RHODODENDRONS, AZALEAS, BAMBOOS 105 
Cultivation of 
Rhododendrons 
men by whom it was made. For many years after its construction — 
up to the time, indeed, when it was planted with rhododendrons 
— the dell was generally known as the “ Hollow Walk,” a name 
often used for it even now. 
Although all the great rhododendron nurseries are situated on 
a peat formation, and although a peaty soil is, no doubt, on the 
whole most suitable for these shrubs, the health 
and vigour of the specimens in this collection show 
that it is by no means essential. The soil here is 
an open sandy loam, and the plants offer every encouragement to 
those who have a similar soil and desire to grow rhododendrons. 
What these shrubs abhor is any calcareous matter near the roots ; 
what they like are cool, uniformly moist conditions, and a soil rich 
in humus, especially decayed leaves. The happiest rhododendrons are 
those whose roots are always shaded by their own low-growing 
branches. 
Some fine old cedars of Lebanon stand near the path, and about 
the middle of the dell an interesting group of camellias is worth 
noticing. For many years the camellia (at one time a 
fashionable flower) was considered a tender plant only 
to be grown under glass. But these plants, which are 
very healthy and flower well, have grown here for twenty years with- 
out any other protection than that which the situation affords. Along 
the dell, too, are some very old Weymouth pines ( Pinus Strobus), 
sixty or seventy feet high, now picturesque only in their decay. Several 
of them are becoming covered with climbers, conspicuous among 
which is the clinging variety of the Virginian creeper, notable for 
the brilliant red its leaves assume in autumn before falling. 
Just as rhododendrons furnish us with the most beautiful of 
hardy evergreen shrubs, so do azaleas supply us with the loveliest 
of deciduous-leaved ones. The two are closely allied ; 
they are sections, indeed, of the same genus. The 
Azalea Garden at Kew had its origin in the early ’fifties 
of the last century, in what was then known as an American Garden 
made by Sir William Hooker. In 1881 it was remodelled and en- 
larged by his son, Sir Joseph. The plan he adopted, which with 
certain modifications is still maintained, was to cut out a series of 
beds on the lawn, each bed forming an arc in one of the two con- 
centric circles of which the whole was composed. Since then some 
p 
Cedars and 
Pines. 
Azalea 
Garden. 
