Rhododendron
In a previous lifetime, when working in Chicago, my escape was landscape gardening, literally redoing, entirely on my own, every square inch of the existing overgrown jungle I found in the two houses I inhabited. I never tried a perennial garden, being more interested in the structural design of plants than flowers. But I did develop a love of rhododendrons...both for their evergreen foliage and magnificent floral displays. Thus, a few years ago, I actually put one on each side of the patio, my only contribution to the natural landscape I found here.
They've done only okay...but spending the winter entirely buried in snow with temps often well below zero probably takes a toll...as it does with some people. :-) And last winter, deer decided to do heavy pruning on one of them, a surprise because they hadn't bothered them previously.
In any event, though much more sparse in vegetation and, as you can see here, displaying cold damage on the leaves, they endure and throw out a few blooms every year.
Rhododendron
In a previous lifetime, when working in Chicago, my escape was landscape gardening, literally redoing, entirely on my own, every square inch of the existing overgrown jungle I found in the two houses I inhabited. I never tried a perennial garden, being more interested in the structural design of plants than flowers. But I did develop a love of rhododendrons...both for their evergreen foliage and magnificent floral displays. Thus, a few years ago, I actually put one on each side of the patio, my only contribution to the natural landscape I found here.
They've done only okay...but spending the winter entirely buried in snow with temps often well below zero probably takes a toll...as it does with some people. :-) And last winter, deer decided to do heavy pruning on one of them, a surprise because they hadn't bothered them previously.
In any event, though much more sparse in vegetation and, as you can see here, displaying cold damage on the leaves, they endure and throw out a few blooms every year.