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Rhododendrons are woodland shrubs of the heather family, grown for the rounded trusses of funnel-shaped flowers that cover them in spring, in every colour except true blue. The best known are the large evergreen hybrids with leathery, dark green leaves, but the group runs from ground-hugging alpine species to small trees, and it includes the azaleas, which are simply rhododendrons with smaller leaves. They are slow, long-lived and need almost no pruning. What they all demand is acid soil: on lime they turn yellow and fail.
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Toxic to cats and dogs if eaten.
Can cause vomiting and diarrhoea, and more rarely affects heart rhythm.
If your pet has eaten some, contact your vet.
Source: NC State Extension, Pet Poison Helpline
Check the soil before you buy. Rhododendrons need acid soil, with a pH between about 4.5 and 6, and no amount of feeding makes up for ground that is alkaline. If hydrangeas flower blue and heathers thrive nearby, the soil suits them. If it is chalky, grow a compact variety in a large pot of ericaceous compost instead.
Lime-induced chlorosis: the soil or the water is too alkaline for the roots to take up iron. Mulch with composted bark, pine needles or leaf mould, water with rainwater and apply an ericaceous feed. On strongly alkaline soil, move the plant into a container.
Bud blast, if the dead buds are covered in tiny black bristles and stay on the plant for a year or more; it is a fungus carried by leafhoppers. Pick off and bin affected buds. Plain brown buds that drop are usually caused by frost or by drought the previous summer.
Yes, on plants small enough to reach. Snap off each faded truss between finger and thumb just above the cluster of new buds beneath it, taking care not to break them. This puts the plant's energy into growth and next year's flowers instead of seed.
It rarely needs pruning. Remove dead or damaged wood after flowering. Many old, leggy hybrids can be cut back hard in late winter and will reshoot from bare wood, though they miss a year or two of flowering; smooth-barked species respond less well.
It is a normal reaction to cold. Evergreen rhododendrons roll and hang their leaves in frost to limit water loss and unroll them when it thaws. If they stay rolled in mild weather, the plant is dry at the root.
Yes. Choose a compact kind, such as a yakushimanum hybrid, and a pot at least 40cm wide with peat-free ericaceous compost. Water with rainwater, never let it dry out and repot or refresh the top layer every two years.
Shallow. The fine roots sit in the top few centimetres of soil and suffocate if buried. Set the top of the root ball level with the surface, or slightly above it on heavy soil, and cover it with a mulch instead of soil.
