I'm assuming the plant looked healthy going into winter so this is only winter kill. Possible to save, but unlikely; most people write them off at this stage. You'd just conservatively cut off the dead foliage and wait.

BTW looks to be planted too deeply but I'm not sure I'd address that this year or wait until it starts a recovery. I had a 'Jenny Tabol' that was almost as bad looking but because of summer root rot, not winter kill. In that case it was imperative to lift it immediately and mound up soil underneath it. I also treated it with Aliette. It staged a miraculous recovery but it's the exception. I lost many other heat & wetness sensitive yellows in the past 3 hot summers including some that were already planted on mounds or slopes.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Fri, May 10, 13 at 12:32

BTW I meant "unlikely" in a general sense of: do most rhododendrons that look like this last in the landscape. Mainegrower and Rhodyman might well say "oh sure, if you take care of it it will come back" and that could be true. Most people want the plant to look like what they bought and not some twig sticking up from the group with a bunch of dead branches around it, so they'd replace it.
One reason I'm skeptical is I'm not aware of any part of the CONUS having an especially bad winter - I could be wrong - so I think this plant was either too tender for its zone or had some other problem.

Thanks for the info. It looked great going into the winter so I'm assuming the damage is all winter-related. Last winter for us (southern NH) may just have seemed brutal in comparison with the previous winter, which never really happened. I hate to give up on a plant. Maybe I'll just cut off the dead foliage and see what happens.

If a branch has a green layer (cambium) under the bark, it is still alive. Otherwise it is dead. Start by checking near the ends of branches and if it is dead, work you way back. If all of it is dead, cut it off. If part of it is alive, keep that part and hope for the best. Usually a plant dying like this is either due to poor drainage or by not planting properly. With todays potted plants (as opposed to the old balled and burlapped) you need to open up the roots. Rarefind Nursery has a good webpage on how to open up the roots when planting.

Here is a link that might be useful: How To Plant (Rarefind Nursery)