It's possible that an excess amount of fertilizer/wrong type of fertilizer did damage the root system. In any case, mid-July is too late for fertilizing. A late flush of soft growth will not have enough time to harden off before winter. Fertilizing in the first year after planting - or any other time - without a soil test indicating a need for it is never a good idea. The weather conditions you describe are ideal for phytophthora infections, but those that effect the roots would be nearly impossible to diagnose from looking at a leaf. Poor drainage is probably the number one cause of root rot problems, so anything that can be done to improve it would be worthwhile. Do cut back to healthy green tissue and be patient. The presence of buds is a good sign and it's highly likely that the rhododendrons will recover.

Hello, Joopster. I noticed no mulch under on the soil under the tree so please make sure to add some organic mulch, up to 3-4" to the drip line. Your idea to use sticks is a good one as these tree-form hydrangeas tend to collapse under windy conditions. Once the root system is big enough, the need for them will disappear but in the meantime, protect them with those bamboo sticks or metal stakes, basically whatever you can find that will keep them from collapsing when the wind blows. If the area is not windy, the bamboo sticks may be enough. If it is windy, consider something more sturdy. These guys have a big chunk of the weight on the top. Add wind/storms and those moving stems/flowers.etc will cause problems if not staked. Same thing happens to standard roses. Feel free to water whenever the soil feels almost dry or dry to a depth of 4". Once the plant goes dormant, you can further reduce waterings to once a week or once every two weeks. And of course, stop watering when the ground freezes. Don't bother fertilizing now, not just because it is so late in the growing season for you, but because the potting mix probably already contains those round fertilizer pellets. Fertilize in Spring instead and enjoy the blooms you now have! Use a 1/2 to 1 cup of compost, composted manure or cottonseed meal only once in the Spring. Then use weak fertilizers like coffee grounds, iquid seaweed and liquid fish thru the end of June to prevent the plant from staying active instead of going dormant. By the way, the blooms can be deadheaded (not pruned) or left for winter interest. I leave them on the plants and they always manage to disappear by magic sometime after January/February/March. Luis

I made an error in my original message. My apologies. Someone else in my household is in charge of the watering, hence my error. The roses are on their own irrigation system and are only watered once a week unless you count the unintentional watering that the neighbor gives them. Thank you JAYK for your advice. You said just what I was afraid of--that it wasn't necessary for me to pull the leaves off the plant. I just spent over an hour reading some of the rose forum thread on chemicals to use on black spot and am still (more?) confused. Do you or anyone else have any advice for the rose bush that I pruned almost all the leaves off of (only about 6 leaves left on it now)? Do I use the neem oil my local nursery suggested (and have already purchased)or do I heed some research I did that shows neem oil can interfere with photosynthesis and wait for more leaves to grow before using neem? Or use something else entirely? A relative says he remembers using something many years ago that went in with the fertilizer in granular form and so didn't need to be sprayed and thus limited the safety precautions which I would certainly appreciate if it works. I didn't see anything about this product in the thread on black spot that I read; maybe it was there and I missed it but most of the discussion seemed to focus on commercial sprays. I'll do so more reading tomorrow and see if I can find a reference to it. I'd very much like to save the bush; it was well-established, planted about 15 years ago. I'd rather not be the one to kill it. Thanks.

Since I didn't have a hibiscus in a pot, I thought I'd use another plant to illustrate the effects of consciously pinching a plant in order to change its growth habit from long/lanky to tight/full/compact. The reaction in plants is the same from plant to plant, so it hardly matters what plant one uses for the illustration - whatever's handy works just fine. Another 'pinched plant': Al