Plant of the month December

Plant of the month for December is… Rhododendron tosaense

At this time of year it’s still difficult to choose a plant of the month.

Keeping up with our self confessed “Year of the Rhododendron” I have chosen this species Rhododendron purely because it is described as spring flowering but here it always flowers in early December. A bright beacon of colour in the cock pit. In the good old days it would be called an azalea, its semi-evergreen with lilac-purple flowers. In cold winters the leaves turn a crimson-purple.

This is the last entry for this years PPOTY2011 (Plant Personality Of The Year 2011) award. Keep checking back for the short list then results. Ignore BBC sports personality of the year, X factor and strictly THESE are the awards everyone is talking about!