I think all gardeners want labels that are inexpensive, that last forever, stay in place and do not harm our plants.  And, since we don't want to see little white stakes all over the garden, which is just too reminiscent of a cemetery, we want something that is unobtrusive as well.  Finding something that fulfills all these wishes is hard and I don't think anyone has designed the perfect label yet.

The plastic, ribbon-like tags that come with most garden centre plants these days last a long time, but the print fades fairly fast and they can girdle the plant stem they're attached to if you happen to forget to loosen them periodically  Anyway, they don't look very nice in a garden setting

There are several problems in using plastic, stick-type labels.  First, you have to find something to mark them with that doesn't fade over time.  Permanent marking pens like the Sharpie pens school children use are o.k., but the ink eventually fades.  I find a lead pencil works just as well as a marking pen and usually outlasts the "permanent ink" writing.  In addition to looking a bit like grave markers, the stick-type tags don't work very well for long-term use because they become brittle and snap after a couple of years.  I've had to piece together old broken tags to decipher plant names on several occasions.  And, finally, tags just stuck in the ground are tempting targets for pranksters to pick up and move around.  This is a problem in one of our local public gardens.  Pranksters don't have to be human either - one Spring, I used stick tags to label a new collection of daylilies.  The crows just loved the tags and pulled them out of the ground.  I found tags all over the place - repeatedly!  Fortunately, I'd made a map of where various daylilies were planted so I was able to re-tag the plants correctly.  Wooden tags (some gardeners use popsicle sticks) have all the same problems as plastic ones, plus the wood rots or splits, so this isn't a good permanent solution to the tag problem

My own favourite labels are the soft aluminum tags where an old ball point pen is used to "engrave" the plant name into the metal.  These are attached to plants with a twisting wire.  They aren't too bad, except the wires can girdle plant stems if not loosened periodically.  If you use these, make sure you press hard when writing on the plant name because in time, it can be hard to read the "engraving".

One couple in our local ARS chapter have beautiful tags made of cut up aluminum gutters.  They use a Brothers P Touch machine to create labels that have a glue-backing that sticks well to the aluminum.  The tags are long lasting and easy to read, but I don't have a supply of aluminum gutters around, nor do I have the right kind of saw to do the cutting, and even if I had both, I think I'd be too lazy to make them.  I do like getting plants from them though because in addition to growing lovely plants, their labels last for years.

Some people advocate putting a label underneath any plant that is going in the ground at planting time.  Either plastic or metal would be o.k. for this.  The idea is that if the above ground tag is lost and you can't remember what the plant is, you could, at least in theory, dig up the plant and check the label.  I do know people who "plant labels", but to me, this is one of those suggestions that sounds o.k. in theory, but is impractical in the real world.  Can you see yourself trying to dig up some big Rhodendron Loderi to find the label?  However, I do slide an extra label down the side of all of my potted plants as these tags are fairly accessible in a pinch

As a failsafe method, I try to keep a map of my garden beds showing roughly where I’ve planted  things.  This is useful as long as I take the time to update the map periodically.  For some reason, I find it easier to move a plant than to change the map record.  A couple of friends who are rock garden enthusiasts showed me their most recent method of keeping track of their plants.  They take digital photos of a bed, then using Power Point, they label all the plants in the image.  This seems like a good idea although there is still the issue of actually getting around to updating any changes.

One thing for sure though is to watch out that tags that are wrapped around Rhododendron stems do not get too tight.  Every now and then, take a tour around the garden and loosen up wires or ribbon-like tags.  Happy labeling!

The pale pink flowers of 'Christmas Cheer' look so delicate, but this is a tough hybrid.  With mild winter temperatures, the flowers last for weeks although one hard frost will damage them.  On the plant that I think is 'Nobleanum', the flowers are rounded balls of deep rose pink.  I can't get close enough to the plant to see if there's a flush of white in the flower centers, but this would be typical of the variety.  'Bo Peep', another very early hybrid I see, is also just about to bloom.  This small yellow flowered plant won't win prizes for showiness, but how can you not like anything that is in flower now.

