Rhododendron lovers get really excited for spring, and all you need to do is look at the pictures of the blooms to understand why! The exotic-looking big blooms of the specialty selection Honey Butter Rhododendron (Rhododendron ‘Honey Butter’) are a total dream, with brilliant, multi-colored trusses!
Smooth yellow throats brighten into orange, then turn seashell pink along the perimeter of the petals. From a distance, the whole thing reads as coral, but up close? You’ll delight in spending time studying this unique colorway. Every flower is a one-of-a-kind creation. Who needs the beach sunset when you have these plants?
The massive displays of bright, mandarin-orange blooms are irresistible to butterflies, bees, and Hummingbirds! Backed by an attractive flush of broadleaved evergreen foliage that stays on all year, which you’ll love. This is a fantastic easy-to-grow shrub, but it does need fast-draining, acidic soil for the best performance! Hardy throughout USDA growing zones 7 to 9, these are heat and shade-tolerant ornamental broad-leaved evergreen shrubs!
Planting and Application:
Plant several Honey Butters in a low, curving hedge along your patio, or grow them in large containers near a comfy seating area. Add to perimeter plantings as a lovely screen or hedge for privacy. You and your guests will want to spend time nearby. You’ll stop calling the season “Spring” and start calling it by the right name, “Rhododendron Time”.
A traditional choice for Asian-inspired gardens, and as specimen planting to light up the mixed shrub border. This moderately-sized shrub has a mounding form, with lustrous green foliage. Making it an excellent accent plant, or for mass plantings to really draw the eye with that spring display! Mixing wonderfully with other mid-sized year-round evergreen shrubs along rock walls and fences.
- Amazing Large Buttery Coral Flowers
- Attractive Evergreen Foliage
- Tall Trusses of Showy Flowers in Spring
- Bright Green Broad-Leaved Evergreen Foliage
- Attract Bees Butterflies & Hummingbirds!
Tips For Care
Honey Butter Rhododendrons love the partial shade, that’s either dappled shade all day, or morning sun with afternoon shade. Sandy Loam is perfect. Rhododendrons appreciate mulched, organic soil that’s enriched and very well-drained. Best in moist soil and not clay. Improve the drainage by creating a mound or raised bed 18 inches tall.
Plant them high, with several inches of root ball showing above ground. Then, “mound up” around them with a layer of mulch without touching the stem. Keep these evenly moist. This is a very shallow-rooted plant, so please pull weeds just as soon as you see them appear. It’s best to prune only right after the flowers are done so the new growth that develops after flowering will make flower buds for next spring.
- Partial Shade & Dappled Shade
- Moist, Well-Drained Soil
- Prefers Acidic Soil
- Prune Only Immediately After Flowering
- Low Maintenance in Well-Drained Soil
