England’s largest rhododendron has bloomed spectacularly after surviving an incredibly dry summer – and is now as long as 10 double decker buses.
The record-breaking bush is back in all its glory thanks to the warm and wet winter this spring after becoming very dehydrated last summer.
The red and pink flowers of the huge plant – dubbed ‘shrubzilla’ – have bloomed in the sunshine particularly early this year.
There’s been ‘thick growth’ all the way around the bush, which sits in the grounds of South Lodge Hotel in Horsham, West Sussex.
Head gardener Paul Collins said the plant – which he has affectionately nicknamed ‘The Big Rhodey’ – has reached over 38 metres in length, 24 metres in width, and 10 metres in height.
Typically, rhododendrons grow no more than six feet high. But this particular one – planted by Victorian explorer Frederick Du Cane Godman around 120 years ago – has expanded dramatically over the years.
The huge arboreum smithii, also known as the Old Cornish rhododendron species, has been maintained by Mr Collins for the past 13 years.
The 55-year-old from Horsham, West Sussex, said he tends to the garden with five other gardeners, adding that the bush is ‘really quite happy at the moment’.
England’s largest rhododendron in full bloom early this year at the South Lodge Hotel and Spa in West Sussex
The bush to scale – reaching over 38 metres in length, 24 metres in width, and 10 metres in height
The rhododendron was planted by Victorian explorer Frederick Du Cane Godman around 120 years ago
He said while the bush hasn’t bloomed as much as it did in 2024, it remains enormous.
Mr Collins said: ‘It has probably put on a thick growth all the way round. Rhododendrons love moisture, so a warm, wet winter has been good for it.
‘It has done better than last year, flower-wise. Last year we had frost quite late on, but this year has been really warm and wet, which is basically very good for the rhododendron.
‘It is quite happy at the moment. The dry summer it didn’t like. It was looking quite dehydrated.’
Mr Collins said that the guests and visitors to the hotel often admire the bush and they have even had a couple fly over from Holland just to see it in bloom.
Explorer Mr Du Cane Godman, a Cambridge scholar, planted the bush after his family bought the hotel and its grounds in 1883 and was fascinated by horticulture.
He travelled the world, compiling a natural history classification of more than 50,000 species, gathering a large collection of rare orchids, alpine plants and magnolias with his second wife Dame Alice.
