I thought I'd start one because I can't find an existing place. If there is, please tell!

I think I'm hooked on Rhododendrons. I'm sure you're not too suprised

I got another azalea today, from Meadowlark Botanical Gardens (Azalea society was there) and I am really loving azaleas more and more. Too bad we didn't realize the yellow-orange one was only 15$ . Oops I really like those. Anyways, I hope other people will chime in about their azaleas and rhododendrons.

Please share if you have any fascinating varieties or fun things going on with them!!

My mom has this dying pink azalea in this greenhouse setup she has. I don't really know what she's doing with it, but I'm sure she's been watering it often and has supplied it with good soil. Do you know if there's a certain thing azaleas need that isn't one of the "basics" (things that you should do with every plant)? I did buy it at Raley's, though.

I've been thinking of getting some sort of dwarf tree/small shrub for this relatively compact gardening project and rhododendrons have caught my eye. The thing is, they seem like they'd get too big and I don't want to keep pruning it back and have it not perform well. Are there any small varieties of rhododendrons?

jazzyjvt said: My mom has this dying pink azalea in this greenhouse setup she has. I don't really know what she's doing with it, but I'm sure she's been watering it often and has supplied it with good soil. Do you know if there's a certain thing azaleas need that isn't one of the "basics" (things that you should do with every plant)? I did buy it at Raley's, though.

I've been thinking of getting some sort of dwarf tree/small shrub for this relatively compact gardening project and rhododendrons have caught my eye. The thing is, they seem like they'd get too big and I don't want to keep pruning it back and have it not perform well. Are there any small varieties of rhododendrons?

I have no idea. Not a pro
You'll have very good luck on the Ask a question forum — many avid rhododendron growers there!

Technically Azaleas are small Rhododendrons.

Yes, azalea = rhododendron, all rhododendron != azalea. (!= means not equal)

Check the pH of the water used on Ericaceae members like rhododendrons and azaleas. It is a common mistake to use tap water to irrigate these plants (in-ground or containerized) without realizing that many times such tap water can range into pH of 8.0. This makes ericaceous plants unhappy.

Determine all this kind of base/foundational information, and then make choices to advance the health of your plants.

ViburnumValley said: Check the pH of the water used on Ericaceae members like rhododendrons and azaleas. It is a common mistake to use tap water to irrigate these plants (in-ground or containerized) without realizing that many times such tap water can range into pH of 8.0. This makes ericaceous plants unhappy.

Determine all this kind of base/foundational information, and then make choices to advance the health of your plants.

This is very true. 3 years ago when I started gardening I was super excited about Rhododendrons and I even gave Japanese Andromeda (another Ericaceae) a try. Today I realize that my soil is super alkaline (lime!) and the tap water is worse. All my Rhododendrons are in a pitiful state with the honorable Exception of the Weston hybrids (PJM Elite, Compacta and Weston's Aglo). And the Japanese Andromeda practically dead.

Have been very busy this winter.
Pruning and shaping, the dwarf rhodos, azaleas, etc, trying for the more natural Look.
I know I'm over planted, but loathe to take stuff out, so out came the secateurs.
I have introduced some nice acers to try for shade in the spring sunshine.
Acer, Summer Gold, Wilson's Pink Dwarf, phoenix, Going green, Emerald Lace, and a few small ones for bonsai.
In short I am trying to bonsai my small garden.




This photo is a few years old, and unfortunately I have lost the old Wisteria.
I hope to post a photo of my efforts this spring.
Regards john

Your "over planted" garden is glorious!

It is beautiful!
I recently repotted some of my propagations and a few suckers (?) I found. We'll see how they do.

Over planted.. wow.. I would not put it that way at all. The garden is planted as a 4 seasons garden. This is a spring pic. Never underestimate the changing garden throughout the various seasons.

Change during different seasons is all a different picture and experience. I also include the landscaping , hard scapes and design implemented is A+ in my book.
"I gotcha" , @Meandmyroses

I remember when you lost your very old beautiful wisteria . I have a few old wisterias too . Yours was well pruned , trained and taken care of with luv. Did you ever figure out why it died.
Thank for sharing a beautiful pic of your beautiful garden. Looking forward to more pics.

