Lots of fragrant deciduous azaleas too. I was so busy smelling them I honestly didn’t take many photos of them, but there are rows and rows of them available for sale. Like this one in the gardens...

More rhodies...

Loderi rhodies. So fragrant! My favorite. I bought a few. I bought Pink Diamond and Venus.

Here’s Pink Diamond in the display gardens...

For scale...

More Loderi rhodies with me and my hubby for scale. Here’s Venus...

More Loderi rhodies...

I grow some of my rhodies the same way, mounded up into makeshift raised beds surrounded by rocks.

Lalique. If this one was available I would have bought it in a heartbeat. The fragrance was amazing.

More Loderi rhodies...

Leo x Jutland.

David (from this forum) told me to be on the look out for this one, but I’m not sure I could have missed it! The color is so unique, dark, deep, saturated and amazing! The blooms are so waxy, iridescent and perfect they almost look fake! They had some young babies available, I bought 2!

Unique Marmalade (I think?)

More of the display gardens...

More display gardens...

Azaleadron. So cool! Looks as though it grows almost as fast as oleander! I didn’t buy one, but they were very tempting. I may be back for these!

I hope you enjoyed the virutal photo tour! The staff was very helpful and passionate about gardening. There were some others there buying special one-of a-kind crosses, very mature rhodies. I was tempted, but didn’t get anything too mature/expensive. So what did I get? Venus, Pink Diamond, Diaprepes and Leo x Jutland. :-)

Visit if you are in the Sonoma/Sebastopol area!

And afterwards, you must go to La Bodega Kitchen for lunch/dinner! BEST FOOD EVER.

Oh Titian I’m so sorry you missed the rhodies in the Himalayas! That would have been so phenomenal! I’m sure you still had a fantastic experience, but oh the weather!!!!

Great photos Cori Ann. The picture of the pond and the woodsy trail photo above it are quite an inspiration. Thanks for posting these!

WOW! This place is amazing! Thank you for posting these great photos. I hope you’re enjoying the rhodies you bought.

Ann

Those red rhododendrons are beautiful.

They really are ctgardenguy. My photos don’t even do it justice, although I really tried. The deep red color was just too saturated for my iPhone to pick up properly. The consistency and structure of the blooms was also impressive. It needs a real name! Leo x Jutland isn’t regal enough for this fantastic cross.

The large red olympia blooms were impressive too. Very, very pretty.

If the same basic nursery inventory is still present as in a few years ago the main special rhododendron feature there - as in different from all the hardier kinds we grow outdoors up here - is the large offering of Edgeworthia and Maddenia species rhododendrons (and their garden hybrids) - something I do not see in your pictures. If you think the Loderi Grex has attractive floral fragrances you should be sampling some of these!

Also their collection of specimen trees growing in the ground, as part of the gardens includes a significant representation of Asian evergreen magnolias - their specimens of which are also of some size. In addition to some pretty rare specimens of other types, such as Chinese pond cypress growing in water (and also fairly big).

And the 'Sonoma' ('SHN') dove tree, near the house.

You’re right Embothrium. I didn’t take as many photos of those because I was so enchanted with the Loderi types. :-) They are there though!

I’m sorry for not taking more photos of them. The magnolias were all finishing up, but I should have also gotten more photos of them for everyone, as well as all the different trees. I also should have really taken more photos of the deciduous azaleas... there were sooooo many different types.

I have a Maddenii at home already and also have some that I think are related to Edgeworthii (Fragrantissimum, Fragrantissimum Improved, Forsterianum are all related to Edgeworthii maybe right?)... But I didn’t have any Loderi types of my own yet so I was definitely drawn to those! The photos show my bias. :-)

This is one of the nurseries I would like to visit to try to find some larger specimens. Do you happen to remember what kind of variety they had in larger plants that are three to five feet high in containers?

I would prefer to find plants that have a very dense canopy of leaves. Do you remember seeing any dense-leaf plants for sale? I notice that a lot of their inground plants in the photos are somewhat leggy.

Great virtual tour, thanks.

Westes I hope you’re able to go soon while they are still in bloom. As far as plants for sale, they have rows and rows and rows of nursery plants for sale. So many different varieties and in different maturity stages. With such a huge selection, it would be near impossible for me to remember what varieties (100s and 100s), but there’s a list of varieties they usually have in stock on the website. I hope you go! Take photos if you do, there’s so much more to look at than show in my photos!

Cori Ann that is beautiful pics. I can imagine your excitement already. Great find. I love everyone of those pics. Both you and your husband look great in the pics. It shows the size of that plant and they are so huge esp the flowers I don't mind getting one or two. Oh boy ! What a beautiful day :)

I wish they have something like that here. Thank you , thank you for taking the pics. It is absolutely beautiful . I love the stones around the plant. Very creative like a well.

