Flower of Rhododendron Sir Charles Lemon

12 Apr, 2021
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Early blooming large rhododendron.
It has dark green leaves with bright cinnamon indumentum. New leaves come out nearly white so it is inreresting all year round.

Little bit of history:

Seed pods were harvested by SIr Joseph Hooker during his trip to Sikkim in 1849-1851. The plant grew in Sir Charles Lemon gardens. During a trip to Cornish gardens, Henry McLaren, Lord Aberconway, spotted the rhododendron and took cuttings for propagation in 1937. As the plant had no name, he called it Sir Charles Lemon.

All the plants worldly distributed come originally from this specimen.

Comments on this photo

Yorkslass

That's interesting. I've read about several plant hunters - they were intrepid men and faced lots of heartbreak when their carefully preserved collections were lost at sea...happened more than once. This Rhododendron is really lovely isn't it?

12 Apr, 2021