Friday, May 10, 2013

Rhododendron ponticum 'Variegatum'

When we first started to garden in 1986 our present home on Athlone Street my craze for variegated hostas took me to buy anything else that may have been variegated. Because variegated plants have less chlorophyll they can be fussy. They need more sun to make food but paradoxically many burn in the sun and you cannot win one way or another.


A fixture in our garden since that beginning is the variegated rhododendron, Rhododendron ponticum ‘Variegatum’. The leaves almost always look like a sorry mess. Some of the leaves are misshapen and others have burned in the sun. Many times I have wanted to get rid of it. I am glad to admit now that I am happy I never did. It has come to its own. I rather like it. Here is a scan of the flowers. I have progressively lightened it so in the third picture you can observe what the leaves look like.