Rhododendron Bonsai

[Yannick81]

Hey guys,

I am wondering why I cannot find any Information on Rhododendron Bonsais online. I don't see anybody doing it, alltough it's the same family as Azaleas. Is there something I don't know?

Last Winter I dug up a Rhododendron from my mom's garden and put in in a regular pot, just to give it a try. The tree was squeezed between a pine and cherry tree, and wasn't prospering. This spring it flowered and is doing really well. Gave it a lot of fertilzer and sunny spot. Did a light prune after flowering. Didn't even bother to buy special soil. I find it has a very beautiful trunk line.

Since so far my experiment was a success I'm thinking of getting another Rhododendron. Some specimen have fabulous trunks.

Do you guys know anything about the plant in regards to Bonsai? Thank you.

 

[Shibui]

Rhododendron is sometimes used as bonsai. I think the big clusters of large flowers puts most growers off them.
Also not sure how easily these ramify. The shrubs are usually rather open with long, bare sections of branch. That may make it difficult to get a good, compact shape as bonsai.
Good luck with your Rhodie.

 

[BaKiBonsai]

Ik have some small rhododendron simsii as prebonsai. The leaves are already quite small. Bought them as 5 in a small 1Liter container.
I was planning to report and split them in autumn, but they were struggling so much I had to do an emergency report.
4 potted up and one in the ground. All are now leaving out again and there is significant back budding on branches that lost a lot of leaves.

 

[oranjeaap]

I have two very old ones in my garden with beautiful trunks that I am considering putting in a pot but I made some observations this spring/summer.

- It flowered really early this spring because of the extaordinary warm and sunny spring, so when it was done flowering I removed 90% of the foliage and most of the young branches. I left some foliage on the branches I liked to make sure they wouldn't die. So basically I gave it a first crude bonsai shaping. Now already there has been plenty of new growth on the tips of the branches I left, but not any growth on the old wood. So it will be difficult to alter the main shape of the tree if I cant force the tree to grow from old wood. So it seems you must already settle on a main branch structure when the tree is still young.
- They are very common in my area and I have spotted some varieties with smaller leaves.
- They cut down several huge ones in my local park and left about 10cm of trunk. Most of them seemed to survive and just push new growth from the roots, but not from the old trunks.
- Major cuts dont seem to heal well nor on a visually pleasing manner.
- The leaves on my variety are very big.
- The internodes are too far apart and young branches just shoot out towards the sunny direction without branching out.
- They all suffer from long leggy trunks without any growth lower on the trunk. Probably because the massive leaves block too much sun for the inner branches to survive.

So for the variety I have in my garden I concluded this for myself:
It will never be good Bonsai material. Because of the large leaves and long internodes it can never be a small enough tree to be considered Bonsai by most. I do think it can be made into a nice tree in a pot. Need to prune larger leaves to prevent young branches having to push out towards the sun.

 

[Yannick81]

Thanks everybody.

internodes being too far apart is the main issue that I encountered aswell. It's never going to look like a tree in that sense. Something between a bush and a tree, is what it is. However it still looks somewhat interesting in a pot and stunning while flowering.

I saw a guy on youtube who hard pruned old Rhododendrons in his backyard. He took off all branches from the trunk to have full trunk exposure, only leaving smaller branches with foilage on apex level. The shape reminded me of mangrove trees. The old thick trunks were definately an eye catcher.

Another pro at least here in Germany is, Rhodies seem to be very robust and pretty easy to dig out.

 

[BaKiBonsai]

With a picture of the backbudding

 

[Yannick81]

With a picture of the backbudding

Small leaves variety are probably best. They look great when backbudding. Like Azelea, just more sturdy and thicker.

 

[BaKiBonsai]

Yes quite happy with the deal, 5 trees for €10. Good Place to start practising.

There is some conflicting information online about cold hardiness, so we'll see. The pots can move indoors but the soil planted tree will have to be strong.

