PlantFiles: Rhododendron
Rhododendron 'Blue Peter'

Blue Peter is not my favorite rhododendron in my garden, but it serves its purpose. The flowers are smallish, the plant habit is rather open and spindly, and the hardiness is not the best. I've had winters when I thought the plant was dead as it lost nearly all its leaves. The flower buds looked brown and lifeless, but they surprised me by opening as if nothing had happened. New growth followed the flowers, and plant recovered nicely. Blue Peter has a habit of sending out branches that lay on the ground, and they take root very readily with no help from me. In fact, the original plant died, but there are many new plants surrounding where it once stood. The best I can say for Blue Peter is that it has survived where Scintillation died.