I have about a dozen rhododendrons, in varying conditions, from 7 to 15 years old. We purchased this property 4 years ago, and just stood back to see what did what, before we did any pruning or shaping. I would appreciate any advice on caring for rhodos - all of which are blooming right now. Conflicting advice so far: prune while they are blooming; wait until done flowering; should have done it before blooming! Any informed opinions regarding caring for these magnificent plants would be appreciated.
I am waiting until the flowers are done before pruning my rhodo. I waited all year for the beautiful red flowers to blossom so I'm sure not going to lop them off now.
If they were mine I would leave them alone. Only remove dead or badly shaped growth. We had ones big enough to climb in in my fathers garden. They were many years old. However when the bushfires came through they were carefully pruned back in the hope they would survive. They did but were never as beautiful. They had a lovely big one down the road and pruned it to fit the tortured hedge they created and killed it. We have many many gardens here in the hills with wonderful rhod collections and they are trees (small). I have seen people nip azaleas after blooming and compacted them right down. The enclosed web page talks about Rhodos and Azalea http://www.stunningazaleas.com/articles/Growing and caring for Azaleas.html Liz
