I D please.

Another "rescue" from work about to be trampled by brickies. :rolleyes:

 

it's a rhodie

 

What are the chances for it in my lime/neutral soil, or would it be best in a prepared tub?

 

prepared tub, definitely It's a real acid lover - but there are plenty of big gardens down south (like the Savill and Valley, in Windsor great park) where they do really well. I never managed in Hemel, where I always felt that even the rain water was against it...It'll need ericaceous feed too - as you'll know, of course,P! They grow like wildfire in my local woods, and I spend a lot of time getting rid of them!

 

I should have added that the rhodie was in a garden only two miles from mine and was plonked in a narrow border under a limestone wall.As the garden had been very well cared for I am now surprised it was not in better suited conditions.

 

I've found several customers, all very keen gardeners, but no longer able to do the heavy stuff - who've had problems with rhodies, azaleas and pieris in particular. They do fine to start with in the ericaceous compost in a tub, or even in a small bit of the garden, but they never thought of topping up to keep the ericaceous content - with the soil leaching from the alkaline surrounding soil, and, as I said, the rain too - no wonder they stop thriving! :(

 

Recent research seems to show that rhododendrons in alkaline soil suffer from a manganese deficiency as much as anything and that the best thing you can do for one is to heavily mulch wih shredded rhododendron leaves from somewhere where they grow in acid soil.

 

Why not just make life easy and grow something that does like limey soil. I have battled with lime conditions for years and now come to the conclusion that it it is better to work with nature rather than against.

Having said that I could not bear to throw out two Pieris that had grown too big for tubs so I stuck them at the bottom of the garden and they are doing very well.

good luck
Janet

 

This is another plant I saved,again it was in a garden only a couple of miles away.
Rabbits have been nibbling away for some time at it I reckon...I felt sorry for it but quite like it's shape....no idea what is is though!
Bet someone does :D

 

you know - it looks like a rose to me!! :rolleyes:

 

Paladin, if Palustris is right - and I'm sure he is - do you want me to send you some!!!! (not altogether joking, but it might be a bit heavy to post!)
I'm just off to the woods, to glower at some wo;d rhodies!

[ 26. March 2006, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: dendrobium ]

 

We're off to the G Centre to get some peat etc:
And I can just see the postman dragging a sack up the drive dendrobium....imagine the xmas tip :D
The plant was among Acers I posted the other day for ID so I thought it too might be an acid lover.??

 

The more I look at that 2nd thing - I've seen so many roses in a bad way - I really think it is!! It's the stems, the way the busds are, not to montion the leaves, particularly as they're shown on the first of the 2 pics - I think it really is a rose, poor thing!
:eek:

 

I put the poor thing into a tub,and just took this shot...Can you tell for sure now?

 

Defintely a rose, complete with black spot!