In my own garden, 'Seta' is the earliest of my rhododendrons to bloom.  I just love this hybrid.  The flowers are tubular: light pink inside with dark pink backs.  'Seta' is loaded with flowers every year, and blooms reliably for me by mid-March.  I have one 'Seta' in a large container that I move onto the deck when it's in bloom and I like this variety so much that this past fall, I planted another one in the garden.

'Snow Lady' is another of my early favorites, and it also blooms for me in mid-March.  In addition to lovely white flowers, the leaves are hairy, adding another interesting dimension to the plant.  The leaves are particularly pretty when there's a bit of dew on them.  I grow 'Snow Lady' in a container, and it looks great when placed next to 'Seta'.

Both 'Seta' and 'Snow Lady' tend to get leggy, but who cares!  They're great harbingers of spring.  I could pinch them back a bit after blooming, but I like their open habit.

If you like the look of these varieties, another variety to look for is 'Cilpinense' (photo right).  Another of my favorite early bloomers is R. mucronulatum 'Cornell Pink'.  I like the pale pink flower color, but many people in our area prefer the more intense fuchsia-pink flower of 'Crater's Edge'.

Some of the species that bloom early for us in our area are super plants.  R. dauricum, R. moupinense, and R. strigillosum all bloom in late winter or very early spring.  R. dauricum covers itself in small flowers of either intense fuchsia-purple/pink or pure white flowers.

R. moupinense is a hardy pink flowering rhodie.  The species has white flowers with small, red blotches.  If you like red, then R. strigillosum is for you.  This is a stunning early bloomer.  In addition to the lovely flowers, R. strigillosum has hairy bristles along young stems, which are very pretty, especially when backlit.

To give yourself the longest possible chance for blooms to persist, you need to locate early blooming plants in an area where they receive some overhead protection from frost.  My neighbors actually cover their 'Christmas Cheer' at night with a blanket if hard frost is expected during blooming time.  By doing this, most years they are able to keep the plant in bloom until mid to late March.

Visit the event's enormous plant sale. Over 3,000 plants are being grown for the sale, featuring the hybridizing efforts of local plants men James Harris, Velma Haag, George Beasley, Augie Kehr, James Todd, Don Johnson, Kelly Strickland, and Earl Sommerville.

Four fabulous days of tours are planned for your enjoyment and wonder. We will be visiting a variety of beautiful gardens in Asheville and Hendersonville, North Carolina, and just across the border in South Carolina.

Tours include the Biltmore Estate and Gardens, this Frederick Law Olmsted designed estate has the largest single family home in America, the Charles Dexter Owen Garden, with a large collection of Dexter hybrids, the North Carolina Arboretum, whose 65 acres of cultivated gardens pay tribute to the region's rich cultural heritage, and the Ed and Mary Collins Garden, featuring dwarf rhododendrons, evergreen and deciduous azaleas, dwarf conifers and may perennials, wildflowers, and unusual trees.

Other gardens open for touring include the James and Mary Ann Stewart Garden, previously owned by Dr. August "Augie" Kehr, with one of the largest collection of magnolias in the U.S., the Bob and Audrey Stelloh Garden, with many native wildflowers, mountain laurels and thousands of choice azaleas and rhododendrons, and the Doley and Melody Bell Garden with an estimated 3000 rhododendrons, including Dexter, Haag, Leach, Kehr, Gilkey, Delp, Van Veen, Richardson, and Lee hybrid rhododendrons, and Glenn Dale, Back Acre, Exbury, and Girard hybrid azaleas.

Guest speakers at the event include: Don Hyatt - talking about plant diversity in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, Nicholas Yarmoshuk and Christina Woodward - discussing cold-hardy rhododendrons for diverse locales, and Dr. Thomas Ranney - talking on how the unique azaleas found on Gregory and Wayah Balds in the Appalachian Mountains evolved from complex hybridization among the native species.

