This might be the best place to post anything on Rhododendron 'Nancy Evans' and other yellows, to continue on from the thread 'Milton' which is not about yellows, except that Rhododendron 'Nancy Evans' became also a focus in that thread. Nice photo at: Search - nancy evans (rhododendrons.com) Another nice photo of 'Nancy Evans' at: http://www.flounder.ca/FraserSouth/gallery.asp per the previous list of rhododendron sites in this particular forum, posted by Daniel.
Many if not most yellow and orange hybrids are martyrs to mildew. I've had 'Unique' and 'Virginia Richards' actually die from it, the first one slowly and the second kind quickly. These were plants decades old, the three 'Virginia Richards' were producing trusses sometimes as big as basketballs or nearly so before becoming infested. http://www.ipmnet.org/plant-disease/disease.cfm?RecordID=969
Oh, No! What a shame. That's valuable information! I'd better not invest in too many; maybe one is enough! Ron, what in your opinion is one of the best deeper shade-tolerant rhododendrons, one not going to grow over 4 feet in diameter wide or more than 4 feet high, and one which produces some bloom in shade, without an obvious problem like that? My other possible location is dappled-sunnier and healthier, and I can put my 'Nancy Evans' in the second spot. I have another question for you: We have a third area where we could espalier something [the New Dawn rose just doesn't like this place, in front of a chimney, something about the location drives it into the powdery mildew condition -- we've spoken about that in this forum before. I am watering it well, although it is under the roof overhang. There is less air circulation in this area, owing to a cedar fence around this patio.] We could try espaliering a rhododendron in a planting hole where there is now a healthy medium rhodo with a bright blood red bloom, it came with the townhouse, which "my other half" finds too aggressively red for the more delicate flower tones he has out there [pale yellows, whites, light pinks, light blues, and all very visible from the big windows on either side of our interior fire place from the livingroom], although the hole would be 2 or 3 feet away from the espaliering side of the brick chimney, but it could be guided over if it grew long enough... We just returned from Firwood Nursery above, where we were looking at some of their offerings, and the owner said he had seen espaliering of rhododendrons in England but nowhere else. We'd need a variety that produced shoots and leaf clusters continuously off trained stems and didn't develop long blank spaces... Anyone have any suggestions? It would give us a controllable espalier which didn't need constantly to be cut back like some vines and shrubs, and would provide an evergreen plant as well... I could move the blood red one to a spot where it was appreciated... Would a taller-growing Camellia sasanqua be a better bet for that idea? The planting area has poor air circulation owing to a tall cedar fence around this patio, but bright morning sun until about 1:30 pm and then it becomes very shady but with nearby light from the patio area still receiving mid-day sun rays from the western side... A simple solution would be a vine like a Clematis, I suppose, or climbing hydrangea, but I don't want something taking off up the side of the chimney and into the eavestroughs of the roof overhang... if it stayed on the chimney it might be ok as long as it doesn't pull the mortar out...
You don't want morning sun for camellias that flower during frosty periods as these will be more prone to damage than if in morning shade. If you can get a fragrant sasanqua-type camellia that blooms at the start of the season, in October those can be very nice. A fall like this past one, with little frostiness in October the morning sun exposure would not be a problem.
Hi Janetdoyle, There is a yellow rhodo that explicitely needs shadow and never direct sun. And I have never had problems with mildew. It is Goldkrone. See: http://www.hirsutum.info/rhododendron/hybrids/detail.php?start=G&id=22&offset=300 Kind regards, Herman van Ree
That's a very useful website, apparently offering photos of many rhododendron hybrids that otherwise would be hard to find. I could not determine what the home page was -- oh I am wrong, here it is: http://www.hirsutum.info/ This statement is found on the front page of the website: "The purpose of this website is to give an overview (photos and information) of as many rhododendron species and hybrids as possible. A virtual botanical garden. A virtual arboretum." Wonderful resource. This should be very useful for many rhododendron enthusiasts. Perhaps some of you knew about it anyway, but here it is in case you didn't. Thank you, Herman van Ree -- I have sent a request to a local rhododendron supplier with this name to see if they could get it for me, Firwood Nursery, at http://www.firwoodnursery.com/
Would you classify R. 'Dexter's Champagne' as yellow? If so, I have grown it for years in full sun here in North Carolina. The only problem has been Phytophthora root rot. It killed two plants, but strangely 2 branches that had formed roots where they were under the mulch survived and have bloomed faithfully for many years. One of these was small and completely detached so I just stuck it in the same spot where the parent plant had died, watered it, and it bloomed 3 years later. By the way, this is my absolute favorite Rhododendron. It's gorgeous in both habit and bloom. Ray
R. 'Crest' is a good yellow, tolerates partial shade and has been trouble free for decades here in Surrey and Langley