Rhododendron rufum

Rhododendron rufum

Rhododendron rufum was collected in China in the early 1900s by such famous plant hunters as Joseph Rock and the Swedes K. A. H. (“Harry”) Smith and David Hummel. The plants grown from these seed collections have achieved about the same size as in their natural habitat: they are fairly open and sparsely branched, growing to 2-4m and tree-like in habit. In Europe the species has proved extremely cold-hardy, growing happily in Stockholm’s Botanical Gardens for over 60 years, and at Mustila since at least the 1950s.