Allusion to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens implies you are in the DC area.
Along the east coast that is the transition zone where it starts to become uncommon to see elepidote rhododendrons (e.g., the typical kind with bigger leafs. Lepidotes have smaller scaly leaves and barring a few exceptions like R. minus, 'Chapmanii Wonder' or PJM, are even more cranky) I knew a DC area landscaper 15 years ago who refused to plant them even when clients asked. Unless ideally *sited, planted, and cared for*...root rot will eventually claim them. OTOH drive north 3 hours and on the Pennsylvania Main Line you will a rhododendron in every single garden. Drive 3 hours south or SE and you will not see a single one in hours upon hours of driving.

From DC this line extends SW along clines of increasing elevation. I recently saw some "American ironclads" like English Roseum, as I drove up in elevation from Spartansburg, SC (850 ft) to Bostic, NC (1200 ft. where I was visiting, but that was in a valley). Although they were still very uncommon. The mountains start to have native Catawba rhododendrons, of course, and that might be what I was seeing. The ironclads are genetically speaking, mostly Catawba rhododendron. I have seen pictures of a quite rot resistant 'Bibiani' that was growing in a zone 7b display nursery/garden center outside Atlanta, but the details beyond that have washed from my mind. That would have been at the limits of its hardiness...I wouldn't try that one in the DC area. What I would try: if you want to guarantee success in DC, grow one the cultivars bred for root rot resistance, like the "Southgates" promoted by Southern Living, or the related hybrids created by Thornton like 'Opal Thornton'. What's left of Rarefind might offer those this spring...who knows. I don't get the sense the Southgates really took off in the south. But they will do just fine in low to mid elevation MD/VA, and of course DC and DE. They are crosses of the old ironclads that incorporate a more recently discovered Taiwanese species, R. hyperythrum, that imparts incredible vigor and rot root resistance.
https://www.woodlanders.net/in...

BTW, be warned that garden centers throughout the DC area are happy to sell typical cultivars, including some very rot prone ones like 'Capistrano' (known to the founder of Rarefind as 'Crapistrano') because they are loaded full of anti-fungals by the wholesalers and are therefore going to die after the 1 year guarantee period is over! American capitalism at its finest, right?

@davidrt28 That is very interesting! I will definitely be avoiding Capistrano

I recently visited Meadowlark BG!

Deception can occur, but it is not an element of capitalism.

I grow several satsuki azaleas in pots, both because they're only borderline hardy here, but also because nothing ericaceous survives in my yard. They overwinter in the garage. One cultivar Haru no Hibiki blooms super early, especially since he overwinters in the garage. I just took him out for some spring sunshine yesterday. He looks great on my front porch!

Beautiful blooms!

Very long

"Deception can occur, but it is not an element of capitalism."

I would say deception can be an element of anything...and certainly any political philosophy!

Anyhow I was maybe being a little cynical, but maybe not. Since fancy PNW grown rhodies have been sold by DC area nurseries for > 35 years now, trucked across the country by the hundreds each spring, and yet one hardly ever sees mature ones in landscapes...it's safe to assume it's a known fact they aren't long term plants south of the Mason Dixon.
Similar thing with Monkey Puzzles. They were sold by prestige nurseries since I was a little kid...I was given a catalog from 'Betty's Azalea Ranch' from the mid 1980s that listed them for something like $400! (used to be a really nice nursery, looked like hell the last time I was there almost a decade ago*) That was a lot of money, and to a 9 year old me, I probably thought I would need to win the lottery to buy one. Alas, there's only one in the entire DC area above 30' tall, and it's actually the only one on the east coast that big! Yet local nurseries still sell them, so I guess fools and their money are easily parted!

* - update about Betty's Azalea Ranch nursery. I don't want to seem unfair. Found myself with some time to kill in the 703 recently and stopped by. It's not too bad. Probably about as best as can be hoped for, for a nursery in NoVA these days. "Local nurseries", period, aren't what they used to be. Except maybe Weston in Massachusetts and a handful along the west coast like Berkeley Horticultural Nursery.