can i improve this shape?

lovely flowers sticki but cant help you with pruning etc

I like that shape ...
so my answer to "Can I improve this shape ?" ..

"NO".... Lol..

ok, thanks both.
should i put something else next to it to fill in the gap?

"YES" .. Lol..

another rhodedendron? i dont want to stop it flowering again.

You have ericaceous soil I think.... ?
could you plant something evergreen which flowers late summer, so you have year round interest ?

i will look out for something ~ it certainly sounds a good idea. thanks.

:o)))

I can`t grow Rhodedendrons in my garden Sticki, yours has lovely flowers. :o)

it does but they are extra special as i have waited for 6 years to see them!! dont know why they decided to flower this year? maybe liked the winter??

Yes, take TT's advice there Sticki! What you can do with some rhodys is take off the lower branches...heighten the crown. but that doesn't make them bushy, just more tree like, and I wouldn't advise it with this one as it looks like it wants to sprawl. Plant a nice something else beside it!

something evergreen that flowers in the summer/autumn ~ any ideas? pieris is good and works in my garden but are there any others?

Ceanothus autumnal blue, but you risk losing it if it gets too cold. And Hebes...same problem.

Autumn flowering Camellia if it's mild enough where you are.....

Check out GoYpedia Evergreen Shrubs ?

thank you both, ceanothis not doing so well here but camellias like it ~ although they like the back garden better for some reason ~ the one at the front has no flowers on!

Elaeagnus flowers in late summer too, but not showy flowers. Evergreen though and nice shiny leaves.

hywel's Cotoneaster cornubia looks lovely, i like the colour.

It looks good to me!

:-)

Oh yes! good idea!

thanks everyone ~ for your comments and helpful advise

Lovely, but sorry i can't help either.

Added to GoYpedia "Pruning" ...
... aka "No Pruning" ... ;o)

What a gorgeous red,Sticki..I love it..:o)

Sticki
There is no reason why you can not prune it after it has finished flowering that allows the new shoots maximum time to grow this year.
However its a gamble weather you spoil the shape,if you take the centre leader out you are releying on it making strong growth from low down.

I agree with Bjs, Sticki. Rhodos have to be tip pruned (pinched) when young to keep them compact..looks like your leader just took off! Beautiful colour..and I understand the excitement of blossom after a long wait. Found this in one of my handbooks...
"The most commonly practiced form of pruning rhododendrons is the annual removal of flower clusters once the flowers have faded. By preventing seed formation, growth of side shoots that result in a fuller, more compact plant is encouraged."
"Old "leggy" rhododendrons may be severely pruned just before new growth starts in the spring. Stems an inch or more in diameter, when cut to within 6 inches of the ground level, will produce new shoots from adventitious buds on the remaining stumps." Francis De Vos, "How to Prune Broadleaved Evergreens",
My cousin has my rhodo to overwinter because we moved...It will soon return to me and I have to find a perfect place...no problem with acid soil...but the winds and the long winter might make it chancy.

many thanks everyone; this plant was in the garden when we moved here; im wondering if because it didnt flower it never got pruned?
i shall have to try to remember to give it a prune before the growth in spring?

Those are the reddest flowers I've seen on a rhododendron (all I see around here is purple and pink) and I think it's very pretty! I had one that looked like that and it is very full now, I didn't do anything to it either. I just remove spent blossoms on mine and when they get older and sometimes too top heavy I have to remove some top branches. Thank you for sharing, it reminds me of Christmas!

It was already in the garden when we came here ~ its a lovely red isnt it! But Im sure it has hardly flowered until this year [been here 6 years]; it must have liked something in last years weather??
i shall go and have a look at it to see if there are any buds forming ~ its been really dry here!

The buds on mine have just formed within the past month, I have two large rhododendrons that have produced flower buds for the first time since I planted them 5 years ago!

Im not sure how old this one is ~ has to be at least 10 at a guess. I went out to look ~ only small buds which I think are new leaves.
Glad yours have the buds on ~ thats great.
The flower bed this one is in slopes quite steeply and I think needs a top up of good soil.

I have two planted on a bit of a steep slope too, try using wood chips a few feet out from the plant and then mulch inside. The wood chips don't wash away as easily as mulch, it has worked great for me!

thats worth knowing ~ thank you ~ just beginning to put some mulch around some plants ~ so i shall get the wood chips for this one.