Rhododendron 'Uldis'

'Uldis' is one of the hybrids named by Latvian Prof. Rihards Kondratovičs. It came to Mustila from Latvia for test planting in spring 2011. There has been little experience with these Latvian hybrids so far in Finland but they are expected to be equivalent in habit and hardiness to the parent R. catawbiense; ‘Uldis’ is another of the selected hybrids from open pollinated seedlings.

In good conditions ’Uldis’ will grow to about 1.5m in ten years. At Mustila the shrubs tend to grow lower but broad because snow depresses the branches every winter. The foliage is rather sparse but flowering approximately every other year is showy. The reddish violet blossoms have beautiful yellow-green spotting on the upper petal.