21. The Trinity
Cultivars of the Rhododendron Triflorum-group (flowers in triplets).
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In this group the flowers appear in triplets, hence the name, Triflorum. Whilst the individual inflorescences are not large, they are produced in such great numbers that the plants are completely covered in bloom. They have sadly not been much used, neither in our gardens nor in breeding.
They are the larger relatives of the small, lepidote, alpine species, found on 24. The Blue Hill with which they have often been crossed to obtain lower, more densely growing plants, e.g. ‘Russautinii’ (= R. russatum × augustinii).
‘Contina’, with its unusually colourful red-violet flowers, is quite sumptuous, and not to forget our own ‘Madam Felle’ which was baptized (of course in beer) by Lord Mayor Henrik Lisæth in the inauguration of the Rhododendrarium in central Bergen. It is a ‘Hummelhybrid’ of Rhododendron concinnum, so-called because one was created accidentally by a bumblebee. A deliberate cross of R. concinnum with R. ambiguum produced unusual “champagne coloured” flowers.
