Should You Deadhead Rhododendrons?

Time Frame

• Precise flowering times vary among the many species and thousands of hybrid rhododendrons. When the last flower petal withers or drops from the last cluster on the shrub, it's prime time to deadhead.

Features

• With a clean, sharp hand pruners, snip the entire truss with swollen ovaries from the branch tip. Make the cut 1/4-inch above a lower green leaf. Dormant buds then sprout to form multiple new branch tips, each then forming a flower bud by late summer to open next year.

Considerations

• The American Rhododendron Society suggests deadheading rhododendrons that have large, ball-like flowers, not on azaleas (which botanically are members of the Rhododendron genus). Deadheading is time consuming on shrubs with lots of twig tips, and these plants still produce flowers next year even if not deadheaded.

Benefits

• Deadheading tidies the look of a rhododendron in the garden across the summer and fall. It also increases the number and size of flower clusters the next spring, and creates a fuller, bushier shrub.