74 



HOETICULTTJEE 



July 18, 1914 



HARDY DECIDUOUS RHODODEN- 

 DRONS. 



Extract from Bulletin No. 58 of the Arnold 

 Arboretum. 



Six of the species of Rhododendrons 

 with deciduous leaves (Azalea) of 

 eastern North America are well estab- 

 lished in the Arboretum, and no group 

 of plants perfectly suited to our cli- 

 mate surpasses them in beauty. The 

 first of these plants to bloom, R. 

 Vaseyi. opens its small pink flowers 

 early in May before the leaves appear. 

 This azalea is an inhabitant of a few 

 of the high valleys of the Blue Ridge 

 in North and South Carolina and had 

 been entirely overlooked until some 

 thirty years ago. It is a plant of loose 

 irregular habit, sometimes growing to 

 the height of fifteen or eighteen feet, 

 although in cultivation it begins to 

 flower when less than a foot high. It 

 is perfectly hardy, and the pure per- 

 fect pink of its flowers is hardly 

 equalled by that of the flowers of any 

 other plant. There is a form of this 

 azalea \i ith white flowers. It gron-s 

 best in rather moist soil in the neigh- 

 borhood of water, and single individu- 

 als generally look better than the 

 large masses sometimes seen in public 

 parks. 



Not much later two other pink-flow- 

 €red species are in bloom, R. canes- 

 cens and R. nudiflorum; the former is 

 a more northern and the latter a more 

 southern species, although the two 

 often grow in the same locality. Both 

 produce pale rose or pink flowers of 

 various shades which appear before 

 the leaves or just as they begin to un- 

 fold, and their general appearance is 

 very similar. These plants grow sing- 

 ly or in great masses on treeless hill- 

 sides or in open woods. R. canesccns 

 is very abundant in some parts of 

 Worcester County, Massachusetts, and 

 the bundles of branches covered with 

 pink flowers which excursionists on 

 the northern railroads bring into Bos- 

 ton in May are of this species. These 

 two Azaleas take kindly to cultivation 

 and thrive in good soil in either shady 

 or open situations. 



The next of these Azaleas to 

 flower is the yellow Azalea of the 

 Appalachian Mountain slopes, R. 

 calendulaccum. The beauty of the 

 brilliant flowers is heightened by con- 

 trast with the dark green leaves which 

 are well grown before the flowers 

 open; these vary from bright yellow 

 to orange or shades of red and are not 

 surpassed in brilliancy by those of any 

 other Azalea now in cultivation. R. 

 calendulncrum is a slow-growing but 

 long-lived plant, and in time will reach 

 a height of eight or ten feet. There 

 is a large mass of these plants in the 

 Arboretum, showing the variations 

 in the color of the flowers and 

 a number of individuals are scat- 

 tered in border-plantations along 

 the different roads. The flowers 

 of the yellow Azalea are soon fol- 

 lowed by those of another inhabitant 

 of the glades of the Appalachian Moun- 

 tains from Pennsylvania to Georgia, 

 R. arborcscens. This is a tall shrub 

 with large, pure white, very fragrant 

 flowers, the beauty of which is in- 

 creased by the bright scarlet color of 

 the long filaments of the stamens and 

 of the style. The pale leaves of this 

 plant are fully grown before the flow- 

 ers open. The last of these Azaleas 

 to bloom (R. viscosum) will not be in 

 taower for several weeks. It is a com- 



mon inhabitant of low wet ground in 

 the eastern part of the country, and is 

 popularly known as the Swamp Honey- 

 suckle. The small white flowers con- 

 tinue to open during many weeks and 

 their fragrance, which is greater than 

 that of the other Azaleas, makes 

 known their presence especially in the 

 evening, from a long distance. 



Seedlings of two other American 

 species have been raised at the Arbo- 

 retum, but it is too soon to judge of 

 their value as garden plants. They 

 are R. austrinum. with slender pale 

 pink flowers appearing before the 

 leaves, a native of the valley of the 

 Apalachicola river in Western Flori- 

 da, and R. candidum, from Southern 

 Georgia, with white or pale pink 

 flowers appearing after the leaves. 

 There is another Azalea to intro- 

 duce into the gardens. This a na- 

 tive of central Georgia where, in some 

 localities, it is very abundant in open 

 woods. Discovered by Michaux, the 

 French botanist, more than a century 

 ago and confounded by him and all 

 later authors with R. calendulaceum. 

 it has been called the variety flam- 

 meura of that species. From R. calcii- 

 diilavcum. however, this plant, which 

 should be called R. flammeum, difl'ers 

 in its winter-buds, in the size and 

 shape of the flowers and in the fact 

 that the flowers open before the 

 leaves. The flowers on different plants 

 vary from yellow to deep orange and 

 to scarlet; and the flowers of no other 

 Azalea compare in brilliancy with 

 some of the deep-colored forms of this 

 Georgia plant, which it is reasonable 

 to hope may prove hardy here as sev- 

 eral plants from the same gen- 

 eral region are well established in 

 the Arboretum. The beautiful, white- 

 flowered Azalea {R. occidentale) from 

 the borders of streams on the western 

 slopes of the Cascade and Sierra Ne- 

 vada Mountains of the west has not 

 yet proved hardy here probably be- 

 cause just the right place has not been 

 found for it. 



These native Azaleas are handsomer, 

 hardier, and in every way more satis- 

 factory than the so-called Ghent 

 Azaleas which are hybrids of some of 

 our species with the Caucasian yellow- 

 flowered Azalea (R. fiavitm or Azalea 

 Dontlca). This plant is not hardy here, 

 and its influence on the Ghent hybrids 

 has been unfortunate so far as this 

 country is concerned. Many of these 

 hybrids are beautiful flowering plants; 

 some are quite hardy but most of them 

 show evidence of a poor constitution; 

 they grow slowly and suffer in severe 

 winters, and none of them have the 

 vigor of their American parents. 

 These Ghent hybrids are raised by 

 grafting in great quantities in Euro- 

 pean nurseries and many of them 

 come to this country. It is impossible, 

 however, to obtain the native plants 

 in large quantities. Occasionally 

 plants collected from the woods are 

 offered for sale, but these collected 

 plants are always less desirable than 

 nursery-raised seedlings which are 

 rarely to be found; and the American 

 nurseryman who will take up the rais- 

 ing of seedling American Azaleas on 

 a large scale will confer a benefit on 

 American gardens. 



Leonard Barron tells us that Liliuni 

 myriophyllum does splendidly at Gar- 

 den City, N. Y., where the soil is de- 

 cidedly unfavorable for lily growing 



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Mignonette 



BODDINGTON'S 

 MAJESTY 



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 BODDINGTON 



SEEDSMAN 



342 We.t HthSt., - NEW YORK 



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