The EEC are in the process of banning the planting and even the keeping of plantings of Rh. ponticum. It is a reservoir for Phytopthera (sp?) which is not what you would want to introduce to the Faroes. Look for something else.

Really wouldn't advise you to take Rh. ponticum to the Faroe's even without the problem Owdb. mentions it is a seriously invasive species and I'm sure the native flora of the Faroe Islands does not need that sort of competition. I'm surprised the Faroe's don't have any sort of controls on what you can import in the way of plants.

Very few of the plants in my garden are native and I am willing to bet few people have purely native plants in their gardens...

Rhododendron is easily propagated via root cuttings. If terribly keen then go to a woodland in Scotland and take cuttings and keep them damp till you get home. You have the right to roam and no one is going to complain about you taking root cuttings of Rhoddies.

Botanic most of the plants in our garden are not native species but Rh. ponticum… that is a seriously invasive species and I couldn't in all honestly recommend anyone import it into their country! In Scotland they have taken to slashing down whole areas to try to control - think giant hogweed or Japanese Knotweed… Our keen plant explorers of the 19th and early 20th century have a lot to answer for!

Also costing a fortune to remove from Wales. Huge areas of many famous woodlands are being destroyed by Rh. ponticum crowding out native species.

We have a huge one in our garden Owdboggy. It was here when we came and makes a good screen between us and the road. Is it illegal to keep it? It shows no tendency at all to spread - it must have been planted intentionally as the site is inhospitable to rhodos.

Eva could you perhaps grow something a bit more desirable if you planted a windbreak of something else first?

Hi Stera. not illegal to keep but make sure it does not escape out of your garden!

Not illegal ...............yet. If the EEC regulations go through then it will be, but that may take a few years yet.

The EEC has not existed since 1993. The EU are not exactly planning banning plants, but want to stop foreign invasive plants causing problems with Europe's environment and farming. Faroe is not in the EU btw...

Pedant!

:)

Ah well, if they do make it illegal they'd never find it up our lane! I just need a method of making the flowers less hectic - its absolutely covered in spring and a bit overwhelming! Showing no tendency to escape, I think the bank is too steep for it to climb down...

I think the best thing to do is ask on Faroe what your responsibilities are regards this plant. If the authorities are happy for you to source it then the choice is yours. But illegal introductions are exactly that; illegal. Border agencies across the world are having serious issues with gardeners like us, just deciding to flaunt the law. The lengths some people go to is ridiculous all for the sake of having a plant by the back door. Saw a programme where a large book had been hollowed out and stuffed with hemerocallis plants. the border agencies found it and destroyed them. Both the recipient and sender were prosecuted.
I hate scaremongering but we do have to be sensible.

Its similar to digging up plants in the wild coz we like them and s*d the rest of the population who might actually like to see them growing in the wild.

sorry rant over :o)

Well said SBG!

My two penn'orth - if you can't source it locally then don't bring it in. i have had an aversion to rhodedendron since I was a child reading a description of them in one of Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen books - can't remember now if it was TWoB or Moon of Gomrath - but the rhods were scary!

There are several sites on the Net with information about windbreaks for coastal areas if that would help.

Lol Urbanite… Do you view rhododendrons as Triffids?

Well there is that MG but the description of them was as dark and menacing, choking the life out of the ancient woodland.

And Rh. ponticum is certainly doing just that!