You will be cutting off next year's flowers, but IMHO they take pruning really well. I've got old rhodies that outgrew their place in the garden. I trimmed them back after flowering (removed spent flowers with shears) and they grew back nicely. I have even pruned a huge rhodie to a stump (I don't recommend this!) because it was too leggy and after 2 years it is looking very healthy and I expect I will have flowers next year. The best thing though is if you can move the rhodie to a place where it doesn't need pruning.

When my rhodies (at my old home), got to be seven foot round bushes, I cut off the lower limbs up to about 18". It made them look like small trees. I put containers of annuals and perennials underneath them and loved the way they looked.

Other pruning I did was to pinch out new growth (after they bloomed) where I didn't want them advancing (like into the turnaround parking area).

As dotty says, they do take pruning pretty well. I've read that if you really want to downsize them, to do it 1/3 at a time. The first year, cut 1/3 of the rhodie way down. Second year same thing (not the part you cut the previous year, of course). Third year, repeat. The result (according to the demonstration photos I saw) is much more esthestically pleasing than chopping the whole thing down at once.

I've seen the results of cutting a section of a Rhodo back by 1/3 maybe even a little more, the results were amazing, new shoots everywhere. This fellow was renewing some very old Rhodo's and I believe he does it over a 3 year time frame.

A......

Cool, thanks. Chop, chop...

I've heard about the only way to kill a rhodie is to dig it out down to the roots. They're hearty plants, but trimming them back after they flower is definitely the best time (though anytime works). That reminds me, I've got one the size of a house that needs to be trimmed by a third. hehe.

Here is a link that might be useful: sinfonian's garden adventure

The problem with rhododendrons is, well, they're touchy. Sometimes you head back a branch to a node, and when you return next month you find that, instead of sending out new shoots, the branch simply gave up and died. On other occasions people reduce their rhodies to the height or width they want, only to discover that by the time the plants have developed decent, full leafy crowns, they're back up to about the size they were before

Here is a link that might be useful: Seven Solutions to the 'Too Big' Rhododendron by Cass Turnbull

Okay, i'm gonna hop on this one as well. I have snipped off the dead flowers, and some of the new shoots on the rhodies are about 12 inches high. I have a beautiful Japanese Maple that is not as visible due to the new shoots being so tall.

Looking closer into the rhodies, i see tiny tiny new shoots about 1/2 inch to 3 inches long. Those I will not bother. The big tall ones, are they okay to prune back? Those that have read my previous post..remember, I'm a black thumb, so really scared to do more than deadhead the old blooms.

Is it okay to tackle the super tall ones?