 

[Underdog]

Ramapo Dwarf https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/dwarf-rhodie.22548/

 

[Yannick81]

Yes quite happy with the deal, 5 trees for €10. Good Place to start practising.

There is some conflicting information online about cold hardiness, so we'll see. The pots can move indoors but the soil planted tree will have to be strong.

They are tough plants. They grow everywhere around here. I don't know of any Garden-Rhodendrons that didn't make it through the harsh winter of 2009/10. That winter lots of Bonsai enthusiasts lost their trees due to 3 weeks of frost. From what I hear it's mostly continuous low temperatures of -5C° or lower when things get risky. -3C° no problem.

@Underdog That looks amazing, Thanks for sharing.

 

[Underdog]

Generally hardy in USDA zones 4-8

 

[Yannick81]

@Underdog Should I remove the buds next winter season for ramification? I don't know what to do with them long thin branches. Will certainly prune some back, once I decide on the overall shape of the tree.

 

[Underdog]

I prune right after flowering, but you will get some runners/long nodes. Let them go until mid summer then prune again for back budding.. You can't wait too long or you won't get next years flower buds. If you don't care about the flowers you can prune later. Once budding I go back and reduce to 2s. IMO your tree is where white circle. Probable cuts are red and get rid of the darn weeds! LOL can't see the base. They will throw long nodes first then prune and get new short nodes.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Justa slight correction.

All azaleas are Rhododendrons, but all Rhodys are not azaleas.

That said There are some that are eminently suited for bonsai, but the vast majority is not.

These are hardy plants with a strong will to survive… everyone we tried to chop hard all pushed out profusely.

We have tested a small number of small rhodys here. There are a few that respond really well to bonsai work, many others once these begin to grow out refuse to backbud.

Here’s an example of a small rhody in training for a couple years. It responds very well to proper technique



… recommend cutting straight through the base of the bud including the basal leaves, leaving some green. Then see how the plant responds. This imho is the acid test of its viability as a bonsai subject. Mist frequently.

If good for bonsai it will bud well down from each cut site as well as sprout from the bud site.

Here’s an example on how this looks on a neglected azalea



Cheers
DSD sends

 

[RJG2]

Like others have said, some varieties are better than others. I took an air layer of the PJM in my front yard before I knew better.

Long internodes, but I like it so far:

Post in thread 'PJM rhododendron'

May 5, 2025

Last one, I promise. A few flowers still to open, but a few have dropped already, so probably as good as it will get.

• RJG2

• 
• 

 

[Cruiser]

I am developing a small-leaved rhododendron to resemble a Pacific Madrone.
It responds well to root work. Back buds readily. Grows well in Douglas-fir bark. Enjoys frequent watering. Dislikes full sun.

 

[Yannick81]

I prune right after flowering, but you will get some runners/long nodes. Let them go until mid summer then prune again for back budding.. You can't wait too long or you won't get next years flower buds. If you don't care about the flowers you can prune later. Once budding I go back and reduce to 2s. IMO your tree is where white circle. Probable cuts are red and get rid of the darn weeds! LOL can't see the base. They will throw long nodes first then prune and get n

Thank you. What do you mean by "reduce to 2s"? I will consider red cuts. Thing is, I want it to remain quite tall. Lets say 2-3 feet height. Just because the trunk has developed so nicely over so many years.

I will clean the tree up and post better pictures in coming days. Much apreciated.

 

[Underdog]

Way smarter people than me here that will point ya

What do you mean by "reduce to 2s"?

When they bud and flower they branch into 4 or five. You cut the ones growing inward/downward to leave the best two.

I want it to remain quite tall. Lets say 2-3 feet height. Just because the trunk has developed so nicely

Agree but it needs taper. 2ft branch same diameter...

 

[Yannick81]

Ok, Underdog. I'll take your advice. Let me take better pictures and maybe a quick video. I will gladly prune it as you suggest. Thanks.