Forum home Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

What to do with this leggy Rhododendron?

2oaktrees2oaktrees Posts: 160
edited June 2018 in Plants
This was in a pot and starting to grow very leggy. I’ve now planted it into the ground and was wondering if I should prune it back. Will it affect the flowering for next year? 




Posts

  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    Do you know which variety it is? Rhododendrons can be any size from 50cm high to full blown 10 metre high trees when mature. 
  • 2oaktrees2oaktrees Posts: 160
    Hi @steephill it’s a Polarnacht. 
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    The way it is growing, it looks like the shrub can get quite big and tall. That's new growth, possibly after flowering. Only prune if you want to control size. I think, future growth will be in a similar style, and the lower leaves may just die off as it grows upwards.

    If you prune now, you will be allowing it enough time to produce growth for next year's blooms. So, the best time would be now if you want to have flowers for next year.
  • 2oaktrees2oaktrees Posts: 160
    Thanks for your super advice @Borderline. For some reason it didn’t flower this year but I’ll be trimming it as you suggested to control it and hopefully get the flowers next year.  :)
Sign In or Register to comment.