Even though the leaves appear dead, the wood may still be alive and new leaves may appear. You can wait until all of the other new leaves open and see if there is any sign of life in the "dead" branches.

Since the garage probably had an eaves trough, the roots on the side nearest the garage may not have been getting any water. If those roots die, then the branches above them that they feed would die also.

Thanks Rhodyman.

I did some research yesterday and came across various resources stating that you can *sometimes* cut a rhody back hard, for rejuvenation, and it may grow back. Several resources say only SOME rhody's will grow back this way, though I recall reading here that it's not possible to control the size of a rhody. Can you comment?

Rhododendrons are easy to prune. However, severe pruning can be risky. It is usually successful on healthy plants that are in sunny locations. It is problematic on plants in shade or plants that are struggling.

Typically, it is advised to not take more branches than those with 1/3 of the total leaf area. That is very conservative.

To control the size of a rhododendron, you first cut it back to the size you want. Then you pinch those buds that would make it grow taller. A garden near Red Bank, NJ, carried this to an art. None of the plants were over about 3' tall. You could stand anywhere in the garden and see all of the plants. It was great. But it took a lot of work every spring, breaking off the vegetative buds that were directed vertically.

Thought I'd report back. Most of the back half is dead, I don't expect any recovery from it, but I'll cut it back later in the season.

The good news is, after I scored the roots and transplanted from full shade to half sun, it looks like a few existing buds are ready to bloom. I checked out the rhody site, I'll try breaking off the buds to create more branching so the form improves (eventually!).

Be careful. Large buds are flower buds and the slender buds are foliage buds.