Why Rhododendrons Fail to Grow and Two Super Hardy Rhododendrons for Cold Climates

Why Rhododendrons Fail to Grow and Two Super Hardy Rhododendrons for Cold Climates
By Michael J McGroarty

All the time people say to me; "Rhododendrons don't do well or grow for me." Right here and now I'll tell you why that is so and how to fix it.

Believe it or not, Rhododendrons and Azaleas are quite easy to grow and it only takes a few things to make them happy. There's a fundamental secret about growing Rhododendrons in your yard or your landscape that cannot be overlooked and it cannot be stated strongly enough. Here it is...

Rhododendrons Do Not Like Wet Feet!

They cannot tolerate any kind of moisture standing or collecting around their root systems. If you have a rhododendron or rhododendrons in your landscape that are struggling go outside, stand back and look very closely at the location of your rhododendrons and run through this check list.

1. What is the soil like in the planting bed?

2. Is it good topsoil that drains really well?

3. If you take a shovel and scoop out a shovel of soil from that area will the soil easily crumble into a small pile of soil, or will it remain in one solid lump?

4. Is your rhododendron near a downspout or does the gutter overflow anywhere near your Rhododendrons?

5. Is the rhododendron near the back of the bed and has the soil in that area settled to the point that it is lower than the surrounding areas of the bed?

6. Do you have an automatic watering system in the bed or do you regularly water the plants in that bed?

7. How much mulch do you have in that bed?

8. Do you ever loosen the mulch in the bed or just keep re-apply fresh mulch over what's there?

9. How deep were your Rhododendrons planted when originally installed in the landscape?

All of these things can contribute to an environment that is not super healthy for Rhododendrons and other plants, especially evergreens and Japanese maples.

All Plants Breath through their Roots! Did You know that?

All plants need to have the ability to transfer oxygen from the air to their root systems. I know that sounds a bit crazy, but it's true. That's why when a plant is installed too deep in a landscape, or planted in a wet location, they struggle and often die. Some plants are more tolerant of soil that breathes poorly than others, but they all need to breath. Plants like rhododendrons, Japanese maples and other evergreens are much less tolerant of this than many flowering shrubs.

It's important for you to understand how much rhododendrons dislike wet feet conditions and exactly what constitutes a wet condition. To illustrate what I am trying to explain to you, I'll tell you "a real life story about my relationship with some rhododendrons".

Many, many years ago I was growing some plants with my two friends Larry and Dale. My backyard was filled with plants, Larry's backyard was filled with plants and Dale owned a vacant lot so we filled that with plants. We had 705 rhododendrons in my backyard that we either had to sell or move to an area where they had more room. We decided to move them so we could later sell them for more money. We planted 600 of them in Larry's backyard then ran out of room so we took the other 105 over to Dale's vacant lot.

We had a lot of stuff already growing in Larry's backyard and the soil was a bit sticky, but the dogwood trees and other plants seem to do well there. Because the soil was sticky digging a root ball when it was time to sell the plants was easy because the balls never fell apart. That's a handy feature to have when ball and burlap digging plants.

Dale's lot on the other hand was very, very different. It was all sand and gravel. Mostly gravel! Digging a root ball on that rock farm was challenging and you could literally see sparks coming off the spade as you hit the rocks in the soil. Many of those rocks were the size of a nice sized baked potato!

The soil was well drained, but during times of drought that wasn't great because we had no water on that lot whatsoever. It was so dry one summer that some of the Chinese dogwoods that had been there for two years dried out.

The soil was hot, dry and as rocky as can be.

The 105 rhododendrons that we planted on that rock farm loved it!

They were as happy as happy can be and they grew like weeds. The 600 that we planted at Larry's house did okay, looked okay but it took them at least an additional two years before we could sell them. We sold the 105 off the rock farm in no time flat but it took several years for the ones in the heavier soil to each reach landscape size so we could sell them.

It was right then and there that I realized how much rhododendrons dislike wet feet!

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