'Pohjolan Tytär' (or 'Pohjola's Daughter', as it is called in the international register) is a low dense shrub. Its foliage has been said to be the best feature, though the buds are a beautiful cyclamen-red which open to glowing pale violet, wavy-edged flowers. Unfortunately any buds above snow level freeze at -23°C, though as a low grower 'Pohjolan Tytär' is well protected through many winters.
The cultivar was created by putting pollen from a Smirnow Rhododendron (R. smirnowii) hybrid growing at Mustila onto a ’Cunningham’s White’; the latter is somewhat tender, and the former has contributed the beauty of the felted new growth to their off-spring. ‘Pohjolan Tytär’ has a tendency to produce a second flush of flowers in the autumn, inherited from ’Cunningham’s White’, which may affect the buds’ winter hardiness.
'Pohjolan Tytär' grows to about a metre in ten years, after which it gains more in width than in height.
