Growing rhododendron

Growing Rhododendrons can be very rewarding when thew bloom for you. They produce very beautiful blooms, in a wide variety of colors on a plant that can be a few inches tall like a ground cover, to full grown trees 40 feet tall. The large dark green leaves provide a beauty to your landscape almost year round. Now for the tricky part, where, when, and how to plant these hardy plants.

The first thing you would want to do is make sure that a Rhododendron is going to be happy where You live, and where on Your property that you plant it. Rhody’s as i will refer to them for the rest of this article, are a very hardy plant even in the coldest climates you should be able to enjoy some variety.The best climates are Western Washington and other areas where the temperature range is approximately 20 degrees to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, with a relative humidity below 65% are the best conditions for these plants. So you will want to figure out what your climate conditions are, Rhody’s being more of a northern plant, but do not worry if You live in a warmer more humid climate. You can get the Rhody’s cousin the Azalea which look very similar.

Growing rhododendron

Alright now that we have decided that our climate is suitable for our Rhody’s, let us decide where to plant them and what size of a plant we should get.

We will start with soil and shade conditions. Rhody’s due best, and produce better blooms in a slightly shaded to almost full shade condition. They like moist but well drained soil. They require an acid soil, which makes them great buddies with the with the Conifer Trees, such as the Douglas Fir, and Western Red Cedar. Underneath and around these trees are one of the best areas to plant Your Rhody’s, they will be in acidic soil and shade. You can also produce an acidic soil, if you want to plant them around your house, and other such places.

Now that we now what kind of soil. We need to know about water. Rhody’s like a lot of water, but they do not like to stand in it. They love well drained soil that gets a lot of rain or watering. Rhody’s have a very shallow root system and benefit from a good mulch, Douglas Fir, or Western Red Cedar bark make a superior mulch for your Rhody’s. Now that we now these things all that is left to do is pick the type of Rhody’s we like.

Picking our Rhody’s is a personal thing, We should have a fairly wide selection at our local Nursery or Home and Garden Store. The main thing we want to keep in mind is the mature size of the plants that we pick,

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Tagged as: Azalea, Buddies, Ground Cover, Lot Of Water

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