Rhododendrons - Beautiful Flowering Shrubs

Rhododendrons are lovely flowering shrubs. They can be very eye catching when in their peak bloom, and are hard to miss in the garden. Rhododendrons are evergreen shrubs that bloom as early as late winter on through to the midsummer time. One thing that all rhododendrons need is acidic soil. This can make all the difference in the world to the plants success. Once you can see how beautiful they can be, you can see why people make the effort to create an acidic soil scenario for their acid loving plants.

The best time to plant rhododendrons are in July or August. Some will plant them in April too, however. These lovely shrubs bloom beginning in February, through August. On occasion, you will see them blooming even in December. Rhododendrons have a very nice dark foliage that accentuates the beautiful blooms. Even if you just have white rhododendrons, they are so beautiful up against the dark green leaves.

There is a huge variety of rhododendrons to choose from out there. There are several types of pink, white, reds, and purples, blues, and their varying hues to choose from. A high acid level content in the soil is something that can help rhododendrons to really thrive. If you want to plant them and do not have acid soil, then there are ways to amend the soil to achieve the desired result.

If you plant several rhododendrons together in a garden, the effect is very beautiful. The colors they come in are mostly pastels, and the effect is amazing to see when in full bloom. I have seen them planted as a single plant in front of a house near the front door. This shrub was absolutely gorgeous. It was beautiful enough that I had to know what it was. It was from that point on that I became really interested in rhododendrons. If you are a fan of azaleas, I can see you also enjoying rhododendrons. Many people plant them together.

The flowers of rhododendrons are bell shaped or trumpet shaped blossoms. The clusters of flowers can be more sparse or more pronounced. They are long lived shrubs, and can mature in about five to ten years.

One of the best places to plant a rhododendron is in a woodland type of gardens, as some pictures here show, Rhododendrons can tolerate some shade, or dappled shade, rather well. It is good to know you can get some spectacular blooms from somewhat shady sites. They grow well along borders, and even in rock gardens.

You want to avoid areas with lime, when planting rhododendrons. It is a great idea to pair them with other plants that like acid soil but dislike lime. Some plants that fall into that category could be azaleas , camellias, conifers, lilies, and more. Some lesser known plants that they could be paired with are embothrium, eucryphia, and pieris. As I stated before however, even alone this makes a wonderful impact anywhere in the yard.

There are some hybrids of rhododendrons that can handle some pretty severe weather and wind year after year. These are highly valued and can grow well for many years, where other plants fail. That they can prosper sometimes in even very windy gardens, makes them especially popular. Where I live in the Midwest United States, I can think of some large and healthy rhododendron plants that bloom well year after year, even with the harshest winters.

It is very worth your while to plant these lovely shrubs according to the recommendations given with it. In so doing, you will be planting something that will thrive and give off some of the prettiest blooms of any shrub you could own.