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Gardening in Shade

Pruning large established Rhodies

16 years ago

We have some large Rhodies flourishing around our house and yard (Seattle, WA) but they are in desperate need of pruning. They just finished flowering and I know you are supposed to "dead-head" them but how about whacking them back substantially? Is there any danger of hurting and/or losing them? How does one "shape" them as I've read elsewhere you are supposed to do?

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Comment (1)

Iris GW
16 years ago
You are not "supposed" to dead head them. Nature doesn't do that and they do fine! If you need to prune them, you do want to do it soon ... before they set flower buds for next year.

You might want to read some of the posts on the Azalea/Rhododendron forum. Some of them have some very good links to caring for Rhododendrons.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Azalea and Rhododendron forum
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