Douglas Justice's blog for April, which you can read here: April in the Garden | UBC Botanical Garden features the elepidote group of rhododendrons. Some were not out yet, some we missed seeing, and some didn't photograph all that well, so I hope to be able to add to this. Of ones Douglas mentioned, the R. fortunei were most noticeable. Here are Rhododendron fortunei subsp. fortunei and Rhododendron fortunei subsp. discolor Houlstonii Group. R. vernicosum is not quite in bloom yet I did not notice the fragrance of R. maoerense, but the flowers were very graceful. I was expecting taller plants when we climbed Moulan Shan to see this R. yuefengense. It has a few flower buds.
Here are a few rhododenrons we liked that were not mentioned in the blog. Rhododendron argyrophyllum subsp. nankingense 'Chinese Silver' R. falconeri, with unusually shaped bells. And R. rex subsp. fictolacteum
April 18, Wendy and me visited UBC garden At last we found Rhododendron sinofalconeri with flowers, several years it didn't bloom, we looked at buds and in a while it open new leaves, no flower last year and year before. This Rhododendron made my day. Flowers are very low,almost on the ground, most visitors would not notice it. Second lucky find was Tulipa batalinii from Uzbekistan, probably not so bright like all tulips now in the city, but I love to see new wild flowers The same about Lewisia nevadensis, it was new in my collection. All Trilliums in Alpine garden look perfect, I would post just two of them, Trillium pusillum, dwarf trillium from Oklahoma to Maryland and Trillium chloropetalum, giant trillium from California
Enough with the flowers - here are some leaves I liked. From across the alpine pond, this dwarf Cedrus deodara 'Silver Mist' beckoned. I'm surprised I don't seem to have posted Umbilicus rupestris before. It was not in the Physick Garden, but it has several homeopathic uses. All these new leaves totally misled me on the ID for this graceful Tsuga chinensis, in the Asian Garden.
Here is an update on some rhododendrons mentioned in the April blog. The R. vernicosum that I found today is totally in bloom. As is R. fortunei subsp. fortunei And I found the R. huanum, with calyces that are small and sort-of dark. Very sweet.
Here are two more rhododendrons that were not mentioned in the blog. Another pinky-purple, R. oreotrephes. Here is a white one - R. wiltonii, which I see can be pink like R. fortunei, but also does white.