Both members and non-members are welcomed at the 2012 ARS-ASA International Convention. We hope to see you there!

Mind you, some of these rhododendrons are nice plants, but their flowers are definitely not blue colored.  I am even responsible by naming a hybrid 'Amiblue'.

So, let's look beyond the flowers, they are only visible for a short time anyway.  How about foliage?  There are many rhododendrons with blue leaves, well almost blue, closer to dark greenish blue, but quite evident in the garden among the other shades of green.

My favorite blue rhododendron species are: R. campanulatum ssp. aeruginosum, R. clementinae, and R. lepidostylum.  I am sure there are many other also, but those are the ones I have in my garden.  These are generally not found in your local garden center, but are available from many specialty rhododendron growers, such as the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden.

I am sure some of you may have other blue rhododendron ideas, and I welcome your comments on this blog.

With deciduous azaleas, there are flower colors to meet everyone's tastes, from intense, "in-your face" oranges to soft pastels.  As an added bonus, most varieties are fragrant.  Among my plants, I've got pure white 'Oxydol'; a gorgeous strawberry pink of unknown variety, as it was here when I moved in; 'Western Lights' which has pink flowers; a few yellows, including 'Northern Hi-Lights', 'Old Gold' and 'Apricot Surprise', and deep orange 'Mandarin Lights'.  And then, there's gorgeous 'Irene Koster', which is a fragrant R. occidentale hybrid whose flowers open soft pink then fade to white, and 'Daviesi' which has fragrant, cream colored flowers.  These last two plants are in a semi-shaded location and while happy enough, would benefit from having a bit more sun.

My plants are scattered throughout my garden, with most growing in sites that get full sun, and in the summer, these sites are hot and dry.  One of the reasons I'm so fond of deciduous azaleas is that they are tough, low maintenance plants.  I water them about once a week, but that's all the care they get.  They also seem to tolerate heavy soils better than many plants.  Deciduous azaleas are winter hardy, and for anyone living in cold areas, look for varieties that were developed by the University of Minnesota, as some of their hybrids are hardy to -40 degrees (and that's -40 in both the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales) - look for names that include the word "Lights", as in 'Northern Hi-Lights', 'UMinn's Lilac Lights', 'Lemon Lights', 'Golden Lights', etc.  Most of these will be from the U. of Minnesota breeding program.

So, if you don't have any yet, consider adding some deciduous azaleas to your garden: they're adaptable, hardy, have fall color and gorgeous, fragrant flowers.  Not a bad choice even for those of us who aren't nice.

Deadheading
Removing of the flower after it starts to fade not only improves the look of the shrub, but focuses the energy to making new growth versus producing seeds.  On most rhododendrons deadheading is accomplished by pinching the truss at the base with a slight twist.  It can also be accomplished with a small pruning shears such as a long nosed grape shear.  There will be new buds emerging just below the truss, so be careful not to damage them.  It will be easiest to deadhead early before the new growth has started to grow.  If the plant doesn't set seeds, it is not necessary to dead head.  Small-leafed rhododendrons rarely need deadheading.

Maintenance Pruning
Removal of dead, diseased or damaged branches can be done at any time, the sooner the better after it is recognized.  Depending on the size of the branch, it may require the use of pruning shear, loppers or saw.  Be sure to make the cut below the diseased part and burn or send it away in the garbage.  Broken or dead branches should be cut just above a dormant bud.  There may be inside branches with buds that do not see the sun that can also be removed because they will eventually die.

Shaping
Pruning for shape enhances the rhododendrons form and habit.  Depending on the landscape, the rhododendrons shape is important.  For instance, tall rhododendrons should not be placed where they will obstruct the view or other landscape features.  All rhododendrons can be pruned to maintain their natural habit, but to try to keep a tall growing rhododendron small or low growing is not practical.  Pruning for shape should be accomplished in early spring to early summer, but not after July 1.  Later pruning will encourage new growth which may not be hardened off prior to first frost and subject to damage.  I prefer to prune for shape before the new growth emerges, in February or March. Early pruning will most likely remove some flowers the first year, but will assure more blooms the following year.  Pruning after the flowers fade is another alternative, but reduces the flowers the next season.

