(!Cf)c ^ocietp i^oteg 
NOTES ON CHINESE RHODODENDRONS AS 
GROWN IN CORNWALL. 
Contributed by P. D. Williams. 
In these few notes I do not propose in any way to give botanical detail, but 
merely to jot down some of my personal impressions of the garden value of a few 
of the Chinese Rhododendrons. In some cases this impression will be the result 
of seeing several years flowering, but in others the experience is much more 
limited. 
Large Leaved Forms. 
(To be at their best these ought to have absolute shelter from wind.) 
Among them Rh. calophytum seems to have the handsomest flower, and is 
probably one of the most remarkable of all Chinese rhododendrons. It flowers 
in Cornwall in April. The truss is large (I think I have counted twenty-eight 
bells), somewhat pyramidical in form, but hollow at the top. The attractive 
rosy-red bells have in some forms a heavy crimson blotch, and the long pedicels 
are scarlet. It is a plant apparently of good habit, and a striking one even when 
it is not in flower. It flowered in Cornwall when six years old, which is early for 
the large type of rhododendron. 
Rh. sutchuenense. This is another with a large leaf. In Cornish gardens it 
flowers usually in March. In my experience it is much more variable in colour 
and markings than calophytum, and the truss is flatter. Some forms have a 
very heavy crimson blotch, and others are speckled with green. In colour the 
bell itself varies from pale mauve to pink or even white. The flower seems to be 
very susceptible to frost, although it is often under the foliage. The plant is of 
low spreading habit, and flowered even more quickly from the seed than 
calophytum. 
Rh. auriculatum. This seems to be much the latest grower and flowerer 
among the Chinese rhododendrons, sometimes not commencing its growth 
before September. The scented truss is very loose, and the pink or white bells 
quite large. It seems to be on the lines of Rh. Fortunei, and the plant should 
be valuable as a breeder. The young growth is most attractive. It was slow to 
begin flowering with us. 
I will now take some of the small flowered varieties, which seem likely to be at 
their best grown in clumps, rather than as individual plants. In almost every 
case these will strike freely in July or August, and it appears desirable to select 
a good form, and then to increase one’s plants to form a group. 
Rh. lutescens. Although hardy in Cornwall, it flowers and starts into 
growth so early that it is doubtful if it will prove to be useful in colder districts. 
The flowers are yellow, somewhat on the lines of Triflorum, but varying con¬ 
siderably in shade of colour. The young growth is very beautiful, in some forms 
being quite crimson. The habit of the plants is straggly, inclined to be upright. 
In a group it is quite desirable in the milder parts of England. 
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