Rhododendron Cultivars J

'J. G. Millais'

Flowers about 14 in the truss. Corolla funnel-campanulate, 3 in. wide, deep glowing red (near Turkey Red), speckled with dark crimson, mainly on the upper lobes but slightly marked on the lower lobes also. Ovary glabrous. Leaves dark green, 5 by 2 in. Late April or early May. (Waterer, Bagshot.) One of the finest of the early flowering reds, vigorous, hardy, making a shapely specimen to about 15 ft high, sometimes even taller. Named after the well-known gardener, artist and naturalist (d. 1931), author of one of the major works on rhododendrons, of which he had a large collection in his garden at Compton’s Brow, Horsham, Sussex. Messrs Waterer let him have a plant in 1914 ‘and when it flowered in 1915 many of my friends considered it to be the finest early-flowering hybrid they had ever seen’. The parentage is said to be ‘Ascot Brilliant’ crossed with ‘Pink Pearl’.

'J. H. van Nes'

This hybrid, with R. griffithianum in its ancestry, has beautiful flowers, the corolla being almost bowl-shaped and of firm texture, soft red, paling at the centre. But it is said to be bud-tender.

'Jacksonii'

Flowers 12 to 14 in a dense truss; bud-scales persistent. Corolla widely funnel-campanulate, frilled and undulated, 21⁄4 in. or slightly more wide, bright pink, red on the ridges outside, speckled with crimson in the upper part of the throat, the speckles most numerous below the centre lobe. Style and stamen-filaments white. Calyx very small. Leaves oblong-oblanceolate to oblong-elliptic, with 16 to 18 pairs of veins, about 4 by 13⁄4 in., dull medium green above, covered beneath with a close brown indumentum. Low, spreading habit. Flowering time normally April, starting in March in a mild season and sometimes delayed until late April or early May.

A hybrid deriving mainly from R. arboreum and R. caucasicum. It was distributed by Smith’s Darley Dale nursery in Derbyshire towards the end of the last century, but was probably raised by William Jackson and Co. of Bedale, Yorks, who in 1845 were asking 10/6 to 63/- per plant for ‘R. Jacksonii’, without description. The name apparently came to be used by them in a collective sense, since in 1861 they were offering ‘R. Nobleanum, Jacksonii and varieties, including scarlet, crimson, blush and shaded salmon …’ The price was then £5 a hundred. Probably Smith’s ‘Jacksonii’, i.e., the plant now commonly cultivated under this name, was perpetuated because of its unusually bright colouring, and the ease with which it can be propagated by layers. There is another hybrid in cultivation as ‘Jacksonii’ which is quite different from the one here described and more like a form of Nobleanum. And to add to the confusion, the true ‘Jacksonii’, as it is now reasonable to call it, was also distributed as R. ‘Venustum’, and is described under that name by Millais in the first volume of his Rhododendrons (1917), p. 119. According to him, plants on their own roots could be obtained from the Derbyshire nurserymen at sixpence to a shilling each, according to size.

Jalisco ('Dido' × 'Lady Bessborough')

This cross, made by Lionel de Rothschild and registered in 1942, involves four species: R. decorum, R. dichroanthum, R. discolor and R. campylocarpum. Some of the seedlings from this cross were given by Rothschild to King George VI for the Windsor collection, which explains why the three best-known clones received their awards when exhibited by the Crown Estate Commissioners, Windsor Great Park. These are:

– ‘Jalisco Eclipse’. – Flowers up to ten in a lax truss, on red-tinged pedicels. Corolla 7-lobed, tubular-funnel-shaped, about 31⁄2 in. wide, pale yellow, darker in the tube, with several lines of deep crimson speckles in the tube merging into a blotch at the base. Calyx thick and fleshy, pale yellow, irregular, to 1⁄4 in. long. A.M. 1948. In ‘Jalisco Elect’, which received an A.M. on the same occasion, the corolla has less heavy markings in the throat, and the calyx is spreading, about 11⁄2 in. wide. The most admired clone is ‘Jalisco Goshawk’, in which the influence of R. dichroanthum is less apparent. The calyx is small and not fleshy. The corolla is funnel-campanulate, about 43⁄4 in. wide, clear yellow (Mimosa Yellow), with crimson markings in the throat. (R.C.Y.B. 1955, fig. 41). The only clone from a plant retained at Exbury that has so far received an award is ‘Jalisco Jubilant’, with up to 14 flowers in the truss, corolla red in the bud, opening buttercup yellow, deeper in the throat; calyx irregular, up to 1 in. long (A.M. 1966; R.C.Y.B. 1967, p. 7). ‘Exbury Jalisco’ has not yet received an award, but is said to be at least as fine as ‘Jalisco Goshawk’.

The Jalisco clones flower towards the end of May or in June and are of moderate size.

Clones of Jalisco have been crossed at Windsor with Fusilier and two of the resulting hybrids have received awards: ‘Grilse’, A.M. May 20, 1957, R.C.Y.B. 1958, p. 109; and ‘Winkfield’, A.M. May 19, 1958, R.C.Y.B. 1959, p. 138.

