Rhododendrons & Azaleas

c. 1911

Truby King Collection SB 413 R47 WA66

London: T.C. & E.C. Jack

In 1901, Truby King had a holiday home built in Karitane; it was built around a tree that grew up in the living room. Kingscliff, as it was called, had a beautiful garden of about an acre which featured a rhododendron dell, ‘one of his gardening trademarks’ (Chapman, 2003), hazelnut trees and assorted flowering shrubs and bushes. William Watson, the author of this first book ever dedicated to the topic of rhododendrons, worked at Kew Gardens from 1879 until 1922. A contemporary of Joseph Dalton Hooker, who was director of Kew from 1865 to 1885, Watson wrote many works on gardening, including Cactus Culture for Amateurs (1889), and a six volume work entitled The Gardener’s Assistant (c. 1920).