The leaves are currently turning brown and curling or have they been curled since winter? If it's the second, it's damage from winter cold, sun and wind. Only thing you can do is prune back to live (green) wood at a point where you see the swelling of new growth points. The rhododendrons willl regow from there over the summer.

Hi mainegrower,

We had a nasty winter. I did not protect my plants in the fall. The ones I thought may be OK from the the winter elements turned out to have a lot of curled, burnt leaves. The buds from the outside are brown some, on one side only.

From your experience, would the buds be affected also and not yield any flowers?

Hello laubev2002,

Sad to say, the flower buds probably have been at least damaged. If they are completely dry and brown, there is little likehood of flowers. Some buds in more protected areas of the plant or beneath the snow line may produce some flowers, but likely not a full truss - the outer buds receive most of the damage from cold, leaving at least some of the inner ones to bloom.