Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Rhododendron-Like Bush, 1 by DonnaMack

DonnaMack wrote:
By the way, Neefman, if it\'s a dumb question, I was dumb too. I come from the land of clay. I thought it was an azalea. A kind person on this forum explained to me that it was a rhodie, and then identifying it was easy, because it has been in place, as I mentioned, for over 30 years. The fact that it was evergreen should have told me that it was probably NOT an azalea. I certainly don\'t have VV\'s expertise.

The interesting thing is that the texts talk about a protected location away from full sun. Mine is on the south side of my property. The only difference I noticed was that once I started using Ironite on it to acidify it, and popped a soaker hose under it for convenience of watering, it became 30% bigger.

Morton Arboretum, in the Chicago area, has them:

http://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-description...

The Missouri Botanic Garden site, which I use a lot, indicates zone 4 hardiness:

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFind...

And, being compulsive, I went to the library and checked out a book.

I must say that, much to my surprise, I have come to love this plant. I grow a Deutzia Chardonnay Pearls at its feet. As PJM\'s flowers fade, the deutzia starts to step up.

The bumble bees\' favorite plant at this time of year. Later it\'s Joe Pye Weed. Whoa!