Rhododendron 'CORINNA'

Rhododendrons are reliable, beautifully flowering, evergreen shrubs of variable origin: S.W. China, Himalayas, Northern America, and even Europe. The original species were hybridized several times for better performance so in the 1950´s there were more than 10,000 cultivars registered, and the number keeps increasing.

Rhododendron Corinna, sometimes also listed as Hachmann's Corinna for accuracy, is a triple hybrid including e.g. r.repens, r.yakushimanum, and cv. Nova Zembla or Feuerschein in its ancestry. It was bred by Hans Hachmann in 1983. The typical wide-open funnel-shaped flowers are vibrant red, 6-8 cm across with dark dots on the upper petal, and come out from early May for 2-3 weeks. Everegreen leaves are leathery, broadly elliptic, rather short, slightly undulated, very dark green, and glossy. Corinna makes an elegant, compact shrub of cushion-like habit, growing some 70 cm tall and almost twice as wide.

For a better looking shrub dead-head where possible. The roots are shallow, spreading to sides in search for nutrients. Never plant them too deep. The soil has to be acidic (pH 4.5-5.5), rich in humus, cool and always moist. Ideal soil mixture is peat with lime-free, light garden soil topped with leave-mould. Very hardy to abt. -27°C (USDA zone 5b), possibly a little more.

Last update 04-12-2018