Deep purple blooms! If you’re looking for a dynamic addition to your landscape, and crave deliciously deep color, the Polarnacht – or Polar Night – Rhododendron is for you! The Polar Night Rhododendron (Rhododendron x ‘Polarnacht’) has a fantastic spring presence with dark and dramatic blooms hummingbirds and pollinators!
This compact variety stays short and has a unique spreading form. Rich, vibrant plum wine-colored flowers develop on long trusses above attractive evergreen foliage. Every bloom is daubed with scarlet red “blotch” for added depth.
Growing into a low-growing and spreading broad-leaved evergreen shrub that’s 2-3 feet tall but 4-6 feet wide, Polarnacht is a fantastic groundcover and fills large areas with vivid color! Hardy throughout USDA growing zones 6 to 8, this Rhododendron is as easy-to-grow as they come!
Planting and Application:
Fantastic specimens and accents, these year-round foliage edging and facer plants. Layer this with evergreens to add a sense of mystery and privacy for Meditation Gardens, or near patios. Use this in a carefully cultivated, elegant Japanese-style Zen garden so you can truly study how these beautiful plants grow and change. Butterflies and Hummingbirds love them, too.
Use this wide-spreading evergreen flowering plant to enliven a dreary or hard-to-mow hillside. Slow erosion and fill areas en masse with spring color and year-round greenery, even in winter!
This broadleaf evergreen also makes a superior hedge and foundation planting, providing four seasons of color. Use several of them to create a friendly fence. Because of the low maintenance, carefree nature of this shrub, this is an ideal plant for mass plantings in either commercial or home landscapes. They are wonderfully mass planted as a backdrop for smaller varieties. Create a solid screen by planting 4-5 feet apart on center. You’ll measure from the center of one to the center of the next.
- Deep Purple Flowers
- Attractive Broad-Leaved Evergreen Foliage
- Easy to Grow Four-Season Interest
- Dramatic Spring Display
- Hedges, Containers, Accents & Anchors & Specimens
Tips For Care
Plant in partial shade, that’s either dappled shade all day or morning sun with afternoon shade. For best performance, ensure Rhododendrons are planted in moist, fast-draining, acidic soil for best performance. Replicate their natural habitat of thin mountain soil by creating a mound or raised bed 18 inches tall. Amend the soil with a top dressing of pine needle, peat moss, and perlite pellets, and use about a 3-4 inch layer of mulch for insulation and moisture retention. “Mound up” by planting them in a shallower hole than usual.
Leave several inches of root ball showing above ground. Then, cover with a thick layer of pine mulch (avoid touching the mulch to the stem). Keep these evenly moist and pull weeds as they 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
The Polarnacht Rhododendron will add dramatic beauty to your garden year-round! This is a lovely variety that’s in very high demand.
