284 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



INCREASING POPULARITY OF THE 

 RHODODENDRON. 



In Europe and England the rhododendron has been 

 grown for several centuries as an ornamental shrub, 

 but its culture in America dates back little more than 

 fifty years. For a long time the idea prevailed that the 

 hybrid varieties could be grown successfully only 

 within the narrow limits in the United States, and that 

 rhododendrons were for the few rather than for the 

 many. Happily this notion has been dispelled, writL-s 

 Joseph H. Sperry in The Country Gentleman, but exten- 

 sive plantings of the two hardy native species — maxi- 

 mum and Catawljiense — were begun no more than a 

 decade ago. 



Now tlie planting of this finest of the broad-leaved 

 evergreens is yearly increasing. Together with finer 

 appreciation of the beauty of its foliage and blooms 

 has come more intimate knowledge of species, varie- 

 ties and cultural requirements. Rhododendrons are an 

 ornament either to cottage grounds or to the large 

 estate, and can be grown successfully in different situ- 

 ations. After they are once established they are more 

 enduring than alnmst any other shrul), and require less 

 attention. 



Of the two American species of importance, Cataw- 

 biense grows in the high Alleghenies from Virginia to 

 Georgia, bearing in June handsome lilac-purple flowers. 

 Catawbiense, both for planting in its wild form and 

 for use in producing hybrids, is the most valuable 

 known species. It was introduced into England as 

 early as 1785, and became common there l)y 1809. So 

 hardy is it that it and also many of its hybrids can be 

 grown as easily as lilacs. In lieauty of foliage it ex- 

 cels almost any other evergreen, and in bloom it rivals 

 many European hybrids. 



The second valuable American si)ecies is maxinunn, 

 often called Great Laurel and Rose Bay, which grows 

 in the deep woods from Maine southward, and is very 

 common in the Allegheny Alountains from New York 

 to Georgia. Its flowers, which appear in July, vary in 

 color from white to pink. The lateness of its blooming 

 period, its remarkable hardiness and large, handsome 

 foliage, all make maximum a very desirable species. 



In America few rhododendrons were jdanted before 

 1855. Catawbiense and maximum were used to some 

 small extent, set (ju well-kept lawns and in formal gar- 

 dens where, on account of their loose manner of 

 growth, they suffered much from comparison with the 

 polished surroundings amid which they were growing. 

 Hybrids in these early plantings were used largely 

 either as single specimens or in pairs. The mistake 

 made in planting the native species, maximum and Ca- 

 tawbiense, was in not placing them in pmper environ- 

 ments, and another error in setting both these and 

 hybrids was that group and mass plantings, which 

 show the shrubs to the best advantage, were apparently 

 little used. 



Here and there in Alassachusetts and Connecticut, 

 and States south of these, specimens of these early 

 plantings may be seen. In the narrow north front 

 dooryard of the James Stannard house, at Westbrook, 

 Conn., a pair of these early planted rhododendrons may 

 be seen, one on each side of the entrance gate, where 

 they have been growing hard on to a half century, re- 

 quiring very little care, just left undisturbed, produc- 

 ing every year a wealth of blooms, one of lilac purple, 

 the other of blush white. In Saj'brook, Conn., several 

 immense rhododendrons are growing in the dooryard 

 of the old Morgan house. On the north lawn of the 

 Goldsmith place at Milford, Conn., well away from the 

 house but shaded somewhat both l)y street and lawn 



trees, are two rhododendrons evidently planted many 

 years ago, differing much in size and shape, but one 

 clearly being that very hardy, well-shaped, semi-dwarf 

 variety Everestianum. 



-Instances might be multiplied of these survivals of 

 early plantings. They are valuable in that they sug- 

 gest where we should plant rhododendrons on the 

 home grounds in reference to buildings and trees, and 

 also that we should plant groups rather than single 

 .specimens or pairs, though even this metlmd is proper 

 when the home grounds are very small. 



Catawbiense may be put to any of the uses that are 

 made of maximum, and may also be planted along 

 with those hybrid varieties that bloom at the same 

 time with it, not a few of which it equals in the beauty 

 of its flowers. 



Hybrids may l:)e used in the several ways in which 

 the native species are planted, but are inferior to the 

 natives for such uses, and, moreover, are somewhat ex- 

 pensive. Hardy hybrids are most enduring and effect- 

 ive when planted close to each other, and where they 

 will be partly shaded either by trees or by buildings or 

 barriers of some kind from the sun and wind, especially 

 from the southern sun, which is particularly injurious 

 in winter as well as in summer. Plant on any side of 

 a building or in any angle of it except the south, but 

 not in very close proximity to its side. 



Both natives and hybrids flourish on western and 

 northern slopes, and when well established need little 

 l)rotection even from winter winds. Where drives or 

 paths on large grounds are outlined by shade trees on 

 each side, rhododendron borders between the trees and 

 the drive give a fine effect. 



Tall and dwarf rhododendrons may not be planted 

 in the same group, the latter being used to great ad- 

 \antage in shaded rockeries, or amid dwarf evergreens. 

 To sum up, the ideal location for rhododendrons is 

 where they will get a touch of the sun, morning and 

 evening, and a glint of its rays at noon through the 

 treetops or overhanging branches. Massing of rhodo- 

 dendrons, especially the native species, against a l)ack- 

 ground of evergreen trees is very eflfecti\e. 



Rhododendrons will not live at all in a lime or 

 chalk soil, nor will they drive in a clay soil, but will 

 grow in any light, rich, sandy loam. If, however, an 

 excavation is made to the depth of two feet and is filled 

 in with leaf mold, peat, pine needles, leaves, stubble — 

 in short, any decaying vegetable matter — mixed with 

 rotted turf and sand, moisture will be conserved, better 

 results will follow, more profuse blooms and greater 

 permanency of the plants will he assured. 



Rhododendrons must have moisture, for their roots are 

 hairlike and do not penetrate deeply into the earth. A 

 heavy watering at the roots, just before the blooming 

 season and during droughts, Iienefits greatly. The [jlants 

 should not be allnwed to go into the winter dry at the 

 roots. 



The best hybrid rhododendrons are produced by layer- 

 ing ; a slow process that makes the plants expensive. Next 

 in excellence are English and American plants that have 

 been produced by grafting hybrids low down on Cataw- 

 biense roots, a less expensive process giving quicker re- 

 sults and one chiefly used by English and American 

 nurserymen. 



In planting grafted rhododendrons set the plants low 

 enough in the ground so that the point where the union is 

 made between the graft and the root will be two inches 

 below the surface. In a few years roots will grow out 

 from the part of the graft beneath the soil, and what the 

 nurservmen call an "own-root" plant will result, entirelv 

 independent of the root upon which it was grafted, and 

 equal in value to a layered plant. 



