Spider azaleas
Many years ago, at an Alpine Garden Society plant sale stand at Harrogate Flower Show in spring I saw and bought a most unusual rhododendron. It had ribbon-like leaves and flowers that were spidery with very narrow petals and it rejoiced in the name of Rhododendron stenopetalum ‘Linearifolium’. It was not really a thing of astonishing beauty but it was certainly unlike anything I had seen before – best described as a collector’s plant or, if you were unkind, it was the sort of thing that only its mother could love! So I was surprised to find in the local Supavalu (Irish supermarket chain) today, some plants that looked as if they were this, only they were in three different colours and were labelled just as ‘spider azaleas’.
I was pretty sure from the first glance that these were not Rhododendron stenopetalum ‘Linearifolium’, partly because there were the three colours and also because the leaves, which are greyish and distinctly hairy in that plant were shiny and almost hairless in this one. So what was it? A bit of investigation seems to confirm that someone in the Netherlands saw potential in Rhododendron stenopetalum ‘Linearifolium’ and crossed it with the slightly tender, common R. simsii (as the pod parent), the azalea used as the potplant for indoor display. It seems likely that, if my identification is correct, the cross was made in 2001 and the plant named in 2003. This original plant is called ‘Fuji’. obviously more crosses were made or that original plant mutated to give the other colours. I am assuming that my plant is the original ‘Fuji’ because the colour seems to match.
Is it better than the more normal types of ‘azalea’? Well I can’t comment on that. Do we need an azalea that looks like a cleome? I am not sure but it is certainly different and I will be planting it outside once flowering is over and let it do its stuff. It would be good if, through breeding, it is slightly hardier than the pod parent.
The Biking Gardener 
amazing what you can buy from value shops I love a bargain lydle excuse spelling have good bargain plants and trees
I am always on the lookout for interesting things in ordinary places. The primula ‘Avondale’ came from Lidl – the variety was not named – just as Irish Primrose but it dint take too much to work it out. I have discovered that Lidl buy from local growers so it may be that they buy excess stock which is why they sometimes have interesting things
Great bit of research there…
Thank you. I must admit that the more I look at it the more it looks like the caterpillars have been busy 🙂
that’s great they buy excess stock I once bought a Victoria plum tree for five pounds its been fruiting for three years now what a bargain
I bought two spider azaleas in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney in February in a small village called Mt Wilson (a village of large formal gardens on the edge of a national park). I had never seen these before. I was after a variety called Red Wings as they do very well in Canberra (I ended up with eight more). The owner of the gardens/nursery had 4 inch pots for $5 which is an absolute bargain in this country. Mind you I had some success in taking cuttings way back in December but was still unsure of my luck. I thought the leaves of my spider ones were grey but I went to check and just dark green but hairy – I hadn’t noted that detail. Yet to decide where to plant out.
These spider azaleas are obviously being bred a lot and there are quite a few available now.