HARDY RHODODENDRONS AND 

 AZALEAS 



IT is a glorious fact, brimful of joy for lovers of the noblest Culture of 

 flowering shrub which grows in British gardens, that the Rhododen- 



Rhododendron is not the mere peat-lover which it was sup- 

 posed to be in years gone by. This point is made at the very 

 outset, because it at once widens the constituency of the plant, and 

 gives it access to thousands of gardens from which it has been 

 hitherto excluded. Shrub-lovers have not passed it by because 

 they did not want it, but because they feared that they could 

 not do it justice. They have gazed on it with longing eyes, full 

 of admiration for it, yet convinced that it was beyond their 

 reach. 



The thing that we have to remember about the Rhodo- 

 dendron is not so much that it loves peat as that it loathes lime. 

 There is a world of significance in the distinction. A plant that 

 is purely and simply a lime-hater stands on a very different 

 footing from one that is entirely a peat-lover. We cannot grow 

 Rhododendrons on limestone without making special beds, but 

 we can grow them on sand, loam, and even clay, if we are 

 willing to take a little trouble. 



There are few districts in which the top-spit of pasture and 

 leaf mould cannot be got at a moderate price. Pasture is 

 constantly being broken up for building, and the garden-lover 

 will be ever alert to make bargains for leading the top-spit 

 away. It will vary in quality, of course, but in few cases will 

 it be worthless. If it be well threaded with fibre and free from 



H3 



