QBARS - v8n4 Book Review

Book Review
Rudolph Henny

WINTER HARDY AZALEAS AND RHODODENDRONS , By Clement Gray Bowers. 17 black and white illustrations, 112 pp. (The Massachusetts Horticultural Society.) The Rumford Press, Concord, N. H.

This fine small volume by one of America's foremost exponents of rhododendrons is devoted to those plants suitable to the Northeastern part of the United States. Readers will immediately recognize in this edition Dr. Bowers fine style of writing that was so successful in his great work "Rhododendrons and Azaleas." In that part of America there is a great and ever increasing interest in rhododendrons that will survive, and Dr. Bowers presents in a practical way how to chose those varieties, and the best cultural practices to follow.

Readers in more temperate climates will feel a bit sorry that very little advance has been made in better hybrids for that part of the country. With the recent surge of hybridization on the East coast I am sure that the next decade will find many fine plants to supplant the rather jaded list now available.

While the text deals almost exclusively with the hardiest hybrids and species Dr. Bowers could not refrain from mentioning just a few tender hybrids and species-along with a few borderline subjects.