RHODODENDRONS AND AZALEAS 



CHAPTER I 

 INTRODUCTION 



AMONG the many exotic trees and shrubs that have made 

 themselves at home in the British Islands, the several sec- 

 tions of Rhododendrons are perhaps the most valuable. 

 The conditions afforded by an insular climate and soil are 

 peculiarly adapted to the requirements of a group of plants 

 which in nature inhabit moist or swampy situations on high 

 mountain ranges, and are rarely found in places where ex- 

 tremes of sunshine or cold are experienced. Rhododen- 

 drons love moisture ; both at their roots and overhead ; 

 and they dislike excessive sunshine. Their objection to 

 lime limits their general cultivation to those parts of these 

 islands where the soil is non-calcareous. Fortunately such 

 parts are plentiful, and Rhododendrons and other lime- 

 hating plants can be made quite happy in them. 



There are Rhododendrons for the coldest as well as for 

 the mildest parts of this country. Most of the less hardy 

 species from the Himalayas flourish in South Cornwall, 

 South-West Ireland, and South Wales, where the atmosphere 

 is constantly humid and the heat of summer and the cold of 

 winter are tempered by their geographical position. Trees 

 and shrubs from New Zealand, Chili, California, China, 

 and Japan, which in other parts of our islands are unable to 



A 



