Chapman's Rhododendron

Size, growth and what to expect

Chapman's rhododendron grows at a medium pace, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. It makes an open, upright shrub 3 to 8 feet tall and 3 to 6 feet wide, and old wild plants reach 10 feet. Its thick, leathery leaves run 1 to 3 inches long, rounded at the tip, curled under at the edges and dotted with rusty scales beneath.

Rose-pink, funnel-shaped flowers 1 to 1.5 inches long open in March and April, in clusters of 4 to 12 at the branch tips. Bumble bees find them especially valuable, and hummingbirds visit too. The narrow capsules ripen in fall and stay on the plant nearly all year. In the wild a fire now and then spurs it to sprout and flower.

It grows wild only in north Florida, mostly in Gadsden, Liberty and Gulf counties near the Apalachicola River. Its home is the seasonally wet edge where longleaf pine flatwoods and sandhills meet titi bogs. The last full survey, in 1997, counted 2,642 plants, and NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled.

How to grow Chapman's Rhododendron

Chapman's rhododendron does best in high, bright shade or part shade, since full sun can scorch its leaves. It wants a moist, acid, sandy loam rich in organic matter that drains well, and its roots rot where water stands. Keep it out of salt spray. Set plants 4 feet apart and keep them 3 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. Plant them in early spring or fall, in a hole three times as wide as the root ball and no deeper. Set the top of the ball a little above the soil, put the native soil back in, and mulch with pine needles or leaves, kept off the stems. The seed is dust-fine and needs light but no chilling. Sow it in winter on the surface of damp milled sphagnum, uncovered, at room temperature, with at least 8 hours of light a day. Most seedlings come up within a month.

Water weekly through the first two summers. Deer damage it often, so cage young plants where deer are common. Prune, if at all, right after it flowers, since next year's flower buds form by mid to late summer.

Each flower carries both male and female parts. In its close relative Piedmont rhododendron, each flower sheds its pollen days before it can receive pollen, so bees must carry it. Plant two or more seedlings from different parents for a fuller set of seed. Lace bugs, aphids and mites can mark the leaves, and root rot takes plants in soil that stays wet. Every part of the plant is poisonous if eaten. Saplings and seed are shipped only in state and otherwise pickup only.