Tales of the Rose Tree: Ravishing Rhododendrons and Their Travels Around the World"From the towering Burmese magnificum, with its three-foot-diameter trunk and its masses of sweet-smelling purple flowers, to the potted pink azalea, glowing like a burning bush on the backyard garden patio, Rhododendron is a genus of infinite variety and beauty. There are 1,025 known species: it is a native of the snows of the Himalayas and the swamps of the Carolinas, the jungles of Borneo and the island inlets of Japan. It is also one of the oldest of plants - many believe the dove that returned to Noah's ark was carrying a rhododendron sprig - although it has been known to western horticulture for only 300 years. The curious history of Westerners and rhododendrons is full of swashbuckling plant collectors and visionary gardeners, colonial violence and ecological destruction, stunning botanical successes and bitter business disappointments. And it is here related with consummate skill by Jane Brown, an English garden writer."--BOOK JACKET. |
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Tales of the Rose Tree: Ravishing Rhododendrons and Their Travels Around the ... Jane Brown No preview available - 2004 |
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acres American amongst Arnold Arboretum Bagshot Bartram beautiful became Bodnant botanists British Caerhays camellias catawbiense century Charles China Chinese collection collectors Collinson colour crimson dendron drons Edinburgh Botanics English evergreen Exbury exotic falconeri famous favourite feet ferrugineum flora flowers Frank Kingdon Ward genus George Argent George Forrest Gertrude Jekyll green griffithianum growing Hardy Henry Himalayan hybridising hybrids Ibid India J. C. Williams James Mangles John John Bartram Joseph Hooker Knap Hill landscape Lanning Roper leaves Lionel de Rothschild Littleworth Loddiges London Lord lovely Lutyens magnolias mauve Millais mountain named native North nursery nurserymen painted Park Pink Pearl plants ponticum primulas purple rhodo rhododen rhododendron garden Rhododendron ponticum Rhododendron Society rhododendron world Rock Garden rose Royal Botanic Garden Royal Horticultural Society Sargent scented seedlings seeds sinogrande species Sunningdale Surrey Trebah valley vireyas Waterer Waterer's wild woodland woods wrote yellow Yunnan