HARDY RHODODENDRONS AND 
AZALEAS 
T 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 
143 
drons 
