Dandy Man Color Wheel® Rhododendron

Description

Rhododendron

Height: 8 feet
Spread: 8 feet
Sunlight: full sun to partial shade
Hardiness Zone: 5a

Description:
A showy, colorful selection presenting candy pink flowers that mature to solid white; bred to thrive well in colder climates, but is also heat tolerant; resistant to root rot; absolutely must have well-drained, highly acidic and organic soil.

Ornamental Features:
Dandy Man Color Wheel® Rhododendron is blanketed in stunning clusters of lightly-scented shell pink trumpet-shaped flowers with white throats and a hot pink reverse at the ends of the branches from mid to late spring that fade to white over time, which emerge from distinctive scarlet flower buds. It has dark green foliage with light green undersides. The large glossy narrow leaves turn an outstanding coppery-bronze in the fall, which persists throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes:
Dandy Man Color Wheel® Rhododendron is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other landscape plants with finer foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Planting & Growing
Dandy Man Color Wheel® Rhododendron will grow to be about 8 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 8 feet. It tends to be a little leggy, with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. You may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth, but will die in standing water. This plant should be periodically fertilized throughout the active growing season with a specially-formulated acidic fertilizer. It is very fussy about its soil conditions and must have rich, acidic soils to ensure success, and is subject to chlorosis (yellowing) of the foliage in alkaline soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.

Specifications