I have two huge matched rhododendrons near the corner of my
house. Suddenly, this spring, one of them had what appeared
to be many dead branches on it. I was devastated. BUT I
procrastinated, probably because the thought of cutting off
those branches hurt so much. It would never look the same and
probably was on the road to a certain doom--or so I thought.

Well, lo and behold. Today I saw new leaves on those branches
that had looked so dead. I am so happy! The moral of the
story: don't give up on those dead-looking branches until
after the rhododendron starts its seasonal growth. :-)

(PS My neighbor prunes his rhododendrons into perfect
geometrical shapes right before it's going to bloom. He has
even trimmed it just as it had come into bloom....)
--
Jean B.