Rejuvenation Pruning
As rhododendrons age they lose vigor and often become open and ungainly.  As a consequence, they lose much of their value in the landscape.  Rejuvenation pruning, sometimes major, can solve the problem.  The larger-leafed rhododendrons have many dormant buds that can be forced into new growth.  However, on very old wood, the dormant buds may have atrophied and are not viable.  So there is some risk that drastic pruning may not be successful.  But, by pruning just above viable dormant buds, new healthy growth can be directed to obtain the desired shape.

Some nurserymen recommend cutting back one third of the branches over a three year period.  I prefer cutting the entire plant back to the height desired early in the season before new growth emerges.  That may result in a loss of blooms the first year, but will result in a better shaped plant in less time and will have added blooms the next year.  A word of caution however, the plant will have a large root system and may produce excessive new growth.  To counteract this, I use a spade to chop off 50% of the roots at the drip line.  This will balance the uptake of nutrients to the now reduced branch and leaf structure.

It may be difficult to see the dormant buds of some varieties.  For these plants prune the branches back to the desired level and after the new growth emerges, prune off any stubs that remain.

Lots of flower shows are coming up, and it's fun to enter Rhododendron trusses and plants.  If you're after winning, there are some "tricks of the trade" that help.  First of all, you have to read the instructions for the show.  That's where you find information about the time to place your exhibits, how they are to be presented and the different show categories available.  Once you've got that information, start watching your plants for likely candidates.  I like to keep an eye on things starting about two weeks ahead of a show, but in the end, it comes down to what looks good on the day entries are picked to be entered.  Often, the "perfect" truss is not quite ready or too far gone.  C'est la vie in the world of flower shows.

With trusses, if at all possible, choose one from the top of the plant so that the truss is full and balanced on all sides.  Sometimes there isn't any choice available and you have to take one from the side of the plant, but if this is the case, take the fullest truss you can find and the one with the most flowers possible.  Most of the flowers should be open, but if the topmost buds have good bud colour even though they haven't quite opened, that's o.k., and in some cases can work to your advantage.  Usually you have to place your entries in a show anywhere from 6 to 12 hours before the actual judging happens, so the topmost buds might open while sitting on the show table.  Hopefully the show hall will be cool, but sometimes it isn't, and then you're faced with having a truss that's too far past its peak by the time the judges come along.

To prepare, each truss needs careful grooming. I use forceps to remove any bits of bract that may have fallen in between the flowers.  When it comes to leaves, it's really nice to have a ring of leaves up near the flowers, sort of like a green collar.  But, sometimes the leaves are ratty looking and then there's the conundrum of whether to remove them or not.  Before snipping, I like to check the show catalogue to see if there's any statement about leaves needed in the presentation or not.  Then, depending on what's permissable, sometimes I leave them on, sometimes I remove them.... it usually comes down to a gut feeling at the moment as to what will make the truss look its best, but generally, judges like to see some leaves.  The base of the stems get cut on a sharp angle and immediately inserted into tepid water.  Fresh cut stems absorb warm water faster than cold water.

Different groups use different containers for their shows, so... read the show instructions.  You at least need to balance the vase size with the truss size and you also have to come up with some way of getting the flowers to sit up-right in the vase and not flop all over.  Locally, lots of us use clean beer bottles, labels removed of course, (and if you need bottles, it gives you a good excuse to drink beer).  These work well for fairly large trusses since the bottles are heavy enough to sit securely on the bench and the narrow neck holds the stems up-right.  Sometimes though, the trusses need a bit of help and something has to be inserted into the neck of the bottle to hold the stem in position.  Anything you can think of that is unobtrusive is good.  Some people use small bits of florist oasis, others use wine corks that are sliced in half (an excuse to drink wine) - use whatever you can think of.  Trusses of the small rhodies can get lost in a beer bottle, so look around for little bottles (old spice bottles aren't bad), and again, get the trusses inserted into water quickly.

