I ve got a couple of these in my garden, they are shrub like plants but what are they? Having looked through a number of gardening books I found a few similar but not quite the same looking plants, its a puzzle, are they worth keeping? The foliage is nice but will there be flowers? Have anyone seen a plant like it and know what it is?
http://flowersbasket.bravehost.com/
Your help is much appreciated
Many Thanks
Regards
Maria

In article , cupovt cupovt.1y3cw0@gar
denbanter.co.uk writes

I ve got a couple of these in my garden, they are shrub like plants but
what are they? Having looked through a number of gardening books I
found a few similar but not quite the same looking plants, its a
puzzle, are they worth keeping? The foliage is nice but will there be
flowers? Have anyone seen a plant like it and know what it is?
http://flowersbasket.bravehost.com/
Your help is much appreciated
Many Thanks

Look like rhododendrons. Rather young plants so may be a few years till
they reach flowering size.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Kay wrote:
In article , cupovt cupovt.1y3cw0@gar
denbanter.co.uk writes
I ve got a couple of these in my garden, they are shrub like plants but
what are they? Having looked through a number of gardening books I
found a few similar but not quite the same looking plants, its a
puzzle, are they worth keeping? The foliage is nice but will there be
flowers? Have anyone seen a plant like it and know what it is?
http://flowersbasket.bravehost.com/
Your help is much appreciated
Many Thanks

Look like rhododendrons. Rather young plants so may be a few years till
they reach flowering size.

Yes, looks like it very much. To flowers they need potash - Maria,
perhaps you should test the ground to find out if it isn't deficient.
They do take around 2 years to flowers, sometimes 3. You should have
another rhodo close by, have you?!

cupovt wrote in message
...

I ve got a couple of these in my garden, they are shrub like plants but
what are they? Having looked through a number of gardening books I
found a few similar but not quite the same looking plants, its a
puzzle, are they worth keeping? The foliage is nice but will there be
flowers? Have anyone seen a plant like it and know what it is?
http://flowersbasket.bravehost.com/
Your help is much appreciated
Many Thanks
Regards
Maria


--
cupovt

Hi Maria,

Having read the other posts, half of me thinks they may be young
rhododendrons - the other half wonders if they could be Skimmias. As luck
would have it, they are both woodland shrubs requiring some shade. They
also appreciate an acidic soil to do well. Both will produce flowers, but
Skimmia (if it is one) will produce them first. Very broadly speaking,
Rhodos and Skimmias produce their flower buds in late summer/autumn,
blossoming in Spring/early summer or late spring, respectively. Since there
is no sign of buds on your shrubs, you are unlikely to get flowers next
year.

None-the-less, they are excellent shrubs to have. I would certainly keep
them, if I were you.

Spider

"Spider" wrote in message
...

cupovt wrote in message
...

I ve got a couple of these in my garden, they are shrub like plants but
what are they? Having looked through a number of gardening books I
found a few similar but not quite the same looking plants, its a
puzzle, are they worth keeping? The foliage is nice but will there be
flowers? Have anyone seen a plant like it and know what it is?
http://flowersbasket.bravehost.com/
Your help is much appreciated
Many Thanks
Regards
Maria


--
cupovt

Hi Maria,

Having read the other posts, half of me thinks they may be young
rhododendrons - the other half wonders if they could be Skimmias. As luck
would have it, they are both woodland shrubs requiring some shade. They
also appreciate an acidic soil to do well. Both will produce flowers, but
Skimmia (if it is one) will produce them first. Very broadly speaking,
Rhodos and Skimmias produce their flower buds in late summer/autumn,
blossoming in Spring/early summer or late spring, respectively. Since
there
is no sign of buds on your shrubs, you are unlikely to get flowers next
year.

None-the-less, they are excellent shrubs to have. I would certainly keep
them, if I were you.

Spider


Must admit that I thought they might be Skimmias but did not dare to argue
with Kay or Janet.
If they are skimmias then they are not the ordinary common ones cos the
leaves are far too light.

The message
from "Rupert" contains these words:

Must admit that I thought they might be Skimmias but did not dare to argue
with Kay or Janet.

That's silly, Kay and I are not infallible..and don't mind admitting
when we are wrong.

If they are skimmias then they are not the ordinary common ones cos the
leaves are far too light.

Skimmia leaves also tend to be outlined slightly lighter than the
rest of the leaf. I think the ones in the photo look too shiny and
variable-width for skimmia..but just right for a seedling of
rhododendron ponticum, especially that slight red where the leaf joins
the stem The first leaves tend to be narrow then later ones broaden. Rp
seed themselves around like weeds.

Janet

Janet Baraclough wrote:
Yes, looks like it very much. To flowers they need potash - Maria,
perhaps you should test the ground to find out if it isn't deficient.
They do take around 2 years to flowers, sometimes 3. You should have
another rhodo close by, have you?!

Misleading advice.

Rhododendrons do not flower in their second or
third year from seed.

Rhododendrons do flowers on their second or third year from seed. You
don't know where the plants have come from, seeds, cuttings or bought
and planted there.

The reason such a small plant hasn't flowered yet
is immaturity, as Kay said. Adding potash won't make any difference to
that.

Potash *is* the food of flowers for rhododendrons, irrelevant of the
plant's year. It will benefit any new growth.

The success of a nearby mother-plant at flowering and setting seed,
indicates the soil is not deficient .

You do not know that. I have asked Maria if there is a mother plant
near by. Lets wait and see if there is.


Janet.

Rupert wrote:
Must admit that I thought they might be Skimmias but did not dare to argue
with Kay or Janet.

