Storms and Rhododendrons

My garden club, Town & Country, meets the first Tuesday of the month. For May we scheduled to visit a local gardener's rhododendron garden just south of Maineville off Rt 48.  It was touch and go with the rain but still about a dozen of us managed to see the garden in between huge cloud bursts.
I was so glad I risked the rain and storms to go. It was a bit crazy for a while with the tornado sirens sounding, but we managed a inspiring tour and saw some beautiful plants.  We also learned how to grow them here in Ohio's alkaline soils - pine bark mulch!   Rhododendrons must have an acid soil or low ph.  Our soils are usually too high ph - perfect for asparagus for example.  The gardener explained that a mix of 1/3 garden soil, 1/3 pine bark mulch and 1/3 of those little water holding bead things they sell at Lowe's and Home Depot is just right for rhododendrons. They also need dappled shade and prefer an east facing exposure.
The Lebanon Council of Garden Clubs' annual plant sale is this Saturday at the Lebanon Station (home of the Lebanon Council of Garden Clubs). There will be loads of great perennials plants there (they come up year after year so you don't have to keep buying them). It starts at 10:00. You'll get some great bargains on some wonderful plants. Come on down!

If if hadn't been raining and everything soggy, the garden would have looked a lot like this one. I was very impressed.