Two Tiny White Bells

A tiny white alpine form of Rhododendron, the plant, growing in a trough, is no taller than 8 inches, but I misplaced (i.e. lost) the tag, an I just assumed that I would kill it anyway, so didn’t bother to note its name down anywhere, which should teach me a lesson-somewhere, even in a notebook or on a Word doc on the laptop, note the genus, species and cultivar names of what gets planted in the garden. I can’t remember everything! Well, I can’t remember much in the first place. There are very few ‘miniature’ or dwarf Rhododendron species and crosses that are hardy in our east coast zone 5 garden, but as many Rhododendron experts know, rules are always being broken, and sometimes a special spot will result in a surprise micro-climate success. If anyone knows the name, please share.

Just beginning to bloom, is this Billardiara longifolia vine, native to Chile. More impressive photos will come later, but I thought that I would share this, the first flower. This precious tiny vine will have many more in a few weeks. I keep this vine growing in a 12 inch pot with a tiny trellis. For us, it’s a terrace plant, kept in a large pot which spends it’s winter in the cold greenhouse. Evergreen, it is tender in our zone 5 garden. Grown more for its shocklingly violet fruits which are ornamental in the late summer and autumn, I think I like it’s tiny white bells flowers more.

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Comments

  1. Thanks for posting this info about the climbing blueberry. We've been looking for an evergreen vine and this one has popped up on a few of our "good for Pacific NW" vine lists.

  2. Is the unknown Rhododendron possibly the white form of Rhododendron campylogynum? Whatever it is, it's beautiful.

  3. These are like Merry bells. Maybe the same thing. The are a native here in Tennessee. So cute, small yet cute.

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