Question
I moved into our home 3 years ago with some beautiful landscaping from years ago.  The home was built in 1963 and from the size of this Rhododendron I would say it is about that old too.  It's huge, especially for Indiana.  The first year it was beautiful and now it has less than half it's leaves and only a couple bloosoms this year.  I'm not sure what happened to it but I would love to save it if possible.  Do you have any suggestions on how to bring back to some life to it?  Please help, I would very much appreciate it!!

Answer
Hi Mandy,
Thanx for your question.  Check out all the branches on the shrub.  Remove any that are dead or look unhealthy.  You may end up having to prune the shrub back severely.  Amend the soil around the rhododendron with an acidic fertilizer.  Miracle Gro and Bayer both make fertilizers for azaleas, rhododendrons and camelia.  Follow the directions on the box.  Also, amend with some well composted cow manure.  Mulch with some cypress chips.  Make sure the plant is watered at least once a week if there is no regular rain.  The mulch will help conserve the water in the soil when the hot summers come.  I hope this helps.
Tom