Azaleas and rhododendrons are very similar in their requirements. Watering every two days is too much. You should wait until the plant just begins to get dry and then water deeply.

Not blooming can be caused by fertilizing among other causes:

* Pruning. The buds are formed in late summer and early fall so pruning then or later is not advisable since it will remove flower buds. New leaf buds will form in the spring, but new flower buds won't form until the next year.

* Variety. Some plants will never bloom. Some rhododendrons that come from the seed of a hybrid plant will look good but will never produce flowers or will produce very poor flowers. To come true to the parent plant, a hybrid may be propagated by cuttings or tissue culture but not from seed. A good hybrid seedling only comes about once in a while. For that reason it is important to know that you are getting a good named variety or a good species.

* Fertilizing. Nitrogen promotes leaf and branch growth and discourages flower bud production. It can also force late season growth that gets killed or stunted by frost damage. Phosphorus promotes flower bud production and hardiness. Potassium is necessary for well being.

* Weather. Cold weather can kill flower buds. Usually you see the brown buds in the spring. Cold spells in the fall or spring can damage buds that are not hardened off. Bud blast (blooming in fall or winter) uses up good buds which are then not available at the normal blooming time.

* Age. Most rhododendrons take 2 to 3 years to bloom from a rooted cutting unless forced. Some take longer and some bloom sooner. From seeds the plant may take 1 or 2 additional years.

* Sun & Shade. Some rhododendrons need full sun to bloom and others can take fairly dense shade. In general, the more sun the more flower buds but also the greater exposure to damage from desiccation in summer or winter. More shade produces tall spindly foliage and less flowers.

* Inspection. You can usually tell if the plant has ever bloomed. A rhododendron that has bloomed will have the seed pods on it unless it has been dead-headed. If dead-headed too late after blooming, new flower buds can be damaged.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to grow rhododendrons and azaleas.

Karri, often morning shade/afternoon sun is the opposite of ideal for large leafed rhododendrons (here in this cool maritime Z8 is an exception, it rarely gets hot enough for afternoon sun to be a problem :)) Rough rule of thumb when planting rhododendrons and azaleas, the larger the leaf size, the more protection from hot sun they might need.

If you hadn't mentioned leaf color, I wouldn't find it unusual for a rhododendron just planted last summer not to bloom. They set their buds for the following Spring in late summer - yours still could have been recovering from transplanting and putting its energy into root establishment, not flower buds.

Without being able to see your plant...too much sun, fertilizer burn, failure to loosen the rootball when planting or planting too deeply could all be possibilities that would lead to off color leaves. Also poor drainage, or too much water as already mentioned.

That is all very depressing:-( This location is the only one I have for this plant. I guess I will let it keep on and see if it gets better. If not I could always give it away so it won't die. I was just hoping maybe there was some little trick I could use to make them healthy again.
Thanks anyways!

I planted my rhodo around late Aug. last year. It's leaves are brown and dry. It almost looks like it is dead. There are no blooms but the stems all loook very green. Is it dead or not. I am not sure what to do with it.

It may have been planted too deeply or the root ball may have dried out some since they like moist soil and no periods of dry soil followed by periods of moist soil. If the root ball starts to dry out, the leaves would brown out and it might actually repel water instead of absorbing it.

There are some solutions that people use for that. I would add a soaker hose right on top of the root ball and let it moisten the area. Or use the end of a hose to slowly drip water at a very very slow rate for maybe an hour. Some people will also extract the shrub and dump it into a bucket full of water until bubbles stop coming out of the soil (say, half an hour or so); then plant it back.

Maintain the soil moist and well mulched (3-4") to prevent it from drying out again. Most of the roots are in the top 4" so insert a finger into the soil to see if the soil feels dry or almost dry. If it does, give it about 1 gallon of water. Then continue testing the soil in this way for two weeks every morning. Every time you water, jot it down. After two weeks, see how often you had to water. Then set the sprinkler or drip irrigation to water 1 gallon of water as often as you hand watered using the finger method.

I didn't see anyone mention soil pH here, but it's very important to Rhododendrons and most evergreens to have more acidic soil. You can buy a soil tester for just that, or even ones that measure nutrients too. Or you can just add some specially formulated fertilizer for evergreens & see if it works. My mom uses coffee grounds, but you'd have to drink a LOT of it for it to work as well! Yes, she's quite hyper. ;D

P.S. Next time you plant one of these, do it in spring or fall. Summer is probably the worst time to plant anything, esp. a plant that hates dehydration like Rhodos do!