The green things are the new shoot growth for this year. Maybe next year you will get a more even dispersal of flower buds.

SHOULD I PRUNE THESE --OR SIMPLY LEAVE THEM?

Leave them. Most will form flower buds this summer that will bloom next year. The flowers this year will fade and then new growth will appear and may or may not develop flower buds for next year.

The sooner you deadhead the sooner new growth will commence. I have taken off flowers as soon as they fade and do a whole plant at a time. It is time consuming and I usually only do a few a year up by the house. Some rhododendrons have uglier seedpods than the rest. R. 'Yakukshimanum' and it's hybrids are especially noticeable in the off season.

Be careful when deadheading as it is easy to inadvertently remove the flower stem too low down and lose the dormant buds.

I don't know where you are, but I find that the bloom on my rhodies isn't necessarily consistent from year to year. It may be that the plants tend to alternate bloom (a heavy bloom year and then a lighter year) or it may be related to weather and growing conditions the previous year when the plants were setting buds. For instance, last summer on much of the east coast it was abnormally dry which might decrease flower buds for this season's bloom.

Thank you. Yes I am in the northeast. But the weird thing is that some of the plants are covered in blooms and others have hardly any, so cant really put it down to climate. I'll have to wait and see what next year brings.

New growth starts later on branches with flowers and is less likely to set buds for the following year than the branches that didn't flower that year. So, generally speaking, where you have flowers this year, you won't next year. Where you don't have flowers this year, you will next year.

Check out this rhododendron in my garden called 'Cynthia' that's blooming now.

Spectacular! I just planted a tiny Cynthia last year here in TN. I know it will never achieve that though.

Thanks Mike. That's reAssuring. Cynthia is gorgeous

My rhodies look exactly the same. We've never pruned them. They are all natural and we didn't plant them....they chose where they wanted to grow. Or rather Mother Nature did. We've never disturbed them sprayed around them or done anything to change their environment.

Several years ago, they were florabund, but last 2 years, this is all we've gotten. (same as your photo) However; the mountain laurel and the native flame azaela have gone crazy blooming this year and they thrive under the same exact conditions. It's a real mystery. The only thing I can think of is that the plants have gotten "too mature" or the trees around them have and are leeching the nutrients. We are talking about 100-200 rhododendrons on our property and all have the same problem. Yet, the ones just a few feet less elevation on our same road are blooming beautifully.

this is a very old post. i think your question is answered . you may want to start a thread of your own. sometimes people dont bother reading a very old question

Only one of my 10 azaelas & rhodies bloomed this year. in early April we had 80 degree weather followed by a freeze. a lot of blooms were lost in the NE

BTW we need to know where you live. you can add your zone and closest city to your name (after you name) . it is a mighty big country.

Thank you Marie. And oddly, now that you've posted. Today, June 6, we are getting blooms opening on the rhododendrons. We live in the Western North Carolina Smokey Mountains.

Crazy!