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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER » 
May  30,  1901. 
Hardy  Rhododendrons. 
Few  firms  have  done  more  for  tbe  advancement  and  improvement 
of  hardy  Rhododendrons  than  Messrs.  J.  Waterer  &  Sons  of  Bagshot, 
whose  groups  at  the  Temple  Show  and  other  exhibitions  are  always  a 
chief  feature.  The  illustration  on  this  page  represents  the  group 
this  firm  arranged  in  the  loner  Temple  Gardens  last  week.  Hardy 
Rhododendrons  are  undoubtedly  the  finest  and  best  of  hardy  evergreens, 
and  at  this  season  of  the  year  a  massive  group,  collection,  or  dell  of 
Rhododendrons  in  full  flower,  is  sufficient  to  cause  the  least  appreciative 
among  us  to  pause  and  bestow  admiration  upon  them.  The  Rose  Bay, 
as  these  plants  are  popularly  named,  succeeds  best  in  cool,  moist,  peaty 
dells,  fairly  well  exposed  to  the  sun,  wind,  and  rain.  The  position 
ought  to  be  in  a  manner  sheltered  and  not  too  naked  to  the  cold, 
flouting  breezes.  However,  our  remarks  are  not  intended  to  be 
■cultural,  but  rather  to  point  out  to  those  living,  perhaps,  far  from  where 
the  Bagshot  and  other  superb  collections  can  be  easily  seen,  that  each 
year  discovers  some  new  varieties,  and  that  these  novelties  are 
frequently  decided  acquisitions.  It  would  be  well,  therefore,  if 
provincial  gardeners  could  be  persuaded  to  add  even  a  few  of  the 
Fitzwilliam  or  R.  Fosterianum,  combinod  with  all  the  size,  purity, 
and  attractiveness  of  R.  Griffithianum,  R.  Countess  of  Haddington, 
R.  Dalhouseianum,  and  others. 
- «♦♦♦* - 
Hippetstrums. 
Lilies,  because  of  their  hardiness  and  superior  sestheticness  of  form 
and  habit  of  flower  and  growth,  are  popular  with  thousands  of  our 
fellows.  Hippeastrums  are  not  Liliums,  nor  of  the  Lily  order,  but  in 
general  floral  resemblance  they  closely  approach  some  of  the  stately 
species  and  varieties  of  the  near  relations  to  whom  we  have  just 
compared  them.  Were  they  so  easily  grown — that  is,  were  they  fit  to 
stand  the  rigours  and  vicissitudes  of  our  British  climate — it  would  not 
be  long  ere  the  stately  and  gloriously  coloured  Equestrian  Stars  (as 
they  are  also  called)  would  be  found,  even  in  cottage  gardens. 
As  it  is  they  must  have  the  warmth  of  at  least  an  “  inter¬ 
mediate  house  ” — a  plant  house  with  a  temperature  between  60°  and 
A  VARIED  GROUP  OF  HARDY  RHODODENDRONS. 
most  improved  sorts  to  their  collections.  In  this  way  others  would 
see  their  worth  by  inspection  and  comparison,  and  before  loDg  many 
of  our  gardens  would  be  all  the  brighter  and  better  from  the  selections 
thus  included. 
The  great  bulk  of  hardy  Rhododendrons  are  crimson,  of  shades  of 
this  and  nearly  related  colours.  We  see  here  how  the  earliest 
Himalayan  species  have  thus  had  a  very  telling  effect  in  the  progeny 
that  has  been  derived  from  them  by  hybridising  and  crossing.  The 
old  R.  ponticum,  which  first  entered  our  English  soil  from  India  in 
1763,  is  lavender  purple,  and  many  of  the  best  present-day  favourites 
have  much  of  lavender,  or  lilac  and  lilac  purple,  not  to  say  violet,  in 
them.  It  has  been  principally  to  the  well-known  R.  arboreum, 
however  (introduced  in  1820),  that  we  have  derived  bo  many  fine 
crimson  and  pink  varieties  of  hardy  Rhododendrons.  The  latter  species 
is  not  quite  dependable  in  point  of  hardiness  in  our  isles,  but  its 
descendants,  by  the  process  of  naturalisation  and  their  relationship  to 
hardier  species,  are  quite  frost-resistive.  R.  catawbienBe  and 
R.  caucasicum  have  been  important  species  in  hybridisation. 
Now  that  such  delightful  and  exquisitely  beautiful  varieties  as 
Pink  Beauty,  Ivewense,  Mrs.  Tom  AgDew,  Lady  Eleanor  Cathcart, 
Picturatum,  and  others  have  rewarded  the  skill,  attention,  and 
thought  of  the  specialist,  we  may  expect  much  further  advances. 
Already  the  more  tender  species  are  having  their  refined  superiority 
transmitted  to  the  outdoor  varieties,  and  if  thought  and  patience 
are  both  exercised  we  may  have  the  fragrance  of  R.  Lady  Alice 
70°  in  winter.  Of  course  they  last  fresh  and  do  better  in  an  ordinary 
cool  greenhouse  or  conservatory  when  their  imposing  spikes  have 
developed  and  the  flower  buds  have  expanded.  Nearly  all  who  have 
the  means  of  accommodation  for  their  growth  include  a  group  or 
collection  of  Hippeastrums  (lately  named  Amaryllis)  with  their  other 
plant  subjects.  We  have  enthusiasts,  however,  who  extensively 
cultivate  this  genus  of  Amaryllidaceous  plants,  and  amongst  these 
none  are  more  consistent  or  satisfy  themselves  more  thoroughly  with 
the  varied  beauty  and  interest  of  these  plants  than  Captain  Holford, 
whose  gardener,  Mr.  A.  Chapman,  has  such  a  splendid  collection 
under  his  care  at  Westonbirt,  Tetbury. 
Captain  Holford  was  the  earliest  exhibitor  of  a  collection  of 
Hippeastrums  at  any  of  the  Drill  Hall  meetings  of  the  Royal 
Horticultural  Society  this  season,  aod  he  was  the  last  also,  for  even 
at  the  show  held  in  the  Inner  Temple  Gardens  last  week  his  plants 
were  in  evidence.  We  are  pleased  to  reproduce  a  photographic 
illustration  of  the  Westonbirt  plants,  whose  brilliant  flowers  were 
relieved  by  a  soft  green  foil  furnished  by  Ferns  and  other  foliage 
plants.  Sufficient  was  written  descriptive  of  the  group  in  last  week’s 
Journal  to  give  our  readers  an  idea  of  the  new  and  improved  varieties 
it  contained.  One  received  an  award  of  merit  ;  but  all  were  of  true 
form,  large,  of  good  substance  and  colour.  Mr.  Chapman,  we  believe, 
adopts  the  system  of  plunging  his  pots  of  bulbs  in  tan  beds  while  they 
are  making  their  growth  during  summer.  Hippeastrums  deserve  all 
the  attention  the  most  enthusiastic  can  bestow  upon  them. 
