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| 4th June 2014 | 28th June 2014 | 23rd July 2015 |
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A very late flowering azalea. I became interested in R. nakaharae when I saw it flowering through the summer at Wakehurst Place. I bought my plant from Aberconwy Nursery.
Their label says: "Lovely free flowering form of this late flowering dwarf azalea species. Large brick red flowers. Jun/Jul. 15-20cm hight x 30-50cm spread. Acid, humus rich soil, sun." Millais Nursery say: "Wonderful funnel shaped brick red flowers around 55mm across. Flowering in June-July this is a great little plant that really extends the flowering season. Mount Seven Star is very dwarf selection of nakaharae with a dense, creeping habit. Height and spread 30-40cm in 10 years. Originally raised from seed collected by C.S. Kuo on Mount Seven Star in Taiwan in 1969, and selected as an excellent dwarf clone. Writing in the Journal of the American Rhododendron Society, Polly Hill writes: "My cv. 'Mount Seven Star' is somewhat different, horticulturally speaking, from the three fore mentioned plants. After a period of adjustment it grows a bit broader, the leaves are a little darker and hairier, and the flowers sometimes open a week later, conspicuously larger and richer in color. They are equally hardy in my experience, and each has a distinguished habit of growth, tight and densely twiggy. Cv. 'Mount Seven Star' is easy to pick out in a mixed planting of azaleas from its leaf and habit alone." In the same areticle she says: "69-074 cv.'Mount Seven Star' from Chi Hsien Shan, a mountain of 1120 meters (3,800ft) in northern Taiwan. Thanks to the persistent efforts of my friend, Ann Fielder of West Tisbury, Massachusetts, I received seeds collected by C. S. Kuo of Tai Da University in Taiwan. He collected the seeds on the mountain by that English name at 800 meters (2,700 feet) on November 16, 1969. To quote the Weedy flora of Taiwan, p.609 "R. nakaharae is endemic in northern Taiwan in hills about 1,000 meters (3.300 feet) in the Tatun range". Chi Hsien Shan is just north of Taipei." The entry in the International Rhododendron Register says that it was grown, named, introduced and registered by Mrs J. W. (Polly) Hill and describes it: "Fls 1-2/truss, broadly funnel-shaped, 45 x 55mm, with 5 wavy-edged lobes, vivid reddish orange (44C) with inconspicuous purplish spots on 1-3 lobes. Calyx 5mm long, light green, white hairy. Lvs elliptic, 14 x 7mm, glossy, light green, reddish hairy above and below. Shrub 0.1 x 0.6m in 5 years. Late June - early July. Raised from seed collected by C.S.Kuo on Mt. Seven Star (Taiwan) in 1969." |
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