Monday, May 26, 2008

'Nova Zembla' Rhododendron Bud


'Nova Zembla' Rhododendron Bud

The Red Rhododendrons were starting to bloom at the farm. The White Azaleas were in full bloom underneath them and it was a nice combination. I know some gardeners don’t like white and red together but it is one of my favorite color combinations. The picture I took of them together didn’t come out and the Rhodos really needed a few more days to be in full bloom.

‘Nova Zembla’ was introduced in 1902 and it is considered one of the hardiest reds. There are certainly more exciting red Rhododendrons but Novas seem to be very dependable. They can get up to 10 feet tall and have nice foliage. Since this is only picture of the bud you can’t see that the flower has nice black spots when open.


What are you going to say about White Azaleas? They have really been spectacular this year (like most years). I am not sure of the cultivar on these but if I had to guess it would ‘Delaware Valley White’. These planted in front of the Rhododendrons with some semi-dwarf type of Juniper. When I first saw the Azaleas and Junipers together I thought that doesn’t look good but when they bloomed it was actually pretty nice. The Juniper needs to be pruned since it is kind of taking over.

Today is a holiday in the US and I am not working. I think I went 40 days straight without a day off and it feels weird not to be at work.

2 comments:

Marie said...

Beautiful, beautiful Rhododendrons :)

ChrisJ said...

I love rhododendrons. Where I was in school in England they grew wild -- great large bushes of them. Some Brits don't like them because they take over everything.