Trusses need to be labelled and put into the correct class.  Fill in the information needed for each entry and hopefully you know the correct variety name.  However, if you don't, just make sure the truss goes into the right category, like red flowered, or trusses under 6 ", where ever it fits.  Sometimes someone will recognise your unknown variety and identify it for you.  As well, there are usually people around to help you figure out where to put things - just ask.  That's all there is to it.  The judges do the rest of the work and you get to come back later to see a hall filled with colour, and maybe you'll come home with a ribbon or two.

'Mary Fleming' has pale yellow flowers tinged with pink and the combination blends well with other flowers.  I looked up the parentage of this hybrid, and it's a cross between two nice lepidote species, R. racemosum and R. keiskei.  What the breeder (Nearing) did was to cross these two species to create a plant that became one of the parents of R. 'Mary Fleming' and then he crossed this hybrid plant back to R. keiskei in what is called a backcross.  Presumably, the pale yellow colour of R. 'Mary Fleming' comes from the keiskei genes while the soft pink comes from racemosum, as does the free flowering habit.  The parent species are also nice plants for a small garden.  I grow both, with R. keiskei in a container and R. racemosum in the ground.  Neither or the parents is in bloom just yet, although flower bud colour is showing.  With a little luck on timing, R. keiskei may be in bloom for an up-coming flower show and if it is, I will enter it into the show.  Being small, it won't draw the "oohs and ahs" of some of the big-flowered Rhododendrons, but it's so sweet, it deserves being shown.

The most popular Rhododendron was 'The Honorable Jean Marie de Montague' (most people just called it Jean Marie).  I couldn't stop there, I got a 'Blue Peter', then 'Taurus', and 'Nancy Evans' and 'Trude Webster' and the varieties seemed endless and I wanted them all.  Then I noticed that the species Rhododendrons had interesting leaf shapes and a fuzzy coating underleaf called indumentum and sometimes a coating on the top side called tomentum.  So I had to have R. pachysanthum and R. bureavii, and R. pseudochrysanthum.

I was obviously hooked!  I joined the American Rhododendron Society and started attending the meetings of the local chapter in Seattle.  That just added to my affliction as I got to know others with like interests.  Ther was so much to learn, so I had to get books about Rhododendron culture.  The book that was recommended was Harold Greer’s Guidebook to Available Rhododendrons.  Then I discovered Peter Cox had published a whole series of books on cultivation of Rhododendrons and I got them all.

My association with The Seattle Rhododendron Society (SRS) included volunteering to help maintain their Rhododendron Garden on Whidbey Island, Meerkerk Rhododendron Garden.  This is a 51 acre garden that was bequeathed to the SRS with the purpose of allowing the public to observe and learn about Rhododendrons and companion plants.  I eventually quit my job at Boeing to become the fulltime manager of Meerkerk.  Mrs. Meerkerk had planted many hybrid and species Rhododendrons, but the gardens had not been adequately maintained for many years and needed some tender loving care.  The goal was to make it a test and display garden to attract people interested in Rhododendrons, both local and tourists.  My wife Mary and I set about clearing the wild brambles and weeds that had all but taken over.

My interests gravitated toward hybridizing and my job at Meerkerk provided the many sources of pollen to accomplish that role.  I started growing my own hybrids and evaluating them for quality, hardiness, and susceptibly as a garden plant.

After 6 years at Meerkerk, Mary and I decided we needed a place of our own and found and purchased a 15 acre wooded lot not far from Meerkerk.  We now have a home and garden of our own where we can continue exploring the virtues of the genus Rhododendron.  I hope this affliction never ends because there is so much to learn.

I was first introduced to 'Rose Elf' at a rock and alpine show - someone had entered it into the dwarf companion shrub class.  Isn't it funny to think of Rhododendrons as companion plants?  Rock gardeners like this variety because of its small scale and well-behaved growing habit.  And locally, 'Rose Elf' tolerates full sun exposure.

