Free Free!!! I found 5 Free Rhodies

oh oh!!! I am so excited I went to Coxes drug store today they sell a little of everything, I was walking down the flower hot houses and I looked over to the left , And what did I see 5 rhodies in the garbage can, They had blooms all over the place on everyone of them and green leaves, They had a few brown leaves but what the heck They had enough were I think I can save them, They are all about 1 and a half to 2 ft. tall.What do you all think would be the best thing to do to make them do good . They had way more green on them than they do brown. I love free !

 

If the leaves are curling they need water. They can stay in their pots till the ground is O.K to plant them. Rhododendrons take a fair amount of abuse as long as they don't dry out.

Jerry

 

Great find Margie! I sure hope you get them settled in and happy. And yep... nothing better than free plants!

 

What a great find, Margie. I have great hopes that they will survive and do well for you.

**Rhodies need an acidic pH type of soil. You can buy bags of this special Rhododendron/Hortensia type of soil at garden centers or order it on the internet (expensive because of shipping).

--I would select a shady or partially shady place for your bushes.

--I would give them a good, long soaking in non-tap water a few hours before you are ready to plant them.

--Dig a hole that is deeper and almost twice as wide as the plant's present pot.

--Then fill the hole with that Rhododendron soil and plant the plant. Tease the roots loose from the root ball a bit before planting. Water the plant well.

-- Cover the soil with some of the dirt that you removed from the hole and heel the plant in...then water it thoroughly.

-- Next, try and find some pine tree bark chips to mulch the trees with and soak them with water as well.

** note that Rhodies love acidic conditions so tap water will have chlorine and calcium in it and these chemicals work against what the bush wants.

 

Margie to the rescue! Plants are saved! I wonder how many folks walked by those poor things and either didn't know what they were or didn't want to try to rescue them.
You deserve five beautiful rhododendrons, and a pat on the back.

 

Wow, its awsome that you got to have them My garden center doesnt let people have dying plants (not that those sound like they were that bad!), but then again, our vendors wait until the plants are beyond hope before tossing em. And if they do have to get rid of some, they put em on clearance first for 50% off, then 75%, then they'll think about letting me have some xD Last yaer I scored 3 Mona Lisa oriental lilies for free

 

shade

So Sjoerd, Could I put these in my shade garden or would that be to much shade, I'ts pretty shady there :-? As you can see there are alot of trees over it. Thank u Margie


( photo / image / picture from margie12u's Garden )

 

Water and Rhodies

Can My rhodies stand a place were wateris a lot or not

Thank you Margie :-?

 

Margie, rhodies MUST HAVE moisture...but the thing is that the soil must be a bit loose with structure that allows an adequate drainage. If if doesn't, and water accumulates down where the roots are, the stagnating water (which will not be adequately oxygenated) will damage your plant and may even kill it.

That garden looks lovely, but I cannot see shadows and thus have no idea which way it is facing, in terms of north, south, east or west. One thing for sure, and that is planting your new charges way back in there would be a mistake---TOO shady; however, more to the front might be good.

Generally speaking rhodies like having a few hours of morning sun and then the rest of the day in shade or a dappled/filtered light type of shady area.

The thing is, Margie--a rhododendron, if planted in a purely shady area, will cause your bush to be leggy and produce less flowers...so some thought has to be given to finding a pretty good place for it, in terms of light quality.
Having said that, the broad-leafed variety of rhodies can not tolerate hardly any direct sunlight at all (like R. macabeanum or R. rex. for instance).

I hope that these few words are clear to you. If not we can talk some more about it.

I am so excited for you.

 

What a steal...oops rescue! Your garden spot looks lovely. Sjoerd has excellent advise about rhodies. I just want to add my 2 cents worth also.

I am not familar with your growing conditions, so this is just based on living in rhodie country which is probably much different. We have a wild rhodie that grows here and everyone has a couple of imported species rhodies or azaleas in their yard. There are tons of different species and varieties about town. Some wonderful private gardens are open in the spring to show-off their gardens. I didn't know that they grew in many other parts of the states. We couldn't grow them in Idaho where I grew up. It was too cold, and probably too dry in the summer months.

I have two of my rhodies growing on the north side of and directly under some fir trees. Light under trees can vary incredibly. These two rhodies might get a little late evening sun around the summer solistis when the sun sets in the northwest. They are doing fine. One rodie is very thick and lush while the other is more open in structure. I think lot depends on your type of rhodie as well as the canopy.

One thing nice about having them in the shade of evergreen trees is the needles are perfect for adding acid to the soil as well as a little mulch for surface roots. I've never heard of the soil being too acidic for a rhodie, but I am sure somewhere it has happened.

Here in the western part of Washington state the only thing that kills them is lack of water and planting them too deep. Their roots are right at the surface and their root balls do not go terribly deep even in huge varieties or old specimens. This time of year (while they are blooming) ground planted specimens are pulled at nurseries and sold balled and burlaped.

Rhodie leaves will droop when the weather is too cold and appear to wilt as they conserve moisture. The different species around here tend to do the same thing if they are too dry and will have the tips of outside leaves, and the entire leaves on the inside of the plant dry out and turn brown when they aren't getting enough water over an extended period of time.

Can't wait to see how yours do with your green thumb. Were they stressed so much they lost their flower buds? Maybe you'll get a bloom?

 

I got some good advice year before last when I bought a rhodie from a nursery that specializes in rhodies and azaeleas (Rarefind Nursery in New Jersey). Other than all the things that Sjoerd and Jewell said, there is one thing that I could add from my conversation with the nursery. They said the most common reasons for failure of potted rhodies was because the roots weren't loosened enough at planting and not enough water. They told me to pull the roots apart pretty vigorously and spread them out in the planting hole and keep well watered especially the first year.

Mine is planted under a pine in an area that stays moist from rain runoff from the garage roof, but it drains well. The rhodie is quite happy.

Your garden is so pretty and peaceful looking! Good luck and congratulations to you and your rhodies!

 

Rhododendron covers a lot of botany. From rugged almost tree sized mega-shrubs to tender tropical bushs to very tiny leaved specimens I want as bonsai.

So they need a space adequate to their ultimate adult size.

Rhodies also have fibrous roots that are shallow so they need access to water in mildy acidic soil.

If your dumpster rhodies had tags, do some research on their ultimate size. Let that dictate where you plant them.

If I have an objection to Rhodies it is often larger specimens are planted where snow pack crushes them as snow falls off roofs. If you plant your shrubs where heavy snow pack will crush them, and do not prune them or install (each fall) protection. Don't be too suprized when you end up with a prostrate shrub laid-long on the lawn.

 

Congratulations on your free rhodies! I would like to know which types you got and their bloom colours, if there were tags attached. I'm always on the lookout for small, colourful rhododendrons, just in case I've got an empty space to fill.

 

Rhodies

Hi Droopy, I don't know what kind they are they didn't have a tag or they wasn't even in a pot.Just throwed in the garbage, It was so sad to see you can see, you can see photos I put in here all the blooms it had on it. i will take more photos in a week or so to let you all see how they are doing. I wish I did know what kind they were.I think they are going to be smaller ones though by the way they look.Oh yeah they are a real pretty pink.

Thanks Marg.