dTfje i^ijobobenbron ^ocietp ^otesi. 
in the gardens of those, like myself, living in a less favourable climate, have to use 
some ingenuity in its cultivation, and some selection in the varieties which we 
grow or try to succeed with. 
It is true that the species may be weU grown even in the “ drj'’ belt ” from 
Sussex to Northumberland. This statement, however, requires a good deal of 
modification. If we take a line roughly from East Devon to East Cmnberland, 
we come into an area of England where the climate is everywhere (except along 
the actual south coast line), much colder and drier than to the west. Except 
too on certain high ridges such as the green-sand belt from Hants to Dorking, 
we experience nearly every year in March and April the frosts that ought properly 
to have occurred in January to early March. Roughly speaking, therefore, 
Rh. areoreum has to endure with us, as a rule, such unfavourable conditions 
just at the very season when it is putting forth its flowers or starting its young 
growth, i.e., March to April. Wherefore, it is much easier to succeed with the 
species at Muncaster Castle, in West Cumberland, where it grows weU ever}' year, 
and is hardly ever cut like it is much further south, say at Horsham, in Sussex, 
where we often get a drought and 12° of frost on April 10th. Another great 
disadvantage is that in many seasons, certainly of late years, we have droughts in 
July, August, and September, which are seldom experienced in the western 
counties, and plants of Rh. areoreum not situated in very choice positions and 
heavily mulched with decaying leaves suffer accordingly. 
However, with all these drawbacks, we have to swallow our disappointment 
when our plants get “ cut ” or dried up in two seasons out of every' five, and will 
persevere with some measure of success. So great too is the recuperative faculty 
of this noble rhododendron, that if we are so fortunate as to get a really good 
growing spring once in every three years as we generally do, that loss of fitness 
is soon made good, and our plants recover, although they may not respond with 
quite so much vigour as in the gardens of our western friends. 
To those who live in less favourable areas and who are anxious to experiment 
with the different varieties (or natural-hybrids) of the true species, I append a 
list of those which are now in cultivation with remarks on the suitability or 
difficulty of culture in cold or “ dry-belt ” gardens. Reference is only made to 
the flowers, and to the hardiness or otherwise of the several varieties. 
Rh. areoreum (type). Colour of flowers varying from white to deepest 
crimson-scarlet. The white form, var. album, is not one of the hardiest or the 
easiest to grow. When mature it suffers much from overflowering, and shoffid 
be freely dis-budded. Of this colour the variety Var. cinnamoneum is the 
hardiest and easiest to grow and does fairly well even at Kew. Most of the pinks, 
such as “ Lady Falmouth,” ‘‘ Rosamund Millais,” crispum, roseum, Wearii, 
and a host of others unnamed, are hardy and easy to grow. The same may be 
said of those of deep rose colour. 
When we come to the red and deep-blood reds, the case is altogether different, 
for with few exceptions these are very tender, and it seems to be unfortunatel}' 
the case that the finer the variety the more delicate it is. Mr. F. D. Godman 
has a beautiful deep-red that I should call hardy, for it never seems to be cut in 
his garden at South Lodge, Horsham, where it has stood over twenty-five years. 
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