Just letting you all know that my Jean Marie de Montague that I planted in April is doing wonderful so far. I bought three more beauties this morning, I am planning to have them grow down one side of my lawn. On the northwest side of my home. They will get morning shade and afternoon sun. I have (2) questions please... 1. How far apart do I plant them? The tag states that it will grow 5'x5'. Does that mean to plant them at least 5' apart? 2. Do I feed them rhododendron food now? or wait until spring. Thank you.
1. Yes. I would plant them at least 5ft appart. The Hon Jean Marie de Montague, is a neat grower. Be careful which Rhodo's you buy, some grow ENORMOUS, 5ft appart would not be enough! 2. Mulching now with pine needles, composted bark, or leaf mould would be better than fertilizer.
Rhododendrons natural thicket formers so close spacing not a problem, in fact they do better with cool roots and can even get root rot because of too much sun beating on root zone. When you are planting groupings of one kind of shrub you do not have to space these out the same as if each was a different kind and therefore appearing as a specimen. When planting in groups the group becomes the feature, rather than the individual shrub.
Thanks Ron, I've already planted them before I saw your note. They are 5 ft apart. Do you agree that this should be okay?
