This blog is about evergreen Rhododendrons and the next will be about the deciduous Rhododendrons and the next will be about Azaleas. All Azaleas are Rhododendrons but not all Rhododendrons are Azaleas.
Rhododendrons come in all sizes from a 2’ dwarf to a 40’ tree. They are native mainly to Asia but a few are native to the west coast of the U. S. and some to Virginia. This is Rhododendron ‘Crater Lake’.
Rhododendrons come in almost every color of the rainbow. Here are a few of the ones growing at Dawn Gardens:
Rhododendron ‘ Nova Zembla’
Rhododendron ‘Purple Passion’
Rhododendron ‘Halfdan Lem’
Rhododendron ‘Occidental Pond’
Rhododendron ‘Peach Charm’
Rhododendron ‘Euclid’
Rhododendron ‘Fantastica’
Rhododendron ‘Hallelujah’
Rhododendron ‘Seaview Sunset’
Rhododendron ‘Mrs. G. W. Leak’
Rhododendron ‘Double Eagle’
Rhododendron ‘Cupcake’
Rhododendron ‘Yaku Angel’
Rhododendron ‘Tahitian Dawn’
Rhododendron ‘Mrs. G. W. Leak’
Rhododendron ‘Blue Jay’
Rhododendron ‘Seta’
Rhododendron ‘PJM’
Some Rhododendrons have heavy felting or hairs under their leaves and their color is almost as beautiful as their flowers:
Rhododendron ‘Teddy Bear’
Rhododendrons don’t like the hot summer climate of the foothills so I have installed a mister at the base of each Rhododendron to give additional humidity. Here is a video of the mister working at one of the Rhododendrons.
One of the most important chores in the maintenance of the Rhododendron garden is deadheading which is removal of the old flowers. This keeps the seeds forming and keeps the plant looking clean. The result will be more and bigger flowers next year. The photo above shows the leaf scars which is the point that you break off the flower stem. The photo below shows the new buds that will sprout and produce new leaves and a flower bud for next year.
The 2 photos below show a Rhododendron before dead-heading and the same plant after deadheading.
This procedure makes the plant look much better after blooming and will reward you with more flowers next year.