Azalea thicket.

Ethereal and I want to be there. I'm not sure I'd be the one operating the bulldozer to eliminate that. Progress??

•Posted by terrene 5b MA (My Page) on Tue, Feb 3, 15 at 21:54

Many have already been razed indeed. But this patch may survive. I am sorry for the misunderstanding.

The redwood forest in the northern coastal part of California also has some beautiful Rhododendrons.

bboy, Rhododendrons are related to Azaleas, but they are not quite the same (Azaleas are technically in the Rhododendron genus group).

"bboy, Rhododendrons are related to Azaleas, but they are not quite the same (Azaleas are technically in the Rhododendron genus group)."

Oy vey Socal! You're gonna get a can of whup you-know-what opened up on your you-know-what. Trust me, bboy knows that.

But yes these plants appear to be what most gardeners would describe as azaleas. Specifically, the parents of various common US azalea hybrids. But, very useful for demostrating how big they can get with great age, and/or being in the ideal climate for them. Of course, some hybrids are selected for staying small.

Oh good now I'm a little happier that may be preserved...

So, these are the parents of the poofy purple azaleas that bloom at the same time as the forsythia, just about everywhere around here in early Spring??

....but where will the corn and soybeans grow?

+oM

That last picture is a real beauty!
All of them are, actually. A real old growth azalea forest!
Mike

More comments:

These are not protected plants. Even when they have grown for a long time forming a unique wild habitat, there appears to be no Chinese law protecting them. They do not recognize the value yet. May be we can help?

There is no guarantee that they will not be cleared. A better approach is to add reasonable portion of agriculture plants, like certain trees, into the forests without removing the original plants.

There are always undiscovered plants hiding among these.

At the local village level, these are common in those areas. People grow up there desire concrete buildings and high income better than those they see every year. Since there is no law, clearings and destructions are common. Many also dig them out, cut them to the base and sell them as bonsais.

For the protected plants, the situation appears to be better in some cases http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/trees/msg090150488406.html.

Development - including nature appreciation tourism - is exploding in China.

•Posted by bboy USDA 8 Sunset 5 WA (My Page) on Wed, Feb 4, 15 at 10:58

These pictures are copied from retail portals in China. As you can see, these individuals dug very large Azalea trees from the wild, and sell them online. They kept almost no original roots and look at the large wounds. I think all these trees are gone. They are driven by profit. There appears to be no law stopping such practices.

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This post was edited by jujujojo on Wed, Feb 4, 15 at 11:45

Western visitors have seen episodes of heavy equipment being used to develop nature viewing parks in China, with much larger rhododendrons (than you have shown here) hundreds of years old being dug up and moved into unsuitable heavy soil locations in an apparent attempt to do some kind of landscaping.

Various Chinese cities have grown enormously in recent years, with many Chinese having more money than was usual up to this point - nature tourism has become big over there. Perhaps there has been an increase in home gardening and landscaping also, providing a market for wild plant collectors such as those you are calling attention to here.

Or they're just hoping they can sell their stumps to somebody, the shrubs being something they had access to. They certainly aren't handling them in a way that would be customary in western commercial horticulture.

When you have too many people in a region the resource base becomes depleted and strained.

This post was edited by bboy on Wed, Feb 4, 15 at 13:21

Unless it's illegal, I would try to get a couple small ones for myself. They will just rip them out anyway. They are quite impressive. I wonder if those are available commercially here. We can get many asian Rhodies, but, I am not aware of those large (wild?) ones available here. I love our native Rhod. Maximum, they get large also, but maybe the wild Asian ones grow faster? poaky1 Oh, BTW, nice pics jujujojo