Clive has seven Rhododendrons in his garden and this one was a birthday present about 12 years ago. For a while he kept it in a pot then he sited it in the garden. A couple of years ago he moved it opposite the lounge window so the blooms could be enjoyed. Clive had never pruned it until this year.

The above banner image shows the rhododendron in flower its Clive’s earliest flowering rhododendron, early April.

The below image shows the flowers all dead and new spring growth. It doesn’t matter what the size of the rhododendron bushes are Clive always deadheads.

Before deadheading, it’s time to get some air into the plant, prune the lower branches to give it some shape, then open up the centre like a vase.

As the rhododendron has got bigger Clive also took off another branch of the fir tree with his chainsaw. To hide new cuts they were creosoted to blend in.

A great improvement on the pink Rhododendron which is next to Clive’s yellow rhododendron, last year this had really small blooms. Last year it had a good mulch of tree bark and was fed organic bonemeal. The results are amazing.