In Wednesday’s edition of “Ask the Arborist” we begin part one of the two part series on Rhododendrons. According to “Wikipedia” Rhododendrons are part of the Ericaceae family under the genus name Rhododendron. The Ericaceae family commonly known as the Heath family has over 1000 species of flowering plants, which include cranberry, huckleberry, blueberry and azaleas.
Our photo today has a Rhododendron, which to all appearances looks half dead. No, it’s not dead! The poor Rhododendron is suffering from the long cold snowy winter. According to “Mike Mahoney’s blog” in most cases the leaves may be brown and curled up, but not dead. Before pruning off brown areas with dead appearances, look closely, scratch the bark, and if it still green, it’s probably alive. With some tender loving care these Rhododendrons, in most cases, will make a good rebound by late May. We will follow up in part two of the Rhododendrons, once this plant has been given the chance to make a come back.
So as the weather warms and you want to clean out all the dead plant material from the yard, your Rhododendrons are saying wait please give me a chance.
Find out what's happening in Newtownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
As always, contact your local licensed Arborist on this blog for management options for your Rhododendrons.
