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Can these be pruned down?
We recently bought a house from a pair of gardeners who hadn't maintained some of the plantings recently due to age/health issues. While I LOVE all of the things I am discovering in the yard, much of it is too large and/or overgrown. We can't see out of the gazebo due to the large rhododendrons. While it might look nice to some, we'd prefer something smaller so that we could see our kids playing in the yard while sitting in the gazebo. So is it possible to prune them down (if that's the right word) or are we stuck with them or removing them altogether? I was even thinking maybe just remove every other one or something. Suggestions? There is just SO much in the yard, much of it randomly placed, that we'd prefer to tone it down a bit. THANKS! (PS - I know NOTHING about gardening, so excuse any bad terminology! lol)
Re: Can these be pruned down?
I don't know what they'll do if you prune them down, around here people let them grow to the size of small (or large 40'!) trees. One thing you might try is pruning them down to a trunk and the top branches so it looks more like a grouping of trees. Your kids might like the shade in the summer.
Kind of like this:
"The meek shall inherit the earth" isn't about children. It's about deer. We're all going to get messed the fuckup by a bunch of cloned super-deer.- samfish2bcrab
Sometimes I wonder if scientists have never seen a sci-fi movie before. "Oh yes, let's create a super species of deer. NOTHING COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG." I wonder if State Farm offers a Zombie Deer Attack policy. -CaliopeSpidrman
What area of the country do you live in? Around here rhods are very sparse...never looking like the pic pdx posted so people prune them into nice little balls to keep them looking thin and leggy. Here's a great site describing how and when to prune rhods:
http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/three-ways-prune-rhododendrons.aspx
Sounds like you want to do some rejuvenation pruning which is best done in the winter or late fall.