Rhododendron - best location garden and balcony

• Claims of rhododendrons
  • Acid soil "> The location
• What rhododendron where

A good location for balcony rhododendrons will be found, the root environment mix, the tub can hike. For garden rhododendrons it looks different, here must be checked before the site search, if a rhododendron in the existing garden floor can be satisfied at all.

The best location for balcony rhododendrons is not a problem: The root is in substrate, the bucket can be changed, shading can be attached. The best location for garden rhododendrons requires good garden soil, many soils make rhododendrons happy only after soil maintenance.

Claims of rhododendrons

Before buying the rhododendron check, ev. May need to be provided by floor care:

• Rhododendrons grow in sparse forests, under shady trees, on open slopes
• On mountain slopes with a thin layer of soil, but has plenty of humus to offer
• There it often rains, air and soil are always well moistened
• And yet, a plant never stands in the water, because at the sloping locations with loose topsoil water never accumulates
• That means the rhododendron in your garden should definitely find:
• A loose and humus-rich soil
• In a place with evenly high soil and humidity

Acid soil ">

The native Rhododendron ferrugineum and hirsutum are high mountain dwarf shrubs that grow in fresh and mostly evergreen coniferous forests. R. ferrugineum avoids calcareous subsoil, R. hirsutum grows even in the Limestone Alps, but also finds on the thin humus layers but also mostly acidic soil. However, it tolerates higher calcium concentrations than other species when its roots reach the calcareous soil. The third German, Rhododendron tomentosum, comes from the moorland, where it grows on moist lime-free peat soils.

Limestone rocks as subsoil and moor with different pH values ​​depending on the stage of development does not necessarily mean "acid soil", and the hybrid of Rh. Hirsutum × Rh. Ferrugineum, Rhododendron × intermedium grows on normal soils with medium pH values.

The roughly 1, 000 rhododendrons that cover the rest of the world do not hold it any differently; they too have often developed on wet soils with more acidic pH levels, it is true that most rhododendrons with a soil pH up to 5 best to cope with.

But they too have produced crosses that tolerate quite a bit of lime, and rhododendrons like to cross, as the approximately 20, 000 cultivars prove. This even created varieties that tolerate a significantly alkaline soil.

The normal, healthy garden soil has a medium pH, between pH 6.3 and 6.8, most nutrients are best available for most plants. For well-informed gardeners there is no reason to change that, they just get a lime tolerant rhododendron, in addition to Rhododendron × intermedium and the extra for calcareous soils grown Inca hybrids, there are some rhododendron cultivars that are more normal with the pH, healthy soils get along fine.

Tip: If you have conifers in the garden, you do not have to look for lime-tolerant rhododendron varieties. Because around the conifers you already have a problem with the fact that the needles acidify the soil. Plant the rhododendrons there, and you can finally leave falling needles as mulch instead of carefully removing them from the ground.

The site

In the garden or on the balcony the following location should be free:

• More light than is often assumed with the "wood-dwelling" rhododendrons
• They grow only in forests that let at least 50% light, or light shrubbery
• In the shade, rhododendrons may grow, but the growth is thin and sparsely, with the willingness to flower is not far away
• Many rhododendrons even tolerate direct sunlight when the soil is sufficiently moist
• In summer-warm areas with moderate air humidity (= with us) rhododendrons live best in the light shade under trees or bushes
• On the balcony, if necessary, be replaced by an awning
• Also good: locations with morning sun and from noon light shadow

Tip: Rhododendrons do not like all shade trees: Only trees with small, high light crown and deep roots do not compete with nutrients with the rhododendron rooting. For example: oak, pine, rowan, hazelnut, hawthorn and bald cypress. Flat-rooted trees or those with dense foliage take nutrients, water or light, such as maple, birch, spruce and beech.

What rhododendron where

Rhododendrons develop different vigor and maximum heights:

• In smaller gardens, low-growing varieties such as Yakushimanum, Williamsianum and Repens hybrids and Japanese azaleas fit
• In larger gardens, fast-growing large-flowered hybrids and deciduous azaleas can fully unfold
• For buckets there are weak-growing varieties, even Japanese azaleas feel comfortable there
• For rockeries, dwarf rhododendrons, rhododendron repens hybrids and Japanese azaleas are best