I ordered for the first time from Singing Tree. I love them-they have so many different choices!

Yep, the owner is a true lover of the genus! Nice guy, too. I wish I'd had time to drive up there when I went out to Sonoma Co. in spring 2016.

And who knows how long Whitney Gardens will be around........or at least offering the varieties they do now and still adding to the marketplace. Ellie is no youngster any longer and it must be getting difficult to maintain the level of activity necessary to keep things up and running as they have been.

The Rhododendron Species Foundation always has a great selection of plants available and there is an online catalog.

akamaine, I agree completely with your last statements :-) Gardeners who are also serious horticulturists seem to be a dying breed and the interest in gardening by younger generations seems to be more focused on edibles than ornamentals. Otherwise, they want an attractive but no-thought, low maintenance landscape of pretty much standard stuff. Few are gardeners at heart. They think the box stores ARE plant nurseries :-)) And the new crap pushed out by places like Proven Winners just doesn't cut the mustard.

It also doesn't help that the Houzz acquisition and the myriad issues that has presented for actual meaningful discussions (and ease of posting or searching) has driven many valuable and experienced participants away.

thanks! I temporarily forgot about Bloom River, which is terrible because I'd ordered from them in the past. I was very happy with the plants and shipment. However, I have an excuse, or at least a very poor one: a few years ago they told me on the phone that they had been one of Greer Garden's main wholesale growers. And, in fact, back then, there was an overlap of the last list/catalog of Greer and what was on the erstwhile Bloom River website. This somehow crossed circuits in my mind and made me forget about them for my list above, because I was thinking of the Greer closing as being a pivotal moment in the history of American mail-order horticulture. Say what you will about them, nobody will dispute that they had a HUGE list.

OTOH, I am 99% sure I'd read somewhere that for all intents and purposes, WW Nursery was closed. If that's not the case...it's also good for people know about them as a source. I didn't count Gossler because Rhododendrons are only an incidental offering there...though they are an excellent nursery overall. And from my recent phone conversations with the staff, Van Veen isn't really stocking much in the 'ready to ship' category. Or at least, not much variety beyond bog-standard PNW cultivars like 'Cynthia' and 'Jean Marie'. And in fact I asked about 3 things on their master stock list, and they said they couldn't even find the mother plants anymore to take cuttings. They are focused on the core business of 'send your cuttings to us'.

WW Nurseries closed for some time after the death of Ray Walyko ( probably misspelled) the owner/proprietor. It reopened under new ownership - Leanne whose last name I can't remember. I was able to order plants in 2016, but have no idea how things have gone since. Couldn't find a phone number on the website, which is never a good sign.

I noticed the same thing about RareFind's catalog. I have a gift certificate that is expiring this year so I need to buy something, but nothing grabs my attention. Sad to see the decline of the specialty nursery.

For those interested, WW Nursery does appear to be alive. Proprietors are LeeAnn Mravunich and Frank Myers. Phone number: 724-349- 5653.

Sorry. Forgot to include this on the prior post. Email address is 188@yahoo.com, website: rhodiesrus.com I have not checked to see if these are operating, but seem to have been for 2017, at least.

Good news, mainegrower. Thanks for the update.

The referrals to order from Whitney Gardens and Bloomriver are very helpful. Thank you! I like buying in person at nurseries when possible, but it simply isn’t always possible for the best varieties. Plus, well written catalogues are extremely informative and helpful.

Whitney Gardens has an amazing catalogue! Bloomriver has a great selection with photos! This will make choosing the best rhodies and azaleas so much easier.

I personally think forums like this are great for inspiring interest in rhodies and azaleas, but if you really want to get people excited about rhodies and azaleas it is best done through adding photos as well as information. This forum is pretty active, but there aren’t a lot of posts showing photos of beautiful, healthy rhodies and azaleas with their owners gushing about how great they are. Most posts are questions or problems.... which is great since there are people here who can help... but I really think that it would inspire more people to learn about and try rhodies and azaleas if there were more passionate gardeners, like all of you obviously are, posting photos and gushing about your favorites. Visuals and social media are powerful.

Just my 2 cents.

Also... I like some of the proven winners bloom-a-thon azaleas... Am I missing something? Why are they crap? Seem to be very healthy for me over the past few years and bloom well even in deep shade. I also garden edibles as well as ornamentals... I hope that doesn’t mean I’m not a valued gardener! (Teasing... joking... not mad... hard to express a joking tone in written posts... but hopefully you get my gist).

See. What’s wrong with this bloom-a-thin double pink azalea blooming a little already in February? Maybe not as special as a gorgeous, tall, fragrant, deciduous azalea.... but I don’t think think it’s necessarily crap... it’s useful especially for the front yard.