Big and bold

It may be only a few degrees above freezing and damp with it, but that hasn't prevented this large and handsome shrub from flowering profusely.

Rhododendron protistum is a native of W Yunnan and NE Upper Burma and is definitely not the hardiest of shrubs, though it's never damaged here. It can grow up to 25m in the wild, but is probably only a third of that size here.

We have several in the garden, including the specimen that was the first to flower in cultivation - in the western hemisphere. It first flowered here in 1936 and is still going strong, though damaged when  tree fell on it a few years ago. The first to flower in cultivation was in New Zealand in 1935, so we only just missed it!

It was introduced to cultivation by George Forrest in 1919.