The "Rhododendron Coast"

The "Rhododendron Coast" stretches from the redwood forests on the north coast of California all the way to Vancouver and right now is peak flowering season.

Most of the rhododendrons that we commonly grow in gardens are from Nepal and Sikkim in the Himalayas or from the mountainous regions of Yunnan and Sichuan, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. There are also number of tropical rhododendron species from Borneo, New Guinea and northern Australia which we cannot grow here. There are very few species in North America and Europe and there are no rhododendrons in South America or Africa.

The first three pics are of our native Pacific rhododendron which is pale lavender. The rest are Asian species which mostly come in shades of pink, lavender, red and purple. There are also are a few yellow and blue species. Some of the white flowers have a perfume.