I thought of skimmias too and so did more people in here I'm sure. But
I found the leaves too long. Please don't be scared of Janet. She only
eats 2 children a day )

You do not know that. I have asked Maria if there is a mother plant
near by. Lets wait and see if there is.


Janet.[/quote]
Thank you for your comments. There are no rhododendrons nearby, I don't have any in the garden (neighbours either side got paving and newly done decking so no plants of any kind there)
They are definetly not skimmas, I ve seen some in Homebase today and those look much darker. The leaves on these babies are very bright almost lime green.
Having looked on Google images it might be some light flowering rhododendrons as they seem to have lighter foliage.
Initially I thought that rhododendrons have leaves that curl slightly but now I found out this is due to frosts (and some air pockets? in the leaves that react and that make them curl)
Anyhow this potash, is this suppouse to make them flower early (and can you get this in a DIY store/garden center)
the plants are about 30 cm off the ground, how old would that make them
Many Thanks for your responses I appreciate your help
Best Regards
Maria

Janet Baraclough wrote:
Misleading advice. Rhododendrons do not flower in their second or
third year from seed. The reason such a small plant hasn't flowered yet
is immaturity, as Kay said. Adding potash won't make any difference to
that.
The success of a nearby mother-plant at flowering and setting seed,
indicates the soil is not deficient .

Right. I got some more info on this and you are wrong. Check out this
website which some member of this group has just forwarded to me.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile...dodendrons.asp

In brief it says:- Young plants are usually in bud or flower when
planted but may then take two to three years to establish before
resuming flowering. Potash encourages flower production so check that
the soil is not deficient in this fertiliser.

And I will add from my own experience that rhodos can disperse their
seeds milles and milles away and therefore could lend anywhere and not
near a mother plant.

HTH

"La puce" wrote in message
oups.com...

Janet Baraclough wrote:
Misleading advice. Rhododendrons do not flower in their second or
third year from seed. The reason such a small plant hasn't flowered yet
is immaturity, as Kay said. Adding potash won't make any difference to
that.
The success of a nearby mother-plant at flowering and setting seed,
indicates the soil is not deficient .

Right. I got some more info on this and you are wrong. Check out this
website which some member of this group has just forwarded to me.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile...dodendrons.asp

In brief it says:- Young plants are usually in bud or flower when
planted but may then take two to three years to establish before
resuming flowering. Potash encourages flower production so check that
the soil is not deficient in this fertiliser.

And I will add from my own experience that rhodos can disperse their
seeds milles and milles away and therefore could lend anywhere and not
near a mother plant.

HTH



:-)))))) well done!!

On 8 Nov 2005 09:04:29 -0800, "La puce" wrote:


Janet Baraclough wrote:
Misleading advice. Rhododendrons do not flower in their second or
third year from seed. The reason such a small plant hasn't flowered yet
is immaturity, as Kay said. Adding potash won't make any difference to
that.
The success of a nearby mother-plant at flowering and setting seed,
indicates the soil is not deficient .

Right. I got some more info on this and you are wrong. Check out this
website which some member of this group has just forwarded to me.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile...dodendrons.asp

In brief it says:- Young plants are usually in bud or flower when
planted but may then take two to three years to establish before
resuming flowering. Potash encourages flower production so check that
the soil is not deficient in this fertiliser.

And I will add from my own experience that rhodos can disperse their
seeds milles and milles away and therefore could lend anywhere and not
near a mother plant.

HTH

But the RHS advice is, of necessity, very general, and will refer to
plants bought in a plant centre or nursery, as that is where most
people get them. Such plants are invariably grown from cuttings, and
'retain' the maturity of their parents, flowering much sooner than
those raised from seed. There are many hundreds of rhododendrons,
both species and hybrids, and while some of the dwarf rhodies will
flower from seed when young, I don't think this is one of them
(although of course you're correct in saying we don't actually know
what it is). I agree with Janet. It looks very like a young R.
ponticum seedling to me, and if so won't flower for a few years yet,
added potash or the RHS advice notwithstanding.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

The message . com
from "La puce" contains these words:


Janet Baraclough wrote:

Rhododendrons do not flower in their second or
third year from seed.

Rhododendrons do flowers on their second or third year from seed.

No, they do not. You have hopelessly misinterpreted the RHS rhodo
website you quoted.

Janet

The message .com
from "La puce" contains these words:


Janet Baraclough wrote:
Misleading advice. Rhododendrons do not flower in their second or
third year from seed. The reason such a small plant hasn't flowered yet
is immaturity, as Kay said. Adding potash won't make any difference to
that.
The success of a nearby mother-plant at flowering and setting seed,
indicates the soil is not deficient .

Right. I got some more info on this and you are wrong.

Perhaps you could be more specific? Wrong in which respect?

Check out this
website which some member of this group has just forwarded to me.

I checked it out, before refuting your earlier error. :-) It
confirms you were wrong. Again.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile...dodendrons.asp


In brief it says:- Young plants are usually in bud or flower when
planted but may then take two to three years to establish before
resuming flowering. Potash encourages flower production so check that
the soil is not deficient in this fertiliser.

The RHS quote above, does not contradict my earlier post.

Janet

Dave Poole wrote:

It definitely has the look of a young seedling about it. I've grown
quite a few hundred over the years and everything smacks of a juvenile
plant. I think we ought to clarify a few things. The plant is a
young Rhododendron that has been nibbled by vine weevil and is in the
very early stages of chlorosis - possibly caused by a very slightly
alkaline soil.

Wouldn't you say potash would therefore help the cholorosis?