Salmon colored rhododendrons?

[Judy G. Russell]

Okay... I saw something this weekend I'd never seen before, and I want one. Or more. It's a salmon colored rhododendron. Never saw the likes of it before, but it is absolutely gorgeous. Has anybody seen this color? I want one!

[MollyM/CA]

OK, I posted the question with a few dumb questions of my own, and a link. I'll go slow and wait a bit before I post another one. :rolleyes:

Had my post to Garden copied and forgot to paste to my open Notepad before I left, and I'm not going back there today for anything. What a relief to be here.

No chance you could post a picture, is there? How big was this rhododendron? How would you describe "salmon" (farmed or wild?)

[Chris Carson]

Where did you see those? I'm not nearly an expert (where is Lenny?) but I don't think I've seen any colors but purple and red.

[MollyM/CA]

Daryl says:

Molly,

Rhodies usually succumb to Phytophthora here, so I haven't been paying much attention to them since we left New Jersey, but if you don't get an answer, Judy's best bet might be to contact her local chapter of the Rhododendron Society. If there's one around, they'd know about it.

d

Rhododendron Society was a link so you could google for it--

Chris, Fran who lives in England says there are hybrids, there is every color you can imagine and contact your local rhododendron society.

[Judy G. Russell]

I saw them in the backyard of a friend here in Middlesex County, NJ, Chris. They were simply gorgeous. I immediately thought of what it would look like to have a couple of rhodies -- mixing the purple and the salmon. I almost drooled.

[Judy G. Russell]

What a great idea... look at this baby (http://www.rhododendron.org/image.asp?Name=Dexter's%20Orange&SubSpecies=&Image=/images/db/DextersOrange.jpg&Credit=Richard%20Gustafson&H_S=H) ... isn't it gorgeous? Thanks, Molly! Now all I have to do is find a grower to sell me one or a dozen...

[Lindsey]

I want one![/B]
Something like this (http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=49238&PrevMainPage=advsearchresults&scChannel=Container%20Plants%20AS&SearchText=p11.v94;p4.v8&OfferCode=R1H), perhaps? Or this (http://www.paghat.com/rhody_whisperingrose.html)? Or one of the many pictured here (http://www.donaldhyatt.com/ARSPVC/articles/SpecialPlants-2004-10.html)?

You might investigate the flame azalea (http://ncnatural.com/wildflwr/flameazal.html), which can be very showy.

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Oh my! I was down at Roan Mountain NC just a couple of years ago (the nearby town Bakersville NC is named for my fourth great grandfather) for the Rhododendron Festival there, but it was all the purple types all over Roan Mountain (http://www.pbase.com/jgr/image/18629223). I'll have to go back and see the area where the other colors are.

I am definitely going to go find me some of these different colors and plant them. They are absolutely gorgeous -- and I never knew they existed!

[Lindsey]

Gorgeous photo!

I've got an azalea with a bloom that's pretty close to the color of that Autumn Sunset in the first picture in my previous message that I just love. Mine's not exactly salmon, is more an orange-rose. Can't for the life of me remember the name of it.

I think the pictures I posted were all technically azaleas, but frankly, there's not an awful lot of difference between the two. Rhodendrons are evergreen and tend to be large, but you can get large azaleas (like the indicas, which grow 6-8 feet--but they wouldn't be hardy as far north as New Jersey; I think they're actually Zone 8, though I have a couple in my yard--Zone 7--that do just fine), and you can get evergreen azaleas (but there again, I'm not sure how far north they are hardy).

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Azaleas generally do well here -- I have two new orange-red ones that I just put in this spring after seeing the entire neighborhood lit up with color this spring and me with mostly evergreens. I'm going to have to get a photo of my friend's rhodie -- the color really is exquisite.

[Chris Carson]

I saw them in the backyard of a friend here in Middlesex County, NJ, Chris. They were simply gorgeous. I immediately thought of what it would look like to have a couple of rhodies -- mixing the purple and the salmon. I almost drooled.

Interesting. I guess I'm going to have to do some reading. The rhodies in front of our house are not doing all that well. A gardening friend of ours thought we might need to water and feed since he said the Spring was very dry.

[Judy G. Russell]

Hmmm... my rhodie (and others around here) are doing spectacularly well (she says, knocking on wood, since I do not have anything approaching a green thumb). But rhodies do need to be fed every so often, from what I've read.