'Jalisco Eclipse'

Flowers up to ten in a lax truss, on red-tinged pedicels. Corolla 7-lobed, tubular-funnel-shaped, about 31⁄2 in. wide, pale yellow, darker in the tube, with several lines of deep crimson speckles in the tube merging into a blotch at the base. Calyx thick and fleshy, pale yellow, irregular, to 1⁄4 in. long. A.M. 1948.

'James Burchett'

Flowers 15 to 18 in a dense truss. Corolla 5 – to 7– lobed, funnel-shaped, 3 to 31⁄2 in. wide, white flushed with pale mauvish pink at the edge, with a brownish-green flare extending from the throat to the base of the upper lobes. Anthers off-white, mauve-tinged. Stigma small, brownish green. Leaves dark green, elliptic, 8 by 21⁄2 in. Dense habit, moderate size. Late June. (Slocock. A.M.T. 1960.) A valuable, free-flowering hybrid of R. discolor.

'Jitsugesuse'

Another member of the Gumpo group, has Mallow Purple flowers, speckled on the upper lobe.

'John Barr Stevenson'

Truss up to 7 in. across, with 14 to 16 flowers on pedicels up to 13⁄4 in. long. Corolla 31⁄4 in. wide, broad-campanulate, lemon-yellow with a reddish-purple mark in the throat. Leaves broad-elliptic, 6 by 21⁄2 in. April (lacteum × ‘Logan Damaris’). Raised by J. B. Stevenson at Tower Court and distributed by Maj.-Gen. Harrison, Tremeer, Cornwall.

'John Cairns'

Corolla 13⁄4 to 2 in. wide, deep brownish scarlet with darker speckling on the upper lobes. Leaves colouring well in the autumn, the persistent ones deep bronze throughout the winter. Dense habit to about 5 ft high and wide (R. kaempferi hybrid; L. J. Endtz and Co.). Award of Garden Merit 1952.

'John Marchand'

Flowers three or four in the truss. Corolla campanulate, 2 in. wide, deep rosy pink. Calyx rim-like, edged with stalked glands, which are also present on the stems and pedicels. Leaves elliptic, rigid, apiculate, 11⁄2 in. long, 1 in. wide, glabrous above, with scattered branched hairs beneath. Dwarf habit. March (moupinense × sperabile). This interesting lepidote-elepidote cross was made by John Marchand for Messrs Wallace of Tunbridge Wells. All the seedlings were bought by Collingwood Ingram of The Grange, Benenden, Kent. ‘It proved a very good buy for, without exception, every one of those tiny seedlings has grown into a charming bushy shrub, always abundantly floriferous and equally happy in either sun or shade’ (C. Ingram, R.C.Y.B. 1967, pp. 12–13 and plate 1). ‘John Marchand’ received an Award of Merit on March 22, 1966.

'John Walter'

Flowers about 20 in a dense truss. Corolla funnel-shaped, 21⁄4 in. wide, bright crimson with some brown markings, margins slightly frilled. Ovary glabrous or almost so. Leaves elliptic to obovate, 4 in. long, almost half as wide, rounded at the base, rather concave above, with traces of brown tomentum on the petiole and midrib. Dense habit. Early June. (Waterer, Bagshot.) An old hybrid, put into commerce before 1860 and related to ‘John Waterer’.

'John Waterer'

Flowers about 16 in the truss on short glandular pedicels. Corolla funnel-shaped, 23⁄4 in. wide, crimson, speckled with brown, crimped at the edges. Ovary and style glabrous. Leaves lanceolate, 5 by 11⁄4 in., clad beneath with a thin indumentum. Moderate size. Mid- to late June. This old hybrid, still quite common, is of interest as one of the first really late-flowering hybrids deriving from R. arboreum. It was put into commerce, together with ‘Mrs John Waterer’ (q.v.), in 1855. It is interesting that in both these hybrids the ovary is glabrous or almost so, which suggests that R. ponticum enters into their parentage. In the International Register ‘John Waterer’ is said to be R. arboreum crossed with R. catawbiense. This statement is certainly erroneous (see Russellianum), but R. catawbiense may have played its part.

'Joseph Whitworth'

Flowers about 16 in a dense truss. Corolla widely funnel-shaped, 31⁄2 in. across, dark purple-lake, heavily speckled with black on all lobes. Calyx well developed, with triangular or strap-shaped lobes. Leaves elliptic to slightly obovate, dark green with a greyish tinge, 6 to 7 in. long, about half as wide. Dense habit. Early June. (Waterer, Bagshot, before 1864.) The colour is too dark to be pleasing, but the foliage and habit are good. Named after the Midlands industrialist and philanthropist, later knighted, who lived at Stancliffe, Darley Dale (d. 1897).

'Julie'

White suffused with sulphur. Raised at Townhill Park from a cross between two forms of Loderi. A.M. 1944.

See notes for Loderi group