I think the very late (early March!) near-zero cold spell with high winds really did a number on a lot of things. Not to mention the hellish February we had. No winter warm ups, etc.

I see the same thing for many of my camellias.

Here is SE PA we had a late spring, but when I got home from the ARS convention in mid-May, my rhodies and azaleas were at their peak which is fairly normal. The deciduous azaleas put on the best show ever. We do have a fair amount of dieback. It is more severe on boxus than on rhodies and azaleas. Some rhodies didn't bloom, but those that did were spectacular. I attribute the dieback to winter drought caused by the ground being frozen for over 3 months. The late winter was bad because the day length was coming back when the ground was still frozen. We got over 4' of snow but that doesn't help the plants when the ground is frozen.

Thanks, guys...hoping we don't do three cold winters in a row! But we did have 2010, 2011, and 2012 being 3 hot summer ones in a row.

rhodyman, I agree, those March cold days were really killers.

Some happy spring news: After the difficult 2015 winter and spring, I thought it would be interesting to list those hybrids and species that performed much better than expected. For hybrids this means minimal leaf damage and close to normal bloom. I'm not including any ironclads or any of David Leach's indestructable creations. So unexpectedly good were/are: Hachman's Polaris, Jonathan Shaw, Doc, Fantastica, Florence Parks, Silver Skies, Teddy Bear, Golfer, Francesca.

Species: In many cases this refers to leaves only as many are not of blooming size and likely will not be in my lifetime. Extra wind protection was also provided for many in the form of burlap screens.I'm also not including any species such as native American ones which would have been expected to weather the conditions, although a very old and large catawbiense suffered extensive damage. Bureavii (My 25+ year old 9 foot tall bureavii was totally undamaged and bloomed normally) insigne, taliense, calophytum, paradoxum, clementinae, adenogynum, balfourianum, and, astonishingly since I've struggled to keep it alive in the past, bathyphyllum.

There are still plenty of losses and damage, believe me. Siting is also probably a crucial element. I would be very interested in hearing what did unexpectedly well for others.

Rhodyman, where are you in SE PA that you got 4 feet of snow? I live in Lancaster and we barely got anything. We might have gotten a season total of 20"

What was most disappointing for me was that while everything bloomed beautifully, the bloom time was nearly 'halved'. Damned excessive heat and arid conditions do not bode well for our friends. As Rhodyman cited, decideous and exburies were spectacular. Bud set on nearly everything in my garden was amazing after last years terrific summer growing season. As for this year? We didn't have rain for nearly 3 1/2 weeks in April here along the Jersey coast. Why couldn't we have received this past weeks rain in say late late April? Fwiw, my mountain laurels are spectacular as I write.

Mountain laurel peaked about a week ago here. Funny enough 2 of mine were great but one skipped a year entirely.

I currently have Olympic Fire, Carousel, Alpine Pink, Sarah, Kaleidescope, & Carol going off. Never have an off year with them - though I've had Willowood for about 10 years now - without a flower. Beautiful plant though. Have a good one.

Yep! Willowood (or whatever Woodlanders was calling their narrow-leaf variant) was great last year but totally skipped this year.

This Kalmia latifolia, 'Minuet' was given to me by a lady who said it was a rhododendron. It wasn't doing well planted on the south side her house in the sun under a wide soffet.
I explained that it was a Mountain Laurel and I could move it to a more favorable place in her garden and it would grow much better. She didn't accept my explanation and said , "Get rid of it".
OK
Mike

'one man gathers what another man spills'. Her loss.

Nice.

Mike, I just put in a Minuet this summer. I'm optimistic that this will do well where I put it. It has put on about 8 inches of new growth already! Good drainage, shade until about 2:00 pm then part shade for 3 or 4 hours. Can't wait to see a bloom like that one!

Mike that is gorgeous! Lucky you. :-)

I tried....even more than I said above. You can lead a horse to water, and all that. She would rather get rid of it than be wrong.

Dave, I think you will like this selection very much. Even my non gardening wife remarks about it every May when it blooms.

Wow! That puts on quite a display for you.