Everred Rhododendron
Rhododendron hybrid '851C'View more from Rhododendron
Everred Rhododendron
Rhododendron hybrid '851C'
30 day - ARRIVE AND THRIVE™ guaranteeLearn more
Special Features
Botanical Name
Rhododendron hybrid '851C'
Outdoor Growing zone
7-9
Mature Height
3-4
Mature Width
3-4
Sun needs
Full Sun, Partial Sun
The Everred Rhododendron is an amazing new variety of rhododendron, that opens up a whole new use for these beautiful plants. For the first time, this is a plant with brightly colored foliage all year round, so even when the plant is not flowering it brings color and interest to your garden. The leaves are a beautiful glowing red-violet color, which, combined with the foliage being evergreen, makes a powerful statement in your garden every day of the year, instead of just when flowers are present. It forms an attractive mound of foliage that will be 3 to 4 feet tall and the same size across. When it flowers in spring, the remarkable bell-shaped bright red flowers make this plant the center-piece of your garden. It grows well in sun or shade and it is hardy down to zero degrees, so it can be grown across a wide area of the country.
- Fabulous red-violet foliage color
- Perfect size for the smaller garden
- Dramatic red bell-shaped flowers in May
- Ideal way to bring year-round color to the garden
- Grows well in partially shaded areas
Plant your Everred Rhododendron in acidic soil in a spot shaded from the hot afternoon sun. It makes a great companion to azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias and Japanese maples in a woodland garden. Water weekly, or even more often during the first year if the weather is dry. Established plants have limited drought tolerance, but the little bit of care needed will be greatly rewarded by the year round beauty of this wonderful new plant.
Color in the garden is a vital way to create an interesting and attractive garden, but it can be elusive. Gardeners usually rely on flowers for this purpose, but these normally last just a few days or weeks, leaving the rest of the year plants of a gentle but often drab green. Plant breeders have taken this challenge to heart, and worked to develop plants with colorful foliage, since this is available all year round, and gives us stable color in our gardens for many months.
Today we have a good number of colorful plants to help us create permanent color in our gardens, but up until now, rhododendrons, magnificent in their brief flowering, but lacking in color for the rest of the year. Now we have a breakthrough – a new variety of rhododendron that finally gives us colored foliage to add to the flower colors of these plants. This is also an evergreen rhododendron, so this color is there every day of the year. Today, onto the stage of our gardens, dressed in glowing red every day, steps the Everred Rhododendron – a true gardening breakthrough.
Growing Everred Rhododendron
The Everred Rhododendron is a small shrub – ideal for smaller gardens – that develops into a mound of evergreen leaves three or more feet tall, and as wide as it is high. The leaves are a dramatic shade of red-purple, creating a glowing, colorful feature in your garden. It is an eye-catching focal point which is always there as a permanent and dramatic specimen. This vibrant color would be more than enough for us, but this terrific plant also flowers. Every May, clusters of large rich-red flowers burst from fat buds at the ends of the branches. These flowers have a unique form, unlike most more typical rhododendron or azalea flowers. They look like bells with a flared and curved-back mouth. These fat bells, in a warm and rich shade of red, cluster in groups of 3 to 7 flowers, and create the highpoint of the year for this terrific plant.
Uses in Your Garden
You can use the Everred Rhododendron in many ways around your garden. Mix them among other rhododendrons, azaleas and similar plants in beds underneath deciduous trees. Use them as part of a larger planting of shrubs. Grow them in containers to place around your terrace or patio. Place a specimen in a small, simple garden to get the maximum effect in the minimum space. However you use this plant, you will love having it in your garden.
Planting Location
Choose a spot that is sunny, or partially shaded, when planting your Everred Rhododendrons. A spot with morning sun and afternoon shade is ideal. Prepare the soil well with plenty of lime-free organic material, such as peat moss, rotted leaves, or pine needles. When using fertilizers, always choose one for acid-loving plants. If you do not have the acidic soil needed for this plant, don’t worry, you can still grow it successfully by using an iron supplement. These products are readily available, and the little work involved in using one according to the directions, will be amply rewarded by the beauty of the Everred Rhododendron.
Care and Maintenance
Keep your new plant well-watered during the first growing season. Always water well when the soil begins to dry. Using a rich organic mulch over the root area will help conserve moisture and provide nutrients to your plants. There are no significant pests or diseases, and no pruning is required to grow this terrific plant, which is very low-maintenance if it is planted in a suitable location and water is available to avoid drought.
Buying Everred Rhododendrons at The Tree Center
Rhododendron growers and breeders have been trying for many years to develop varieties of their plants with colored foliage. The breakthrough was achieved by Ken Cox, at the specialist rhododendron growers, Glendoick Nursery, in Pershire, Scotland. This new plant made a real hit right across the gardening world, and it is now being made available through a limited number of nurseries.
It hardly needs saying that such a special plant as this cannot be grown from seed, and that seedling plants, or other red-flowered rhododendrons, will not have the spectacular foliage, or unique flowers, of the Everred Rhododendron. We are honored at the Tree Center to be able to offer this new and unique plant to our customers. We have a good stock of plants, but as with any new plant that is as special as this one, supplies are limited. Order now to avoid missing this special opportunity to enjoy something new and special!
