With 60 collective years of experience gardening on Vancouver Island, I along with ARS members Al Murray and Terry Richmond offer home-grown and time-tested advice on how to keep rhododendrons alive and conserve water in a changing world.If possible, remove larger nearby trees that are demanding too much water, such as the Western red cedar {Thujaplicata), aspens and willows.Plant more deciduous trees such as maples and magnolias that will provide shade and cooler temperatures in the summer and then drop their leaves in the fall for use as a mulch, thereby allowing in more sunlight during winter.Create a good growing medium for your rhododendrons by adding compost, bark fines, chipped bark and branches, loam and/or manure.Avoid sandy soil-it drains water away too quickly.According to Al Murray, mature purple rhododendrons are fairly drought resistant. An example I know of is 'Catawbiense Boursault', a large, mature shrub that self-mulches and shades its own roots. It rarely if ever receives any supplemental water— winter or summer—drought or not.
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