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Gardeners’ Chronicle, June Wth, 1881. 
RHODODENDRONS AT LAMORRAN. 
A journey from London to Truro is no joke, but I determined to take it a 
fortnight ago for the purpose of seeing Mr. Boscawen’s Rhododendrons.* 
Apart from his kind and very hospitable invitation, I felt that I was bound 
to pay my respects to one who had long preceded me in the culture of our favourite 
plants, who “ had been collecting the species and hybrids for nearly forty years,” 
and who was, doubtless, able to show me many interesting specimens, and give 
much valuable information. Fresh from the Rhododendrons of North Britain, 
I was well pleased to see those of Cornwall also. I broke my journey at Exeter, 
where I visited the very excellent flower show. 
Mr. Robert Veitch took me over his nursery, which carried off at Kensington 
the other day a First-class Certificate for R. exoniense. Of this hybrid 
(R. ciLiATUM crossed by R. Veitchianum) I saw a plentiful young stock. I had 
previously seen the show plants in town, and hailed the award as an encourage¬ 
ment to Rhododendron growers. If my opinion is of any value, I can testify to 
the accuracy of the description, having myself raised seedlings of the same cross. 
The size of R. Veitchianum is lost, but the plant is compact, neat, and very 
floriferous, and the foliage is highly ornamental. 
Mr. Boscawen lives some eight miles from Truro. My drive from thence lay 
through woods blue with Bluebells, and hedgerows pink with the red Lychnis, 
and then through Lord Falmouth’s Park. A steep dip through woods brought 
me to the house, which stands near the bottom of the narrow valley, with a sheet 
of purest water, famed for trout, below. The Rhododendrons and the Pinuses 
clothe the steep slope behind the house, and the former fringe the wooded heights 
on the other side of the water. This narrow wooded valley opens into the 
valley of the river Fal, and the sea is a mile or two away. The soil is not naturally 
favourable for Rhododendrons, but Mr. Boscawen has found, as I have, that 
leaf-mould and cow-dung can do wonders. Good peat is scarce and very 
expensive, and yet many of the plants seemed to be models of health and vigour, 
with very little peat, I fancy, to grow in. The winters, too, are not so gentle. 
* Rev. The Hon. John Townshend Boscawen, the brother of the late Lord 
Falmouth and Rector of Lamorran, a very small living within the grounds of 
Tregothnan. He died in 1889, and his Rhododendrons and other plants 
were then sold. A large majority of them thus passed into Cornish hands 
and many are still alive.—C.C.E. 
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