Hardiness, Ratings and 
Flowering Period 
HARDINESS: Since the majority of hybrids listed 
were originally created in Great Britain, we 
are almost entirely dependent upon the 
Year Books of the British Rhododendron 
Association for information on hardiness and 
desirability. We are hopeful that the Ameri- 
can Rhododendron Society will be in a posi- 
tion to publish their own ratings within the 
very near future and, when this information 
is forthcoming, it will be used to determine 
the merits of hybrids under our own climatic 
conditions. The Arboretum Foundation, 
Seattle, Washington, in their excellent pub- 
lication ‘“‘The Handbook of Rhododendrons’’ 
has shown the way by conducting a survey 
of the comparative hardiness of a wide 
range of hybrids. By combining their find- 
ings with our own experience in the nursery 
we have indicated what we consider to be 
an estimate of the hardiness of the hybrids 
listed in our catalogue. 
(A) Hardy and will stand full exposure. 
(B) Hardy but requires partial shade for 
best results. 
(C) Hardy along the coast and in sheltered 
places in inland gardens. 
RATINGS: The asterisks (*) preceding the va- 
rietal name indicates the rating of the variety 
in question. Where there are no asterisks 
preceding the varietal name, it indicates that 
it is too new to be rated. 
FLOWERING PERIOD: The flowering period 
varies somewhat from year to year therefore 
we have indicated the time of blooming by 
season e.g. early, mid-season, and late. The 
early season would be in April, the mid- 
season in May, and the late in June with 
some overlapping from month to month. 
