Rhododendron 'SEPTEMBER BLUES'

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. An interesting group of rhododendrons are those which open their flowers again in late summer. Hans Hachmann and his son Holger breed them in their nursery in Barmstedt, Germany.

September Blues is repeat flowering rhododendron hybrid which blooms profusely from late April until mid May for the first time, and from late summer as a second flush. The flowers are dark magenta purple with a large, deep golden orange blotch on the upper petal. Evergreen leaves are leathery, dark green, medium glossy, narrowly elongated. The plant forms a compact shrub which in 10 years gets only about half a meter tall but almost twice as wide.

Autumn flowering takes longer (5-6 weeks) and begins in early September. The flowers in the truss open individually, one by one, and are best removed when faded in order to keep the rest of the truss nice for the newly opening ones.

For a better-looking shrub deadhead 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. Its hardiness has not been tested in extremes yet but has so far withstood -24 °C (USDA zone 6) and is expected to take also deeper frost.

Last update 09-06-2022