"Good-Doers"/ Proven Performers

One of the most important factors in successful growing of rhododendrons is the selection of varieties which grow and bloom well in the local environment.   In the Southeastern U.S., we need plants which can tolerate summer heat, periods of drought, and unseasonal temperature fluctuations.    While we are all tempted to try spectacular plants we may have heard of growing in the more "ideal" conditions of the Pacific Northwest, Britain or New Zealand, usually such attempts end in disappointment.    Less than 1% of the 20,000 named hybrids and cultivars of rhododendrons have been found to thrive in our environment.    ARS chapters in various areas have compiled lists of Proven Performers.    This is not a static list, and one of our challenges is to test in our own gardens new hybrids, particularly those developed in our region, or selected forms of species, to add to the "Good Doers" list.  The list below is reviewed annually by SE-ARS, and candidates for addition to the list, and sometimes deletion, as well as "Rhododendrons of the Year" are voted on by the chapter members.

Origin of "Good Doer" Lists: George w. Ring III, 1979

"Good Doers" in North Carolina, South Carolina, Eastern Tennessee 
(SE-ARS,  part of District 10 ARS)

Additional
PHOTOS ON hirsutum.info:

Elepidotes:
'Acclaim'
'Anna Kruschke'
'Anna Rose Whitney' (ROY 2016)
'Arthur Bedford'
'Ben Moseley'
'Calsap'
'Caroline'
'Chionoides'
'County of York'
'Cynthia'
'David Gable'
'English Roseum'
'Gigi'
'Gomer Waterer'
'Grace Seabrook'
'Great Smoky'
'Haag's Choice'    *
'Janet Blair'
'Joe Brooks'       *
'Josephine Everitt'     *
'Ken Janeck'
'Lee's Dark Purple'
'Maxecat'     
'Mountain Marriage'     *
'Nestucca'
'Percy Wiseman'
'Phyllis Korn'
'Red Eye'
'Roseum Elegans'
'Scintillation'
'Solidarity'
'Summer Snow'
'Summer Summit'
'Taurus'
'The Honourable Jean
 Marie de Montague'
'Tom Everett'  (ROY 2015)
'Vivacious'
'Vulcan'
'Wheatley'
'Wyandanch Pink'
Shammerelo's Royalty Series
      Yaku King, Prince, etc.
R. degronianum ssp
    yakushimanum
R. hyperythrum
R. maximum

Lepidotes:
'Chapmanii Wonder'
'Dora Amateis'
'Ginny Gee'
'Manitou'
'Mary Fleming'
'Olga Mezitt'
'Patty Bee'
'Ramapo'
'Southland'
'Windbeam'
'Yellow Eyes'      *
PJM Group
R. keiskei
R. minus

Deciduous Azaleas:
'Buzzard'
'Gibraltar'
'Homebush'
'Klondyke'
'Marydel'    *
'Mount Saint Helens'
Choptank River Group
Northern Lights Group
R.  alabamense
R. atlanticum
R. austrinum
R. calendulaceum
R. canescens
R. cumberlandense
R. flammeum
R. molle ssp. japonicum

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Evergreen Azaleas:
'Ben Morrison'
'Blaauw's Pink'
'Conversation Piece'
'Coronado Red'      *
'Delaware Valley White'
'Easter Parade'         *
'Elsie Lee'
'Fashion'             *
'Frostburg'          *
'Girard's Crimson'
'Girard's Hot Shot'
'Girard's Rose'
'Hardy Gardenia'
'Helen Curtis'
'Herbert'
'Hilda Niblett'
'Komo Kulshan'
'Margaret Douglas'
'Martha Hitchcock'
'Mary Ann Egan'         *
'Michael Hill'
'Nancy of Robinhill'
'Olga Niblett'
'Purple Splendor'
'Renee Michelle'
'Robin Hill Gillie'
'Scott Gartrell'
'Snow'
'Stewartstonian'
'White Rosebud'
'Wintergreen'
R. yedoense var poukhanense

Click on the names highlighted in Light Grey Type to see images on Hirsutum.info.      * Other image sources are linked if not on Hirsutum. 

Rhododendrons of the Year

Chapters in various regions submit annually to the ARS selections of the single most outstanding rhododendrons of various categories (elepidote, lepidote, evergreen azalea, deciduous azalea), designated as Rhododendron of the Year.   These plants are the best of the good doers/ proven performers.

2016 RHODODENDRONS OF THE YEAR for the SOUTHEAST