Julie, you're funny. If I showed, I'd be bummed over this one. Carol, thanks for your thoughts. 2 of the 4 normal-looking buds have opened in the last week or so. For those 4, it was easy to tell there was only one bud on each little stem. Then there was this strange-looking "ball" at the end of the spike. Now that it's opening a bit more, there are 3 buds all bunched up at the very end of the spike. I haven't seen this before, but my experience is limited. I love the pelorics. This is the first blooming for this one, so later bloomings may be more normal. I'll keep you posted. Whitecat8

Hello, heckabore. Normally, pruning after the rhodie has set flower buds would cause your problem. However, since it has not been pruned in 5-6 years, something else is causing the problem. Do you mind answering some questions? How close is it planted in relation to the other plants, shrubs and/or trees? Can you give us an idea in terms of plant types and inches/feet of separation? Has the plant ever bloomed... at all? Do you have flower buds now or did the plant not even set buds at all? If it has buds, how do they look? Healthy? Are they browned out? Do they look like they have hair covering them? (That is a sign of a fungal infection.) Do you have animals that could eat the flower buds in your city? Deer and squirrels have been known to eat the buds in some locales. If the plant is not developing buds, how much and when do you fertlize? Could it be getting too much nitrogen directly (when you fertilize it) and indirectly (from lawn fertilizers)? Normally, you do not need to fertilize rhodies as they feed off the decomposing mulch. But if you have to fertilize due to poor soils or because it is in a pot then the plant could stay busy in growing mode if you apply fertilizers after July or so. July or so is when the plant begins developing flower buds for next year. Cold weather can be issue but I doubt it would be THE issue for so many years in Zone 9. Moreover, I would have expected it to be an issue for the azaleas too. Very wet conditions could also cause problems during summer so let us know if you normally have cool wet summers. Lack of sun can also be an issue although I would be suspicious of that if the nearby azaleas are blooming as well as you say. Is the plant suffering from moisture issues at the time it is developing the flower buds (July-August)? This could be an issue to nearby azaleas but it surprises me that all of them are doing ok. How much and how often do you water during the summer? If they are drowned in water during this critical time, they may be unable to develop buds. Ditto for lack of water. Soil Ph might be an issue too but it would have affected the other azaleas. Lack of certain micro nutrients in the soil can trigger this behaviour in rhodies but, again, I am surprised that the nearby azaleas have not been affected. When was the last time that you had a soil test? Lastly and this is not a cop out, I have heard of some varieties of rhododendron that never bloom but I doubt yours would be if the label showed otherwise. People buy them for the foliage. Of course, you did mention that the missing plant label indicated otherwise. If we cannot figure something out, do not feel obliged to keep this weak specimen. Some plants like roses (Queen Elizabeth for example) sometimes bloom poorly or not all. Luis

A new, transplanted, containter grown, fieldgrown, etc. azalea may abort flower buds. This is a normal, expected occurance. Once your plant is happy and settled in, it won't happen very often. My bonsai azaleas abort a fairly large percentage of their buds every year, and I think it's because they know that they can only physiologically support so many blooms! They're right, because if they didn't do it themselves, I would have to be pinching buds off.

Poochella to the rescue again! I used horse manure to amend prior to planting, and then added a 10-10-10, and have bought tomato spikes for next week or two (the 10-10-10 said to reapply every month, so I'm waiting for it's month to be up). I haven't seen ANY buds form, so hopefully these just take a while. I think there's about 4 hours of sun. Here is a closeup of the damage from some kind of pest... It's the light colored "figure eight" near the center of the photo, sorry for the bad pic, camera phone. The leaves look blotchy in the photo, they don't look that way in real life. This is part of the dahlia patch...this photo was taken just after dawn yesterday.