Rodgersia ?

[charlie]

What are the good ones? someone gave me a bit of the one below, I planted it without much hope (or it must be admitted enthusiasm) but has surprised me by #1 growing #2 lasting a long time in flower #3 not getting eaten by anything! so I know I have seen pictures on the forums of some rather special looking Rodgerisias so spill the beans what are the good ones for leaf as well as flower?

015 by charliepridham, on Flickr

[Chrisg]

I only have that one, but like you it seems to be coping very well with this year unlike some plants. Is the best I have seen it.

[AndyC]

Charlie, I think your Rodgersia is R. aesculifolia but it might be R. pinnata (I have difficulty telling them apart). I grow R. aesculifolia and R. podophylla for their foliage rather than the flowers. The leaves don't seem to suffer from any predation at all and always look pristine and I especially like the new leaf bronze colouration.
Some forms of R. pinnata have quite a dark pinky red flower so that might be an added bonus.

[David Matzdorf]

I'm posting this under protest until the apostrophe disappears from the thread title :evil: .

I'd warn people against buying named varieties such as R. pinnata 'Superba' unless you are quite sure of your source. I acquired three plants of this cv. (which is supposed to be a clone) many years ago and they are all very different: in vigour, in the degree to which new growth is bronze-tinted, in the pinnate pattern of the leaflets, in drought-resistance and in flowering (only one of them ever does).

They are obviously seedlings of a variable species and none of them is R. pinnata 'Superba'. I have been less than thrilled with them over the years, ewspecially as I bought them at an RHS garden that should have known better. One of them is pretty good and worth growing. The other two have scarcely increased in about 14-15 years and are a waste of [very little] space.

Were I starting again, I would choose R. aesculifolia and I would select well-matched plants in Spring, when the new growth is showing colour, as that's the main reason I would want to grow this genus.

[charlie]

I'm posting this under protest until the apostrophe disappears from the thread title :evil: .

I have changed it David but I am afraid as a dyslexic you will always have to remind me, I haven't a clue where and when they should be used, but I am more than happy to be corrected :)

And its a valid point about the variation in plants, especially some perennials where the clump has been split, the seller assumes therefore all the plants will be the same but some self seeding has occurred at some time, so the results are variable.

I think it was AdamD who had posted some pictures of nice ones

[AdamD]

Here is some of the ones that I grow.

Rodgersia nepalensis (shot taken last year)



Here is an unknown Rodgersia pinnata variety, it's even bigger this year!

I also have a Rodgersia 'Cally Coffee' which I picked up from Cally Gardens a couple of years ago and the leaves literally are coffee coloured when they are young (I'll see if I can find a photo tomorrow).

I bought a Rodgersia pinnata 'superba' from Cally this year as well, but it is tiny at the moment. Let's hope it is a true one.

[JohnJearrard]

I have seen a couple that I thought were really good recently.


Rodgersia sambucifolia 2, Hillier Gardens 010613 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

This R.sambucifolia at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens was a wonderful plant in the right place on the right day.


Rodgersia podophylla Crug Colossus BSWJ 10904 Crug Farm Plants 080612 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

This R. podophylla 'Crug Colossus' really stood out at Crug last summer. I went with a friend, and we were both pretending to be nonchalent about it in case they only had one to spare. In the end, they didn't have any - only released it this spring (and thanks to Charlie, now I have one).

[AdamD]

Here's that 'Cally Coffee' I had mentioned before (apologies for the phone picture).

Unfortunately it does not stay that colour and has now reverted to a more normal Rodgersia green.

[Chad]

Oh dear.

I’m going to stir a hornets’ nest I fear.

Note the apostrophe here comes after the ‘s’ as the nest belongs to the hornets [plural].

Rodgersia is already a plural form. I can not think of ever needing the genus to be singular [the last ever plant of a nearly extinct monotypic genus?]. In this case it would be, to coin a neologism, Rodgersium.

It isn’t the apostrophe that bothers me but the addition of an ‘s’ to an already plural form. It is like looking at a statistical study and saying there are lots of ‘datas’ in it!

Charlie has already amended the thread title to remove both the apostrophe and the ‘s’ and is therefore ahead of me [again].

Chad.

ps. Edited to correct egregious spelling!

[Chad]

And whilst I am being picky, the nomenclature of Rodgersia is a mess.

Rodgersia pinnata [hort] seems to be a complex of hybrids. Wild material may represent a distinct species, but most if not all horticultural forms are now thought to be hybrids between R.podophylla and R.aesculifolia. This explains the wide variability and a tendency not to come true from seed. I have yet to see the form ‘Rodgersia x pinnata’ in text but it hovering in concept at least.

As David points out there should be a single clone [or at least all the plants should look the same – not all cultivars are clonal but they should be distinct] going under the name of R.pinnata ‘Superba’. The early descriptions of it differentiate it only by it having ‘red’ flowers. Christopher Lloyd noted it was not a robust grower even when he first obtained it just after the second war. If it is still in cultivation it would not warrant growing except by an ardent collector. Receiving wrong plants under this name is unfortunate but may not be intentional. If the week growing stock plant gets a seedling in it, the seedling will out grow the parent clump and replace it. The problem only becomes apparent on flowering and nursery stock may never get to be mature enough to flower before it is re-divided.

Newer ‘red’ flowering forms such as ‘Crug Cardinal’ are better growers and may even give red flowered seedlings!

Rodgersia tabularis got split of into its own genus as Astilbioides tabularis and although slow to establish should not be omitted from a discussion of the garden worthy members of this group.

Chad.