Sally HaywardSecretary of The RHS Rhododendron, Camellia & Magnolia Group

The Rhododendron Society 1916-2016

‘Beyond the birthday cake’: building a legacy to make a centenary meaningful

“Well, we are the Rhododendron Society…”The words uttered in March 1915 by P D Williams at Lanarth, his house in Cornwall, where he had invited rhododendron enthusiast friends Charles Eley and John Guille Millais to stay.They then invited like-minded friends to join the Society and set out the rules and regulations at the first Annual General Meeting which was held at the Chelsea Flower Show on 23rd May 1916. The choice of members was by invitation and inevitably comprised landed gentry with large estates.

The Chelsea Flower Show

Moving on…our plans for the next century

• educating the public about rhododendrons, camellias and magnolias, and attracting new members

• managing Group Reference Collections for the three genera

• recording plant collections, conservation and propagation

• providing sponsorship for education and research

I can’t grow them because…

Overcoming further misconceptions about rhododendrons:

• “I have the wrong soil”

• “I only have a small garden”

• “They only flower in the spring”

Not true! Plants grafted on to Inkarho®

rootstocks are more lime tolerant Not true! There are rhododendrons for all situations including tiny alpines which could be grown in pots on the patio

Not true! With the right choices, you can have rhododendrons and azaleas in bloom for six months of the year at least, and their wonderful foliage is an added bonus for the rest of the year

Rhododendron ‘Elizabeth Lock’ August 20th 2013

Current Reference Collections:

Rhododendrons: RCMG Species Collection, RHS Wisley

Alan Hardy Rustica Azaleas Collection, RHS Wisley

RCMG Hardy Hybrid Collection, Ramster

John Bond Memorial Collection of Large Leaved Rhododendrons, Abbotsbury

Magnolias: Magnolia x loebnericultivars, Oxford University, Harcourt Arboretum

Rhododendron‘Norma’

Rhododendron ‘Mrs Tom Agnew’

Magnolia x loebneri‘Leonard Messel’

Rhododendronprotistum

Conservation

The process includes:

• Collection of garden records to establish what of our three genera are growing and where

• Comparison with the list of previous Awards of Merit and First Class Certificates and the Plant Heritage Critical List

• Establishing a priority list for propagation based on the criteria of rarity value and merit

• Collecting and despatching material for micro-propagation, cuttings or grafting

• Ensuring that the resultant plants are spread around the country

• Setting up further secure Reference Collections on accessible sites

In 2016 we launched a Centenary Appeal, now known as the Centenary Fund in order to be able to fund a substantial conservation and propagation scheme.

Micro-propagatedRhododendron niveum ‘Trewithen Form’

www.rhodogroup-rhs.org

The RCMG Website

Our window on the world!

• Members are kept informed of events

• Plenty of information and photographs of our three genera and in particular, a full photographic record of all the AGM plants

• A very lively Facebook Members’ Forum

• Monthly monitoring reports from the Webmaster give a good indication of the level of interest

Thank you!