, form, and colour of 

 flowers, and in many instances their remarkable dissimilarity in gene- 

 ral appearance from any of the sorts hitherto known — have since 

 then been fully realised; and they have proved invaluable acquisitions 

 to the long list of these gorgeous flowering-shrubs already in cultivation. 

 It is scarcely possible to overrate the importance, in a horticultural 

 point of view, of these brilliant discoveries, either as indoor decorative 

 plants, for which many of them, from their noble foliage, delicate 

 colours, and, in some cases, exquisite fragrance, are peculiarly adapted, 

 or as the parents of a new and distinctive race of hardy sorts ; and 

 though, considering the length of time they have been in this country, 

 comparatively little has been effected in this direction, from the difla- 

 culty of inducing some of the most desirable to cross with the hardy 

 late-flowering kinds, considerable progress has been made ; and there 

 are a number of hybrids which, while possessing many of the features 

 of the Indian species, are at the same time hardy enough for outdoor 

 cultivation. Much, however, remains yet to be done ; and we can con- 

 ceive of no more interesting and inviting field for the exercise of the 

 hybridiser's skill, and in view of what has been already accomplished 

 with R. arboreum, more likely to yield a rich return for his labours. 



Since these first introductions, several no less useful and interesting 

 species have been added by other collectors from the same and similar 

 localities, which, together with the varieties obtained from time to 

 time by hybridising, constitute the now somewhat large group known 

 as Greenhouse and Conservatory Rhododendrons. 



Though the great majority of the species have been found able to 

 survive .our winters in the open air, and in one sense may be said to 

 be hardy, they for the most part start too early into bloom and 

 growth ; and, as a rule, the expanding flower-buds and young shoots 



