Footballs!

This is one of our classic rhododendrons, always flowering early on a huge, tree-like shrub. Rhododendron protistum is a native of Yunnan and Upper Burma and seed was introduced to cultivation by George Forrest in 1919.

We have several specimens here, including one that was probably planted soon after the First World War, almost certainly from one of the first seed sowings, and which first flowered at Arduaine in 1936; this species takes many years to attain flowering size from seed. Nearly 80 years on it's still flowering!

I shall have to be careful not to overdo the rhododendron Blips - we have so many species flowering over such a long period!