Jin

Thanks so much for taking and sharing so many photos, Cori Ann. The gardens look lovely, and the variety is amazing. I really enjoyed the virtual tour!

You’re very welcome!

Since I had not been before, I can’t say how much it has changed with new ownership, but based on previous photos and descriptions it seems like little has changed (so far). I should also mention there were still a lot of varieties of clematis for sale, some other companion plants too. I just didn't photograph them. The staff seemed quite knowledgeable on the whereabouts of different rhodies in the display gardens, so it seemed some of the same staff stayed on, which is a good sign. :-)

I have got to go do this. How long is it this beautiful!? Or even close?

Wow! Superb thread!

Indeed it would be hard to miss 'Leo X Jutland'! As I posted previously, it truly is one of the most remarkable flowers I've seen IN THE WHOLE PLANT KINGDOM. It reminds of that report several years ago that scientists had developed the blackest black fabric ever. That reflected something like 10X less light than other very black things. People said it was so black it was vaguely unsettling to look at it! In person, that red is so red you just can't pull your eyes away from it. Like a pool of spilled blood on the steps of a Sicilian courthouse at high noon on the summer solstice. (LOL) So glad you got a couple...now I know who to ask for cuttings a few years down the road, when I master rhododendron grafts. (around the time pigs learn to fly!)

Were there a lot of people there? Hopefully the new owners of the nursery, who I've heard through the grapevine are neophytes when it comes to owning one, will realize that these plants are something special and worth continuing to sell. Vs. [converting the nursery[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/as-requested-a-few-more-norcal-pictures-dsvw-vd~3876249) to selling edible botanicals and fruit trees.

There were actually a good amount of people there, and buying so that’s a good thing for business. There’s a lot of room there, probably enough room to keep what’s there and also add a few edible botanicals and fruit trees for increased business?

Hey David I was just thinking... I have Cunningham’s White, a good root stock right? .... and now I have Leo x Jutland! I’m great at propagating and have been toying with the idea of learning grafting... maybe we will both master the art, when pigs fly! ;-)

I think the hubby and are are going back in the summer or fall during the off season for a possible off season sale. If there are any other MUST HAVE unique crosses that you all know of, please let me know. We are in our “forever home” and I’m a collector with a bit of room left, also very generous and willing to share cuttings in time. :-)

Otherwise I will most likely just keep buying up more big fragrant rhodies (no harm in that)!

We are in our “forever home” and I’m a collector with a bit of room
left, also very generous and willing to share cuttings in time. :-)

Lucky you! And you and your husband look young as rhododendron collectors go, so you can look forward to getting to see your plants someday as big as those at Sonoma.

I will review my notes to see if there are any other unmissable hybrids. The main ones that comes to mind would be 1) various old English hybrids that are extremely rare in North American commerce nowadays, like 'Glory of Penjerrick', 'Luscombei', and 'Mandalay' and 2) the crosses Polo was making between 'Rubicon' and R. irroratum. Those could result in some spectacular red hybrids with exotic looking spots. He wouldn't let me buy one in spring 2016. ;-( I bought 'Cary Ann' (!), 'Double Eagle' and 'Leo X Jutland', and wouldn't you know which one just didn't survive being stuffed in a suitcase? Yep, that one! 'Double Eagle' and 'Cary Ann' are doing ok, I was especially suprised 'Double Eagle' was not seriously damaged by last winter. 'Double Eagle' is the intense yellow behind 'Leo X Jutland'.

Cori Ann you seem completely bitten by the rhododendron bug, which is great...I recommend you seek out a cheap used copy of the excellent book 'Encyclopedia of Rhododendron Hybrids' by the Coxes. Curiously, there's nothing better than a guide to hybrids written by people who are famous for not liking them. ;-) I don't always agree with them but they are straight shooters and tell it like they see it! For example, they kind of poo poo 'Mandalay', but it's a very intriguing looking red. Not quite as intense as Leo X Jutland, but strangely luminous yet dark. Like stained glass when the light struck it a certain way.

I hope! I grew up on a small family ranch so learned the basics of growing and acquired a love of gardening from a young age, although I wasn’t really educated or informed as a gardener/collector. Much of what I know may be a bit of backwoods, strange small family style of growing. We did all sorts of weird things I haven’t heard of other people doing. We were a poor family ranch, so had a lot of creative “ingenuity.” :-)

I knew the names of nothing, just had a good feel for it since I was raised around it. The past few years I have been learning the names of actual varieties of all sorts of plants (although only through reading so I may be pronouncing them totally wrong when I actually speak the words). ;-)

And thank you! I will check out the book and each of those rhodies! :-)