{"id":2791,"date":"2019-12-18T00:05:19","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T08:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-10\/"},"modified":"2023-08-08T14:15:16","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T21:15:16","slug":"pruning-and-caring-for-rhododendrons","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pruning-and-caring-for-rhododendrons\/","title":{"rendered":"pruning and caring for rhododendrons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>I need to know what to do with a rhododendron that has grown too big. I want to keep it, since it is a bookend to another plant. Can I cut it back, and if so, how far and when? Will it be okay and continue to bloom if I cut it back?<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Could you suggest something and also suggest a really good book on care, etc., for rhodies?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rhododendron.org\/pruning.htm\">American Rhododendron Society&#8217;s<\/a> page on pruning should be helpful. It describes clean-up pruning, shape pruning, and rejuvenation pruning.<\/p>\n<p>Seattle author Cass Turnbull&#8217;s <em>Guide to Pruning<\/em> (Sasquatch Books, 2012). Plant Amnesty, founded by Turnbull, also has information on <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20160508130218\/http:\/\/www.plantamnesty.org\/assets\/docs\/Cyberlibrary\/Shrubs\/my%20rhodies%20too%20big.pdf\">pruning an overgrown rhododendron.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Rhododendron Species Foundation in Federal Way is a place you can visit to get an idea of the wide range of species available. They also have general information on rhododendron care on their <a href=\"https:\/\/rhodygarden.org\/cms\/rhododendron-care-sheet\/\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Miller Library has a substantial collection of books on rhododendrons, including quite a few by <a href=\"http:\/\/hortlib.kohacatalog.com\/cgi-bin\/koha\/opac-search.pl?idx=kw&amp;q=rhododendrons&amp;limit=location:PNW\">Pacific Northwest authors<\/a>, and you can browse them or check them out to see which species and varieties might be more suitable for your garden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I need to know what to do with a rhododendron that has grown too big. I want to keep it, since it is a bookend to another plant. Can I cut it back, and if so, how far and when? Will it be okay and continue to bloom if I cut it back? Could you suggest something and also suggest a really good book on care, etc., for rhodies? &nbsp; The American Rhododendron Society&#8217;s page on pruning should be helpful&#8230;.<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pruning-and-caring-for-rhododendrons\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">pruning and caring for rhododendrons<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[275,36],"class_list":["post-2791","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-pruning-shrubs","keyword-rhododendron"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/2791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=2791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}