How come many gardeners don’t have spring flowers on their rhododendrons? People look for every reason under the earth why rhododendrons don’t blossom. Why? There’s a simple answer: you forgot to prune last year’s withered rhododendron flowers. As long as dead blossoms stay on your shrub, the rhododendron is incapable of making flowers the next year. Pruning should happen soon after the blossoms drop their petals.

Unfortunately, most gardeners don’t prune withered rhododendron flowers because they feel they will harm the shrub in the pruning process. Nothing is further from the truth. Pruning is easy and simple, but it has to be done properly if you want replacement flowers next spring.

To prune like an expert, you’ve got to get up close to one faded rhododendron flower. The closer you are, the better.

What you find is the residue of the flower. The so-called petals are gone, leaving everything bare. The thin stems (lots of them) that once held petals are called “trusses.” Indeed, they supported the flower. Look down to the base of these trusses and you will see that they come together very much like a candelabra. The candelabra eventually comes together (on both sides) on the stem itself.

Now we come to the critical part of pruning. Look down the stem below where the candelabras join just a little bit and you will see what seems to be thin brownish rings around the stem. This is the jackpot. This is where you want to prune what’s left of the rhododendron flower: cut plainly through the stem where you find these tiny circular rings. If you prune here, you’re perfect!

How you prune is something else. If you have good-size fingernails, pierce the stem where you find the rings, then snap the flower away. If you would rather not prune with your fingernails, then use a small sharp steak knife, maybe with a serrated edge. Push the serrated knife partly through the stem and it will dislodge in one piece. That’s it.

If there is any problem, it could be that you will be pruning “trusses” for some time because you had dozens and dozens of rhododendron flowers. You don’t have to prune everything at one time, maybe over several days if you have hundreds and hundreds of blossoms to remove.

Take care to check your shrub carefully. Inevitably, some spent flowers will be hidden from view, but you’ll find them if you persist in checking the shrub a second time.

Looking at the color photos of pruning below:

The point of the pencil points to brown tissue on the stem just below the trusses of the wilted flower. Use a sharp knife to cut part-way through the brown stem, then remove the wilted flow and it's stem.