I've had my plant for about 15 years, and in that time, it's gone from a rooted cutting in a 4 inch pot to its current home in a 2 gallon container.  Over the years, I've obviously potted it on, gradually moving up the pot size as the plant grew.  I don't have an exact potting mix that I use every time, but typically, I mix well-crumbled peat moss, perlite and some fine bark mulch together as a starting point.  Lately, I've been adding some Sea Soil (this is a commercial composted bark mulch and fish waste product), and then, if it's handy, I mix in some sharp, coarse sand and even some garden soil.  I don't use exact measurements, but, more or less, I use equal parts by volume of the various ingredients.  I'm after a potting mix that holds some moisture, has good aeration, is dense enough to hold the plant in place and is on the acid side.  I don't worry about nutrients in the actual potting mix because I use slow-release fertilizers like Osmocote or Nutricote on a regular basis.  I top-dress my containers with fine bark mulch or on occasion, with pretty agates from my beach combing trips.  It looks nice, but more importantly, it helps prevent the soil mix from getting too compacted when I water or from heavy rain.

The major issue for my pots is watering in the summer.  There are times when I need to water on a daily basis, and that's o.k. with me, but to cut down on watering as much as possible, I move my pots to shady locations for the summer.  They get tucked under my apple trees, lined up under the eaves on the north side of the garage and I have an old patio umbrella that I set up to shade some of the larger containers.  It's amazing how the plants seem to thrive and just a bit of shade has cut my watering by about a third.  When I want to be away, I hire my neighbour's son to come and water.  I'll make a gardener out of that young man yet!

Garden hosts often prepare for several years for these visits, grooming and primping their gardens to be seen by visitors from all over the world.  Plants are labeled, garden maps printed, neighbors roped in to help guide and sometimes even goodies baked for the guests.  These are after all some of the best of the best private gardens and some of the most knowledgeable people in the world about the genus Rhododendron.

Our first conference, 20+ years ago, was a big unknown.  Would we feel out of place or overwhelmed by the level of technical detail?  On the contrary, we found that this group of garden lovers were the most friendly and welcoming people imaginable.  This wasn't a technical conference this was a group of like minded individuals who gathered to enjoy the fruits of each others' labor.  It wasn't a series of lectures with garden visits, it was definitely a unique opportunity for garden visits with a several interesting lectures thrown in.

Most conferences seek to bring in speakers who are well regarded in their home area, but rarely available in the conference area.  This way a lot of local people will be interested in their presentations as well as those like us who have become addicted to traveling from far away.  This year the keynote speaker is Hartwig Schepker from Bremen - famous for being the organizer of the last year's fabulous 75th Anniversary Conference of the German Rhododendron Society.  It promises to be a very entertaining evening.

Read more about the ARS Annual Convention, and don't hesitate for a moment to leave your garden for a few days to go to the Vancouver, WA event, you'll have no regrets.

As spring arrives, I'm relieved to see that most of my rhododendrons will be o.k. although there is some flower bud damage here and there.  Most surprizing to me is the bud injury on my R. 'Nancy Evans', a variety usually considered to be an easy grower here.  There will be flowers, but perhaps not the usual "knock em dead" display.

The plant I'm most worried about is my R. lyi, which has lost a lot of leaves as well as its flower buds.  However, R.lyi isn't really hardy here, so growing it for me has been a case of zone denial.  I'm hoping for regrowth from the lower part of the main stem and of course, if it does die, there's always the thought that there's now space for a new plant.  Hmmm, we'll see.... So much for the sad news, we gardeners are really optimists, and most things will be fine and the spring displays great.

Rhododendron lutescens, one of my favourite species, is out full today, adding a soft, cheerful note to the garden.  If you like pale yellow, this early-blooming species is reliable, easy to grow and readily available, at least in our neck of the woods.  I've planted a fair number of daffodils in the same area, and there's tons of Muscari (grape hyacinth) coming up too, so the yellows and deep blue/purple really draw the eye to that part of the garden.